Jackson, TN
Jackson, TN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Jackson, TN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Jackson ranks 225th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 257th for income. A household earns $62,566 a year while median rent runs $1,102/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 14% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (8th of 300), while health is the soft spot (278th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 86th and home prices 40th 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 Jackson, your take-home is worth about $71,693 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
- 257th of 300↑28.5%$62,566
- 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.
- 8th of 30086 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,158
- Per-capita income
- $33,931
- Full-time pay
- $41,580
Housing
- Median rent
- 86th of 300↑42.7%$1,102/mo
- Home value
- 40th of 300↑72.4%$209,300
- Property tax
- $1,031/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 9.56%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 63rd of 3003.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 224th of 30027.8%
- Avg commute
- 129th of 30023.6 min
People
- Population
- 183,680
- Population change
- +2.8%
- Median age
- 38.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.3%
- Broadband
- 91.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 15th of 30033
- Natural-hazard loss
- 230th of 300$18/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 278th of 30024.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 12.6%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — jackson mckellar- sipes ap.
What jobs pay in Jackson
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $140,540
- Lawyers
- $133,770
- Financial managers
- $131,090
- IT managers
- $130,280
- General & operations managers
- $98,040
- Software developers
- $96,540
- Civil engineers
- $93,070
- Registered nurses
- $75,610
- Accountants & auditors
- $71,980
- Electricians
- $60,360
- Secondary school teachers
- $59,700
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $55,160
- Police officers
- $53,320
- Plumbers
- $52,620
- Elementary school teachers
- $51,470
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,080
- Carpenters
- $47,950
- Construction laborers
- $44,610
- Customer service reps
- $38,680
- Janitors
- $33,900
- Retail salespersons
- $30,990
- Cashiers
- $27,690
- Waiters & waitresses
- $20,490
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 Jackson metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Tennessee are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida535
- Mississippi441
- Illinois440
- Missouri259
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Jackson
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Jackson metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Jackson metro?
- Median gross rent across the Jackson, TN Metro Area is $1,102 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Jackson.
- What is the median household income in the Jackson metro?
- A typical household in the Jackson, TN Metro Area earns $62,566 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Jackson expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Jackson, TN Metro Area runs about 14% 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 Jackson metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,158 (versus its face value of $62,566). CityLedger rates the Jackson, TN Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Jackson metro?
- The median home value across the Jackson, TN Metro Area is $209,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Jackson metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Jackson, TN Metro Area is 3.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).