Durham, NC
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Durham ranks 91st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 83rd for income. A household earns $83,542 a year while median rent runs $1,598/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (7th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (238th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 236th and home prices 238th 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 Durham, your take-home is worth about $60,128 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
- 83rd of 300↑27.9%$83,542
- 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.
- 189th of 30098 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $85,621
- Per-capita income
- $50,577
- Full-time pay
- $46,362
Housing
- Median rent
- 236th of 300↑50%$1,598/mo
- Home value
- 238th of 300↑75.2%$441,300
- Property tax
- $3,177/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 43rd of 3003.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 7th of 30054.7%
- Avg commute
- 160th of 30024.4 min
People
- Population
- 620,522
- Population change
- -3.7%
- Median age
- 38.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 13.7%
- Broadband
- 93.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 234th of 30051
- Natural-hazard loss
- 136th of 300$12/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 45th of 30016%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.4%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — durham 11 w.
What jobs pay in Durham
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $220,840
- IT managers
- $176,190
- Financial managers
- $165,470
- Pharmacists
- $141,360
- Software developers
- $135,620
- Lawyers
- $132,790
- General & operations managers
- $113,930
- Web developers
- $96,880
- Civil engineers
- $93,940
- Accountants & auditors
- $85,090
- Plumbers
- $60,110
- Police officers
- $60,100
- Electricians
- $59,220
- Secondary school teachers
- $57,870
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $53,280
- Carpenters
- $51,540
- Elementary school teachers
- $51,400
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,130
- Customer service reps
- $46,800
- Construction laborers
- $46,560
- Janitors
- $36,590
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,230
- Retail salespersons
- $31,790
- Cashiers
- $29,920
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 Durham metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in North Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California2,051
- New York2,000
- Massachusetts1,844
- Virginia1,647
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Durham
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Durham metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Durham metro?
- Median gross rent across the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area is $1,598 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Durham.
- What is the median household income in the Durham metro?
- A typical household in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area earns $83,542 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Durham expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area runs about 2% 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 Durham metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $85,621 (versus its face value of $83,542). CityLedger rates the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Durham metro?
- The median home value across the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area is $441,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Durham metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area is 3.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).