Lynchburg, VA
Lynchburg, VA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lynchburg, VA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lynchburg ranks 218th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 237th for income. A household earns $65,735 a year while median rent runs $1,065/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (13th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (237th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 68th and home prices 111th 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 Lynchburg, your take-home is worth about $64,621 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
- 237th of 300↑13.9%$65,735
- 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.
- 47th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,560
- Per-capita income
- $34,697
- Full-time pay
- $38,229
Housing
- Median rent
- 68th of 300↑27.7%$1,065/mo
- Home value
- 111th of 300↑54.4%$268,700
- Property tax
- $1,198/yr · 0.4%
- Sales tax
- 5.77%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 84th of 3003.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 176th of 30031.6%
- Avg commute
- 124th of 30023.5 min
People
- Population
- 267,427
- Population change
- +0.5%
- Median age
- 39.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.6%
- Broadband
- 89.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 13th of 30028
- Natural-hazard loss
- 38th of 300$8/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 164th of 30018.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.8%
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
- + Job market
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lynchburg rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Lynchburg
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $177,430
- IT managers
- $166,840
- Financial managers
- $155,370
- Pharmacists
- $144,090
- Lawyers
- $122,110
- Software developers
- $109,840
- Civil engineers
- $96,100
- General & operations managers
- $95,040
- Registered nurses
- $80,450
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,990
- Electricians
- $58,750
- Secondary school teachers
- $58,290
- Police officers
- $58,150
- Plumbers
- $57,210
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $55,020
- Elementary school teachers
- $50,470
- Carpenters
- $48,270
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,920
- Construction laborers
- $38,400
- Customer service reps
- $37,670
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,780
- Janitors
- $31,500
- Retail salespersons
- $30,570
- Cashiers
- $28,390
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 Lynchburg metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Virginia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- North Carolina715
- Maryland643
- Texas445
- Florida432
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lynchburg
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lynchburg metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lynchburg metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area is $1,065 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lynchburg.
- What is the median household income in the Lynchburg metro?
- A typical household in the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area earns $65,735 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lynchburg expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area runs about 11% 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 Lynchburg metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,560 (versus its face value of $65,735). CityLedger rates the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lynchburg metro?
- The median home value across the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area is $268,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lynchburg metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lynchburg, VA Metro Area is 3.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).