Atlanta, GA
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Atlanta ranks 40th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 47th for income. A household earns $92,344 a year while median rent runs $1,770/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 0% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (38th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (292nd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 263rd and home prices 219th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Atlanta, your take-home is worth about $58,010 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 47th of 300↑28.7%$92,344
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 221st of 300100 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $92,290
- Per-capita income
- $47,744
- Full-time pay
- $50,444
Housing
- Median rent
- 263rd of 300↑44.6%$1,770/mo
- Home value
- 219th of 300↑62.7%$402,100
- Property tax
- $3,254/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 7.42%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 38th of 30043.9%
- Avg commute
- 292nd of 30032.4 min
People
- Population
- 6,409,047
- Population change
- +6.5%
- Median age
- 37.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 16%
- Broadband
- 95.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 278th of 30056
- Natural-hazard loss
- 54th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 131st of 30017.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 12.5%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — atlanta hartsfield-jackson int.
What jobs pay in Atlanta
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $259,320
- IT managers
- $177,970
- Financial managers
- $171,240
- Pharmacists
- $139,870
- Lawyers
- $138,210
- Software developers
- $132,960
- General & operations managers
- $111,410
- Registered nurses
- $100,490
- Web developers
- $93,590
- Civil engineers
- $88,000
- Accountants & auditors
- $85,820
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,210
- Elementary school teachers
- $76,570
- Police officers
- $60,910
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,100
- Electricians
- $58,650
- Plumbers
- $58,380
- Carpenters
- $50,680
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,630
- Customer service reps
- $42,710
- Construction laborers
- $42,010
- Janitors
- $35,940
- Retail salespersons
- $32,850
- Cashiers
- $30,010
- Waiters & waitresses
- $18,460
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Atlanta metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Georgia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida26,100
- California14,163
- Texas11,436
- New York10,119
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Atlanta
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Atlanta metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Atlanta metro?
- Median gross rent across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area is $1,770 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Atlanta.
- What is the median household income in the Atlanta metro?
- A typical household in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area earns $92,344 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Atlanta expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area runs about 0% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Atlanta metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $92,290 (versus its face value of $92,344). CityLedger rates the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Atlanta metro?
- The median home value across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area is $402,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Atlanta metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).