Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Indianapolis ranks 115th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 118th for income. A household earns $80,239 a year while median rent runs $1,273/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (81st of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 158th and home prices 137th 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 Indianapolis, your take-home is worth about $61,720 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
- 118th of 300↑28.4%$80,239
- 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.
- 161st of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $83,848
- Per-capita income
- $43,861
- Full-time pay
- $48,770
Housing
- Median rent
- 158th of 300↑36.6%$1,273/mo
- Home value
- 137th of 300↑58.5%$291,400
- Property tax
- $2,409/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 109th of 3004%
- Bachelor's+
- 81st of 30039.4%
- Avg commute
- 202nd of 30025.6 min
People
- Population
- 2,173,288
- Population change
- +4.7%
- Median age
- 37.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 11%
- Broadband
- 94.7%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 273rd of 30055
- Natural-hazard loss
- 109th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 139th of 30018.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.6%
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
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — indianapolis eagle creek ap.
What jobs pay in Indianapolis
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $287,130
- IT managers
- $155,230
- Pharmacists
- $151,050
- Financial managers
- $146,620
- General & operations managers
- $120,480
- Software developers
- $106,870
- Civil engineers
- $101,830
- Registered nurses
- $84,230
- Police officers
- $83,110
- Web developers
- $82,820
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,290
- Plumbers
- $76,980
- Electricians
- $65,130
- Carpenters
- $65,070
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,570
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,980
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,510
- Construction laborers
- $51,040
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,520
- Customer service reps
- $43,460
- Janitors
- $36,850
- Retail salespersons
- $31,530
- Cashiers
- $29,890
- Waiters & waitresses
- $29,050
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 Indianapolis 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.
- Illinois5,286
- Ohio3,994
- Florida3,471
- California3,026
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Indianapolis
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Indianapolis metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Indianapolis metro?
- Median gross rent across the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area is $1,273 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Indianapolis.
- What is the median household income in the Indianapolis metro?
- A typical household in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area earns $80,239 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Indianapolis expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area runs about 4% 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 Indianapolis metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $83,848 (versus its face value of $80,239). CityLedger rates the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Indianapolis metro?
- The median home value across the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area is $291,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Indianapolis metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Metro Area is 4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).