Fort Wayne, IN
Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Fort Wayne ranks 186th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 193rd for income. A household earns $71,251 a year while median rent runs $1,056/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (63rd of 300), while household income is the soft spot (193rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 63rd and home prices 83rd 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 Fort Wayne, your take-home is worth about $63,803 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
- 193rd of 300↑24.4%$71,251
- 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.
- 101st of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $76,968
- Per-capita income
- $39,592
- Full-time pay
- $42,376
Housing
- Median rent
- 63rd of 300↑35.4%$1,056/mo
- Home value
- 83rd of 300↑70.9%$245,800
- Property tax
- $1,920/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 63rd of 3003.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 185th of 30031.1%
- Avg commute
- 100th of 30022.9 min
People
- Population
- 462,978
- Population change
- +12%
- Median age
- 37.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.6%
- Broadband
- 91.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 83rd of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 170th of 30019.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — ft wayne intl ap.
What jobs pay in Fort Wayne
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $225,750
- Pharmacists
- $152,530
- IT managers
- $138,350
- Financial managers
- $130,900
- Lawyers
- $126,520
- General & operations managers
- $107,780
- Software developers
- $101,560
- Civil engineers
- $88,920
- Registered nurses
- $79,630
- Police officers
- $79,210
- Plumbers
- $77,110
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,250
- Web developers
- $72,180
- Electricians
- $71,290
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,290
- Carpenters
- $60,400
- Elementary school teachers
- $59,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,050
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,250
- Construction laborers
- $47,480
- Customer service reps
- $45,200
- Janitors
- $36,500
- Retail salespersons
- $31,200
- Cashiers
- $29,590
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,650
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 Fort Wayne metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Indiana are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Ohio1,384
- Michigan1,200
- Kentucky539
- Arizona533
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Fort Wayne
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Fort Wayne metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Fort Wayne metro?
- Median gross rent across the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area is $1,056 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Fort Wayne.
- What is the median household income in the Fort Wayne metro?
- A typical household in the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area earns $71,251 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Fort Wayne expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Fort Wayne metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $76,968 (versus its face value of $71,251). CityLedger rates the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Fort Wayne metro?
- The median home value across the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area is $245,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Fort Wayne metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Fort Wayne, IN Metro Area is 3.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).