Charlotte, NC
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Charlotte ranks 73rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 74th for income. A household earns $85,938 a year while median rent runs $1,594/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (62nd of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 235th and home prices 218th 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 Charlotte, your take-home is worth about $60,266 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
- 74th of 300↑29.4%$85,938
- 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.
- 187th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $88,279
- Per-capita income
- $48,105
- Full-time pay
- $50,001
Housing
- Median rent
- 235th of 300↑48%$1,594/mo
- Home value
- 218th of 300↑71.2%$400,400
- Property tax
- $2,552/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 84th of 3003.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 62nd of 30041.5%
- Avg commute
- 244th of 30027.5 min
People
- Population
- 2,883,370
- Population change
- +9.3%
- Median age
- 38.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 12.9%
- Broadband
- 95.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 142nd of 300$12/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 91st of 30016.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.4%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — charlotte douglas ap.
What jobs pay in Charlotte
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $269,270
- IT managers
- $176,840
- Financial managers
- $172,760
- Lawyers
- $157,180
- Pharmacists
- $150,580
- Software developers
- $135,920
- General & operations managers
- $112,730
- Civil engineers
- $102,370
- Web developers
- $101,980
- Accountants & auditors
- $92,910
- Registered nurses
- $90,620
- Police officers
- $63,190
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,300
- Electricians
- $59,080
- Plumbers
- $58,690
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,680
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,120
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $51,000
- Carpenters
- $50,960
- Construction laborers
- $45,850
- Customer service reps
- $44,980
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,430
- Janitors
- $35,600
- Retail salespersons
- $33,580
- Cashiers
- $29,610
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 Charlotte metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in North Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida9,391
- New York9,380
- California5,179
- Virginia4,736
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Charlotte
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Charlotte metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Charlotte metro?
- Median gross rent across the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area is $1,594 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Charlotte.
- What is the median household income in the Charlotte metro?
- A typical household in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area earns $85,938 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Charlotte expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area runs about 3% 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 Charlotte metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $88,279 (versus its face value of $85,938). CityLedger rates the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Charlotte metro?
- The median home value across the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area is $400,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Charlotte metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area is 3.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).