Cape Coral, FL
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Cape Coral ranks 132nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 82nd for income. A household earns $83,602 a year while median rent runs $1,871/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (29th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (288th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 274th and home prices 214th 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 Cape Coral, your take-home is worth about $59,906 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
- 82nd of 300↑34.3%$83,602
- 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.
- 253rd of 300102 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,683
- Per-capita income
- $47,088
- Full-time pay
- $41,839
Housing
- Median rent
- 274th of 300↑53.4%$1,871/mo
- Home value
- 214th of 300↑62%$396,500
- Property tax
- $3,087/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 6.95%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 50th of 3003.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 165th of 30032.4%
- Avg commute
- 288th of 30031.9 min
People
- Population
- 860,959
- Population change
- +11.7%
- Median age
- 48.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 20.7%
- Broadband
- 94.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 259th of 300$28/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 131st of 30017.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 16.9%
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
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — ft myers page fld ap.
What jobs pay in Cape Coral
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $243,940
- IT managers
- $159,820
- Financial managers
- $143,830
- Pharmacists
- $134,880
- Lawyers
- $129,450
- Software developers
- $126,940
- General & operations managers
- $94,730
- Civil engineers
- $84,990
- Registered nurses
- $82,860
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,420
- Police officers
- $76,710
- Web developers
- $73,290
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,470
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,270
- Electricians
- $57,930
- Plumbers
- $51,690
- Carpenters
- $49,210
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,950
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,270
- Construction laborers
- $43,290
- Customer service reps
- $38,180
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,660
- Janitors
- $35,390
- Retail salespersons
- $34,650
- Cashiers
- $30,530
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 Cape Coral metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Florida are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Illinois2,938
- New York2,857
- Ohio2,405
- Michigan2,234
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Cape Coral
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Cape Coral metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Cape Coral metro?
- Median gross rent across the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area is $1,871 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Cape Coral.
- What is the median household income in the Cape Coral metro?
- A typical household in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area earns $83,602 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Cape Coral expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area runs about 2% 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 Cape Coral metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,683 (versus its face value of $83,602). CityLedger rates the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Cape Coral metro?
- The median home value across the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area is $396,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Cape Coral metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area is 3.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).