Dothan, AL
Dothan, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Dothan, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Dothan ranks 242nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 279th for income. A household earns $60,024 a year while median rent runs $897/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 16% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (2nd of 300), while education is the soft spot (279th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 13th and home prices 25th 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 Dothan, your take-home is worth about $68,891 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
- 279th of 300↑20%$60,024
- 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.
- 2nd of 30084 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $71,599
- Per-capita income
- $33,989
- Full-time pay
- $40,395
Housing
- Median rent
- 13th of 300↑23.4%$897/mo
- Home value
- 25th of 300↑35.6%$192,800
- Property tax
- $642/yr · 0.3%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 208th of 3005%
- Bachelor's+
- 279th of 30022%
- Avg commute
- 109th of 30023.2 min
People
- Population
- 154,766
- Population change
- +3.6%
- Median age
- 41.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.2%
- Broadband
- 90.5%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 191st of 300$15/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 271st of 30023.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.1%
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. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — dothan rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Dothan
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $131,230
- Lawyers
- $129,990
- IT managers
- $125,160
- Financial managers
- $124,810
- Software developers
- $115,580
- General & operations managers
- $96,840
- Civil engineers
- $92,280
- Registered nurses
- $67,430
- Accountants & auditors
- $67,330
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,900
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,190
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,950
- Police officers
- $59,210
- Plumbers
- $49,070
- Electricians
- $47,630
- Carpenters
- $42,800
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $39,340
- Customer service reps
- $36,180
- Construction laborers
- $32,000
- Retail salespersons
- $28,770
- Janitors
- $28,290
- Cashiers
- $27,040
- Waiters & waitresses
- $24,520
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 Dothan 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.
- Florida1,325
- Georgia574
- Illinois181
- California153
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Dothan
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Dothan metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Dothan metro?
- Median gross rent across the Dothan, AL Metro Area is $897 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Dothan.
- What is the median household income in the Dothan metro?
- A typical household in the Dothan, AL Metro Area earns $60,024 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Dothan expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Dothan, AL Metro Area runs about 16% 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 Dothan metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $71,599 (versus its face value of $60,024). CityLedger rates the Dothan, AL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Dothan metro?
- The median home value across the Dothan, AL Metro Area is $192,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Dothan metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Dothan, AL Metro Area is 5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).