Decatur, AL
Decatur, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Decatur, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Decatur ranks 156th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 205th for income. A household earns $69,526 a year while median rent runs $899/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 13% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (14th of 300), while education is the soft spot (281st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 14th and home prices 55th 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 Decatur, your take-home is worth about $66,222 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
- 205th of 300↑30.1%$69,526
- 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.
- 20th of 30087 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $79,721
- Per-capita income
- $34,731
- Full-time pay
- $45,128
Housing
- Median rent
- 14th of 300↑29.5%$899/mo
- Home value
- 55th of 300↑53.8%$219,800
- Property tax
- $690/yr · 0.3%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 120th of 3004.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 281st of 30021.8%
- Avg commute
- 257th of 30028 min
People
- Population
- 159,651
- Population change
- +4.6%
- Median age
- 40.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4.2%
- Broadband
- 90.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 200th of 300$15/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 257th of 30022.7%
- 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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
Watch-outs
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — decatur pryor fld.
What jobs pay in Decatur
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Financial managers
- $142,940
- Lawyers
- $139,010
- IT managers
- $135,870
- Pharmacists
- $133,410
- Family medicine physicians
- $118,450
- General & operations managers
- $117,380
- Software developers
- $107,740
- Civil engineers
- $103,490
- Accountants & auditors
- $72,030
- Registered nurses
- $68,320
- Electricians
- $63,930
- Secondary school teachers
- $63,350
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,090
- Plumbers
- $59,920
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,390
- Police officers
- $57,120
- Carpenters
- $50,950
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,520
- Customer service reps
- $41,070
- Construction laborers
- $37,680
- Retail salespersons
- $31,550
- Janitors
- $30,410
- Cashiers
- $28,880
- Waiters & waitresses
- $27,010
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 Decatur metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Alabama are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Texas277
- Tennessee235
- Florida176
- Mississippi173
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Decatur
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Decatur metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Decatur metro?
- Median gross rent across the Decatur, AL Metro Area is $899 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Decatur.
- What is the median household income in the Decatur metro?
- A typical household in the Decatur, AL Metro Area earns $69,526 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Decatur expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Decatur, AL Metro Area runs about 13% 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 Decatur metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $79,721 (versus its face value of $69,526). CityLedger rates the Decatur, AL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Decatur metro?
- The median home value across the Decatur, AL Metro Area is $219,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Decatur metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Decatur, AL Metro Area is 4.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).