Lafayette, IN
Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lafayette ranks 234th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 219th for income. A household earns $67,515 a year while median rent runs $1,126/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (25th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (234th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 105th and home prices 117th 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 Lafayette, your take-home is worth about $63,217 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
- 219th of 300↑35.3%$67,515
- 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.
- 126th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $72,263
- Per-capita income
- $36,287
- Full-time pay
- $36,913
Housing
- Median rent
- 105th of 300↑27.7%$1,126/mo
- Home value
- 117th of 300↑82.8%$274,600
- Property tax
- $1,712/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 72nd of 3003.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 112th of 30036.8%
- Avg commute
- 25th of 30020.1 min
People
- Population
- 231,353
- Population change
- -1%
- Median age
- 31.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10.1%
- Broadband
- 92.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 27th of 300$8/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 190th of 30019.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.9%
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
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lafayette purdue univ ap.
What jobs pay in Lafayette
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $133,270
- Pharmacists
- $122,990
- Financial managers
- $121,020
- Lawyers
- $100,650
- General & operations managers
- $100,600
- Software developers
- $99,750
- Civil engineers
- $87,380
- Registered nurses
- $80,790
- Electricians
- $78,540
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,740
- Police officers
- $74,320
- Carpenters
- $63,050
- Plumbers
- $62,780
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,590
- Elementary school teachers
- $59,590
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,360
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $55,480
- Construction laborers
- $49,960
- Customer service reps
- $41,090
- Janitors
- $38,450
- Retail salespersons
- $30,670
- Cashiers
- $29,540
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,420
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 Lafayette 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.
- Illinois2,043
- Ohio955
- California802
- Michigan434
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lafayette
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lafayette metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lafayette metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area is $1,126 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lafayette.
- What is the median household income in the Lafayette metro?
- A typical household in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area earns $67,515 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lafayette expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Lafayette metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $72,263 (versus its face value of $67,515). CityLedger rates the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lafayette metro?
- The median home value across the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area is $274,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lafayette metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area is 3.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).