Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, VA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Charlottesville, VA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Charlottesville ranks 25th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 37th for income. A household earns $95,796 a year while median rent runs $1,542/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (4th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (250th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 216th and home prices 250th 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 Charlottesville, your take-home is worth about $58,245 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
- 37th of 300↑26.2%$95,796
- 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.
- 208th of 30099 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $96,621
- Per-capita income
- $56,687
- Full-time pay
- $47,123
Housing
- Median rent
- 216th of 300↑29.9%$1,542/mo
- Home value
- 250th of 300↑46.9%$466,600
- Property tax
- $3,413/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 5.77%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 19th of 3002.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 4th of 30056.2%
- Avg commute
- 156th of 30024.3 min
People
- Population
- 226,140
- Population change
- +3.6%
- Median age
- 39.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.1%
- Broadband
- 92.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 68th of 30040
- Natural-hazard loss
- 97th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 26th of 30015.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.4%
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
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — charlottesville 2 sse.
What jobs pay in Charlottesville
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Financial managers
- $170,250
- IT managers
- $163,230
- Lawyers
- $149,430
- Pharmacists
- $142,220
- Software developers
- $128,520
- General & operations managers
- $107,200
- Web developers
- $101,210
- Registered nurses
- $99,320
- Civil engineers
- $89,250
- Accountants & auditors
- $81,530
- Secondary school teachers
- $63,200
- Electricians
- $62,980
- Police officers
- $60,880
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,770
- Plumbers
- $56,510
- Carpenters
- $56,090
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,970
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,170
- Construction laborers
- $45,080
- Waiters & waitresses
- $44,030
- Customer service reps
- $40,240
- Janitors
- $36,090
- Retail salespersons
- $34,210
- Cashiers
- $30,930
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 Charlottesville metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Virginia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida1,080
- North Carolina995
- New York556
- Maryland533
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Charlottesville
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Charlottesville metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Charlottesville metro?
- Median gross rent across the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area is $1,542 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Charlottesville.
- What is the median household income in the Charlottesville metro?
- A typical household in the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area earns $95,796 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Charlottesville expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Charlottesville metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $96,621 (versus its face value of $95,796). CityLedger rates the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Charlottesville metro?
- The median home value across the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area is $466,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Charlottesville metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Charlottesville, VA Metro Area is 2.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).