Gainesville, GA
Gainesville, GA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Gainesville, GA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Gainesville ranks 55th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 70th for income. A household earns $87,038 a year while median rent runs $1,581/mo, making it moderately affordable for 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 affordability (55th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (248th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 230th and home prices 209th 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 $59,984 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
- 70th of 300↑29%$87,038
- 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.
- 177th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $89,947
- Per-capita income
- $41,555
- Full-time pay
- $41,762
Housing
- Median rent
- 230th of 300↑62.3%$1,581/mo
- Home value
- 209th of 300↑70.3%$388,000
- Property tax
- $3,108/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 7.42%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 57th of 3003.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 202nd of 30030.1%
- Avg commute
- 234th of 30027.3 min
People
- Population
- 221,745
- Population change
- +8.5%
- Median age
- 38.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 16.2%
- Broadband
- 93.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 248th of 30052
- Natural-hazard loss
- 88th of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 219th of 30020.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 18.6%
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
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — gainesville lee gilmer mem 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
- $205,820
- IT managers
- $156,450
- Financial managers
- $144,850
- Pharmacists
- $135,920
- Software developers
- $121,940
- General & operations managers
- $95,710
- Civil engineers
- $77,950
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,200
- Elementary school teachers
- $64,780
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,950
- Police officers
- $61,400
- Electricians
- $58,330
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,770
- Plumbers
- $51,170
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,350
- Carpenters
- $46,260
- Customer service reps
- $39,310
- Construction laborers
- $38,280
- Janitors
- $33,350
- Retail salespersons
- $31,870
- Cashiers
- $29,320
- Waiters & waitresses
- $17,980
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 Georgia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida1,118
- New York352
- Washington316
- New Jersey315
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, GA Metro Area is $1,581 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, GA Metro Area earns $87,038 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Gainesville expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Gainesville, GA 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 $89,947 (versus its face value of $87,038). CityLedger rates the Gainesville, GA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Gainesville metro?
- The median home value across the Gainesville, GA Metro Area is $388,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Gainesville metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Gainesville, GA Metro Area is 3.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).