Cedar Rapids, IA
Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Cedar Rapids ranks 104th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 152nd for income. A household earns $75,295 a year while median rent runs $933/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (22nd of 300), while education is the soft spot (185th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 22nd and home prices 63rd 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 Cedar Rapids, your take-home is worth about $65,717 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further 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
- 152nd of 300↑17.5%$75,295
- 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.
- 41st of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $84,636
- Per-capita income
- $42,126
- Full-time pay
- $44,572
Housing
- Median rent
- 22nd of 300↑23.1%$933/mo
- Home value
- 63rd of 300↑38.4%$226,700
- Property tax
- $3,409/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 6.94%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 23rd of 3002.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 185th of 30031.1%
- Avg commute
- 46th of 30021.2 min
People
- Population
- 278,677
- Population change
- +2.1%
- Median age
- 40.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.8%
- Broadband
- 90.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 126th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 31st of 30015.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.7%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — cedar rapids muni ap.
What jobs pay in Cedar Rapids
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $260,440
- Lawyers
- $137,570
- Financial managers
- $134,020
- Pharmacists
- $133,520
- IT managers
- $129,910
- Software developers
- $114,340
- Civil engineers
- $95,540
- General & operations managers
- $90,620
- Plumbers
- $83,210
- Police officers
- $79,280
- Registered nurses
- $78,370
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,180
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,780
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,430
- Web developers
- $60,700
- Carpenters
- $58,920
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $51,880
- Electricians
- $50,230
- Construction laborers
- $48,670
- Customer service reps
- $45,510
- Janitors
- $35,610
- Retail salespersons
- $33,430
- Cashiers
- $29,270
- Waiters & waitresses
- $21,670
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 Cedar Rapids metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Iowa are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Illinois752
- Florida669
- Indiana298
- Colorado283
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Cedar Rapids
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Cedar Rapids metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Cedar Rapids metro?
- Median gross rent across the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area is $933 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Cedar Rapids.
- What is the median household income in the Cedar Rapids metro?
- A typical household in the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area earns $75,295 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Cedar Rapids expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area runs about 11% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Cedar Rapids metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $84,636 (versus its face value of $75,295). CityLedger rates the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Cedar Rapids metro?
- The median home value across the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area is $226,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Cedar Rapids metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Cedar Rapids, IA Metro Area is 2.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).