Champaign, IL
Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Champaign ranks 255th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 245th for income. A household earns $64,980 a year while median rent runs $1,103/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (6th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 88th and home prices 49th 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 Champaign, your take-home is worth about $62,134 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
- 245th of 300↑22.4%$64,980
- 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.
- 106th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $70,094
- Per-capita income
- $40,766
- Full-time pay
- $41,059
Housing
- Median rent
- 88th of 300↑21.3%$1,103/mo
- Home value
- 49th of 300↑36.4%$216,500
- Property tax
- $4,236/yr · 2%
- Sales tax
- 8.89%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 26th of 3002.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 31st of 30044.8%
- Avg commute
- 6th of 30018.5 min
People
- Population
- 243,252
- Population change
- +7.6%
- Median age
- 31.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 12.9%
- Broadband
- 93.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 158th of 300$13/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 114th of 30017.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.7%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — rantoul.
What jobs pay in Champaign
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $282,430
- IT managers
- $140,480
- Pharmacists
- $139,270
- Lawyers
- $129,990
- Financial managers
- $127,680
- Software developers
- $106,080
- Electricians
- $100,320
- Civil engineers
- $98,910
- General & operations managers
- $96,610
- Plumbers
- $95,530
- Registered nurses
- $90,230
- Web developers
- $85,880
- Police officers
- $78,520
- Accountants & auditors
- $69,670
- Carpenters
- $66,980
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,480
- Elementary school teachers
- $59,650
- Construction laborers
- $59,460
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,270
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $55,260
- Customer service reps
- $41,280
- Janitors
- $39,000
- Retail salespersons
- $33,870
- Cashiers
- $32,130
- Waiters & waitresses
- $31,200
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 Champaign metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Illinois are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Indiana788
- Texas674
- Florida608
- California521
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Champaign
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Champaign metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Champaign metro?
- Median gross rent across the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area is $1,103 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Champaign.
- What is the median household income in the Champaign metro?
- A typical household in the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area earns $64,980 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Champaign expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Champaign metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $70,094 (versus its face value of $64,980). CityLedger rates the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Champaign metro?
- The median home value across the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area is $216,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Champaign metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metro Area is 2.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).