Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, OH Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Cleveland, OH Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Cleveland ranks 181st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 178th for income. A household earns $72,532 a year while median rent runs $1,087/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 6% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (16th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (198th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 74th and home prices 72nd 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 Cleveland, your take-home is worth about $63,847 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
- 178th of 300$72,532
- 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.
- 140th of 30094 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $77,225
- Per-capita income
- $43,506
- Full-time pay
- $46,328
Housing
- Median rent
- 74th of 300$1,087/mo
- Home value
- 72nd of 300$234,700
- Property tax
- $3,556/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.23%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 120th of 3004.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 136th of 30034.7%
- Avg commute
- 143rd of 30024 min
People
- Population
- 2,171,877
- Median age
- 41.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6.2%
- Broadband
- 92.2%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 16th of 300$7/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 139th of 30018.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — cleveland burke lakefront ap.
What jobs pay in Cleveland
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $324,340
- Financial managers
- $157,900
- IT managers
- $156,410
- Pharmacists
- $140,690
- Lawyers
- $134,680
- Software developers
- $111,310
- General & operations managers
- $97,750
- Civil engineers
- $96,190
- Registered nurses
- $83,940
- Police officers
- $80,280
- Accountants & auditors
- $80,000
- Secondary school teachers
- $79,610
- Elementary school teachers
- $76,470
- Electricians
- $70,860
- Plumbers
- $63,020
- Carpenters
- $60,650
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,970
- Construction laborers
- $57,180
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $51,930
- Customer service reps
- $46,040
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,260
- Janitors
- $36,230
- Retail salespersons
- $31,000
- Cashiers
- $29,130
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 Cleveland metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Ohio are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California3,530
- Pennsylvania3,508
- New York2,615
- Florida2,480
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Cleveland
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Cleveland metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Cleveland metro?
- Median gross rent across the Cleveland, OH Metro Area is $1,087 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Cleveland.
- What is the median household income in the Cleveland metro?
- A typical household in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area earns $72,532 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Cleveland expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area runs about 6% 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 Cleveland metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $77,225 (versus its face value of $72,532). CityLedger rates the Cleveland, OH Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Cleveland metro?
- The median home value across the Cleveland, OH Metro Area is $234,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Cleveland metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area is 4.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).