Charleston, WV
Charleston, WV Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Charleston, WV Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Charleston ranks 262nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 267th for income. A household earns $61,625 a year while median rent runs $851/mo, making it expensive relative to 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 home prices (4th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (267th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 7th and home prices 4th 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 Charleston, your take-home is worth about $65,982 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
- 267th of 300↑29.7%$61,625
- 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.
- 37th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $69,462
- Per-capita income
- $35,491
- Full-time pay
- $41,966
Housing
- Median rent
- 7th of 300↑21.9%$851/mo
- Home value
- 4th of 300↑37.2%$144,300
- Property tax
- $947/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 6.57%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 208th of 3005%
- Bachelor's+
- 246th of 30025.6%
- Avg commute
- 118th of 30023.4 min
People
- Population
- 200,122
- Population change
- -22.4%
- Median age
- 44.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2.8%
- Broadband
- 92.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 68th of 30040
- Natural-hazard loss
- 266th of 300$31/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 263rd of 30022.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.4%
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
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — charleston - yeager ap.
What jobs pay in Charleston
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $344,250
- Pharmacists
- $131,660
- Software developers
- $122,980
- Financial managers
- $116,300
- IT managers
- $101,560
- Lawyers
- $101,150
- Civil engineers
- $94,810
- General & operations managers
- $83,190
- Registered nurses
- $80,230
- Accountants & auditors
- $66,560
- Electricians
- $64,830
- Plumbers
- $58,940
- Police officers
- $57,460
- Elementary school teachers
- $57,020
- Secondary school teachers
- $55,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,580
- Carpenters
- $49,060
- Construction laborers
- $47,770
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $39,350
- Customer service reps
- $37,480
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,900
- Janitors
- $30,330
- Retail salespersons
- $29,050
- Cashiers
- $26,280
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 Charleston metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in West Virginia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- North Carolina407
- Virginia363
- Ohio273
- Florida164
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Charleston
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Charleston metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Charleston metro?
- Median gross rent across the Charleston, WV Metro Area is $851 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Charleston.
- What is the median household income in the Charleston metro?
- A typical household in the Charleston, WV Metro Area earns $61,625 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Charleston expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Charleston, WV 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 Charleston metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $69,462 (versus its face value of $61,625). CityLedger rates the Charleston, WV Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Charleston metro?
- The median home value across the Charleston, WV Metro Area is $144,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Charleston metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Charleston, WV Metro Area is 5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).