Erie, PA
Erie, PA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Erie, PA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Erie ranks 259th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 255th for income. A household earns $63,322 a year while median rent runs $888/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 9% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (10th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (259th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 10th and home prices 32nd 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 Erie, your take-home is worth about $64,883 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
- 255th of 300↑22.2%$63,322
- 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.
- 69th of 30091 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $69,623
- Per-capita income
- $36,462
- Full-time pay
- $39,959
Housing
- Median rent
- 10th of 300↑17.5%$888/mo
- Home value
- 32nd of 300↑39.3%$200,000
- Property tax
- $2,818/yr · 1.4%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 185th of 30031.1%
- Avg commute
- 17th of 30019.6 min
People
- Population
- 267,750
- Population change
- -0.7%
- Median age
- 40.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4.8%
- Broadband
- 91%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 42nd of 30038
- Natural-hazard loss
- 24th of 300$8/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, 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
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — erie intl ap.
What jobs pay in Erie
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $277,880
- IT managers
- $131,610
- Pharmacists
- $128,360
- Lawyers
- $128,130
- Financial managers
- $121,550
- Software developers
- $101,550
- General & operations managers
- $89,840
- Police officers
- $80,860
- Registered nurses
- $80,000
- Civil engineers
- $79,370
- Accountants & auditors
- $70,000
- Elementary school teachers
- $69,920
- Plumbers
- $66,410
- Secondary school teachers
- $65,870
- Electricians
- $65,820
- Carpenters
- $56,850
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,770
- Construction laborers
- $46,480
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,760
- Customer service reps
- $41,720
- Janitors
- $33,840
- Retail salespersons
- $28,610
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,590
- Cashiers
- $28,340
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 Erie metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Pennsylvania are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York1,109
- Ohio661
- Florida517
- California251
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Erie
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Erie metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Erie metro?
- Median gross rent across the Erie, PA Metro Area is $888 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Erie.
- What is the median household income in the Erie metro?
- A typical household in the Erie, PA Metro Area earns $63,322 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Erie expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Erie, PA Metro Area runs about 9% 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 Erie metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $69,623 (versus its face value of $63,322). CityLedger rates the Erie, PA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Erie metro?
- The median home value across the Erie, PA Metro Area is $200,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Erie metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Erie, PA Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).