Florence, AL
Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Florence ranks 167th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 224th for income. A household earns $66,882 a year while median rent runs $877/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 15% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (5th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (224th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 9th and home prices 52nd 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 Florence, your take-home is worth about $68,092 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
- 224th of 300↑46%$66,882
- 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.
- 5th of 30085 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $78,854
- Per-capita income
- $36,687
- Full-time pay
- $41,027
Housing
- Median rent
- 9th of 300↑34.1%$877/mo
- Home value
- 52nd of 300↑50.2%$218,600
- Property tax
- $910/yr · 0.4%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 199th of 30030.3%
- Avg commute
- 80th of 30022.3 min
People
- Population
- 156,287
- Population change
- +5.6%
- Median age
- 41.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 1.7%
- Broadband
- 91.2%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 198th of 300$15/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 219th of 30020.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.8%
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
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Household income
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — muscle shoals 2 n.
What jobs pay in Florence
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $130,540
- Financial managers
- $128,830
- Software developers
- $116,260
- IT managers
- $109,970
- Civil engineers
- $100,300
- Lawyers
- $98,850
- General & operations managers
- $97,600
- Accountants & auditors
- $67,600
- Registered nurses
- $66,360
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,080
- Plumbers
- $60,590
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,580
- Electricians
- $59,770
- Police officers
- $56,010
- Carpenters
- $51,740
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,140
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,660
- Customer service reps
- $37,520
- Construction laborers
- $36,260
- Janitors
- $29,540
- Retail salespersons
- $28,980
- Cashiers
- $27,310
- Waiters & waitresses
- $25,990
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 Florence 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.
- Tennessee886
- Texas830
- Florida550
- Mississippi419
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Florence
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Florence metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Florence metro?
- Median gross rent across the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area is $877 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Florence.
- What is the median household income in the Florence metro?
- A typical household in the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area earns $66,882 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Florence expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area runs about 15% 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 Florence metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $78,854 (versus its face value of $66,882). CityLedger rates the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Florence metro?
- The median home value across the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area is $218,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Florence metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).