Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Columbia, SC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Columbia ranks 201st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 197th for income. A household earns $70,788 a year while median rent runs $1,257/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 education (106th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (206th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 150th and home prices 112th 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 Columbia, your take-home is worth about $62,352 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
- 197th of 300↑27%$70,788
- 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.
- 134th of 30094 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $75,578
- Per-capita income
- $38,757
- Full-time pay
- $41,241
Housing
- Median rent
- 150th of 300↑36.6%$1,257/mo
- Home value
- 112th of 300↑64.2%$270,400
- Property tax
- $1,325/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 189th of 3004.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 106th of 30037.2%
- Avg commute
- 206th of 30025.8 min
People
- Population
- 871,176
- Population change
- +3.8%
- Median age
- 38.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.2%
- Broadband
- 93.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 126th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 170th of 30019.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.6%
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
- —
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — columbia owens dwtn ap.
What jobs pay in Columbia
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $224,360
- IT managers
- $141,570
- Pharmacists
- $133,850
- Financial managers
- $124,790
- Software developers
- $123,380
- Lawyers
- $105,200
- General & operations managers
- $103,950
- Civil engineers
- $94,520
- Registered nurses
- $81,920
- Accountants & auditors
- $69,210
- Electricians
- $60,390
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,280
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,050
- Police officers
- $59,260
- Plumbers
- $52,070
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $51,280
- Carpenters
- $48,070
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,870
- Construction laborers
- $42,630
- Customer service reps
- $37,430
- Janitors
- $32,170
- Retail salespersons
- $29,540
- Cashiers
- $27,830
- Waiters & waitresses
- $17,810
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 Columbia metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in South Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- North Carolina4,469
- Georgia3,098
- California2,882
- Virginia2,743
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Columbia
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Columbia metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Columbia metro?
- Median gross rent across the Columbia, SC Metro Area is $1,257 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Columbia.
- What is the median household income in the Columbia metro?
- A typical household in the Columbia, SC Metro Area earns $70,788 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Columbia expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Columbia, SC 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 Columbia metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $75,578 (versus its face value of $70,788). CityLedger rates the Columbia, SC Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Columbia metro?
- The median home value across the Columbia, SC Metro Area is $270,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Columbia metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Columbia, SC Metro Area is 4.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).