Dalton, GA
Dalton, GA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Dalton, GA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Dalton ranks 210th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 228th for income. A household earns $66,660 a year while median rent runs $973/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (32nd of 300), while education is the soft spot (295th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 32nd and home prices 79th 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 Dalton, your take-home is worth about $64,605 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
- 228th of 300↑28.3%$66,660
- 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.
- 54th of 30090 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $74,195
- Per-capita income
- $30,941
- Full-time pay
- $36,904
Housing
- Median rent
- 32nd of 300↑38.2%$973/mo
- Home value
- 79th of 300↑74.9%$242,400
- Property tax
- $1,449/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 7.42%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 138th of 3004.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 295th of 30018.6%
- Avg commute
- 187th of 30025.1 min
People
- Population
- 146,386
- Population change
- +1.1%
- Median age
- 37.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 15.9%
- Broadband
- 90.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 103rd of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 268th of 30023.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 21.1%
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
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — chattanooga ap.
What jobs pay in Dalton
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $326,210
- IT managers
- $161,140
- Financial managers
- $133,000
- Pharmacists
- $130,050
- Software developers
- $115,480
- Civil engineers
- $99,760
- General & operations managers
- $94,050
- Lawyers
- $91,730
- Registered nurses
- $83,290
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,410
- Secondary school teachers
- $65,500
- Elementary school teachers
- $63,340
- Police officers
- $60,130
- Electricians
- $56,860
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $53,760
- Plumbers
- $47,370
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,220
- Carpenters
- $42,750
- Customer service reps
- $39,730
- Construction laborers
- $35,320
- Janitors
- $30,520
- Retail salespersons
- $29,140
- Cashiers
- $27,260
- Waiters & waitresses
- $17,930
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 Dalton metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Georgia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Iowa411
- Tennessee279
- California203
- Florida177
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Dalton
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Dalton metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Dalton metro?
- Median gross rent across the Dalton, GA Metro Area is $973 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Dalton.
- What is the median household income in the Dalton metro?
- A typical household in the Dalton, GA Metro Area earns $66,660 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Dalton expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Dalton, GA Metro Area runs about 10% 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 Dalton metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $74,195 (versus its face value of $66,660). CityLedger rates the Dalton, GA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Dalton metro?
- The median home value across the Dalton, GA Metro Area is $242,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Dalton metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Dalton, GA Metro Area is 4.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).