Harrisburg, PA
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Harrisburg ranks 129th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 112th for income. A household earns $80,904 a year while median rent runs $1,254/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (45th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (205th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 149th and home prices 126th 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 Harrisburg, your take-home is worth about $59,819 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
- 112th of 300↑20.6%$80,904
- 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.
- 205th of 30099 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $82,011
- Per-capita income
- $43,964
- Full-time pay
- $46,519
Housing
- Median rent
- 149th of 300↑32.6%$1,254/mo
- Home value
- 126th of 300↑51.4%$282,600
- Property tax
- $3,160/yr · 1.1%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 50th of 3003.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 117th of 30036.4%
- Avg commute
- 89th of 30022.5 min
People
- Population
- 615,361
- Population change
- +6.5%
- Median age
- 40.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.3%
- Broadband
- 93%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 177th of 30048
- Natural-hazard loss
- 115th of 300$11/$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
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — harrisburg capital city ap.
What jobs pay in Harrisburg
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $295,420
- IT managers
- $146,300
- Pharmacists
- $135,480
- Financial managers
- $133,080
- Lawyers
- $131,440
- Software developers
- $109,470
- General & operations managers
- $101,890
- Registered nurses
- $96,770
- Civil engineers
- $93,830
- Police officers
- $84,470
- Web developers
- $83,560
- Elementary school teachers
- $77,160
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,510
- Plumbers
- $73,560
- Secondary school teachers
- $72,860
- Electricians
- $71,820
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,520
- Carpenters
- $57,690
- Construction laborers
- $49,670
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,250
- Customer service reps
- $42,600
- Janitors
- $36,710
- Waiters & waitresses
- $34,260
- Retail salespersons
- $30,500
- Cashiers
- $29,330
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 Harrisburg 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 York2,321
- Maryland1,685
- Florida932
- New Jersey854
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Harrisburg
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Harrisburg metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Harrisburg metro?
- Median gross rent across the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area is $1,254 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Harrisburg.
- What is the median household income in the Harrisburg metro?
- A typical household in the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area earns $80,904 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Harrisburg expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Harrisburg metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $82,011 (versus its face value of $80,904). CityLedger rates the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Harrisburg metro?
- The median home value across the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area is $282,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Harrisburg metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area is 3.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).