Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, FL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Gainesville, FL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Gainesville ranks 292nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 264th for income. A household earns $61,949 a year while median rent runs $1,377/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (26th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (292nd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 179th and home prices 152nd 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 Gainesville, your take-home is worth about $63,384 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
- 264th of 300↑29.7%$61,949
- 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.
- 175th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $64,041
- Per-capita income
- $37,530
- Full-time pay
- $38,843
Housing
- Median rent
- 179th of 300↑41.7%$1,377/mo
- Home value
- 152nd of 300↑59.3%$305,300
- Property tax
- $2,588/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 6.95%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 26th of 30045.9%
- Avg commute
- 139th of 30023.9 min
People
- Population
- 360,881
- Population change
- +9.9%
- Median age
- 34.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10.1%
- Broadband
- 91.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 42nd of 30038
- Natural-hazard loss
- 206th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 157th of 30018.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 12.7%
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
- + Education
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — gainesville rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Gainesville
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $222,820
- IT managers
- $146,090
- Lawyers
- $132,160
- Pharmacists
- $129,260
- Software developers
- $122,950
- Financial managers
- $108,850
- Civil engineers
- $97,710
- General & operations managers
- $93,220
- Web developers
- $82,730
- Registered nurses
- $81,870
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,820
- Police officers
- $63,050
- Secondary school teachers
- $58,730
- Elementary school teachers
- $56,430
- Electricians
- $55,680
- Plumbers
- $51,600
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,930
- Carpenters
- $48,040
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,560
- Construction laborers
- $41,670
- Customer service reps
- $38,550
- Janitors
- $35,500
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,400
- Retail salespersons
- $31,830
- Cashiers
- $29,710
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 Gainesville metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Florida are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Virginia771
- California698
- Georgia610
- New York519
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Gainesville
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Gainesville metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Gainesville metro?
- Median gross rent across the Gainesville, FL Metro Area is $1,377 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Gainesville.
- What is the median household income in the Gainesville metro?
- A typical household in the Gainesville, FL Metro Area earns $61,949 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Gainesville expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Gainesville, FL Metro Area runs about 3% 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 Gainesville metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $64,041 (versus its face value of $61,949). CityLedger rates the Gainesville, FL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Gainesville metro?
- The median home value across the Gainesville, FL Metro Area is $305,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Gainesville metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Gainesville, FL Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).