Memphis, TN
Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Memphis ranks 216th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 215th for income. A household earns $68,124 a year while median rent runs $1,330/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (94th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (278th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 170th and home prices 127th 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 Memphis, your take-home is worth about $66,516 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
- 215th of 300↑24.2%$68,124
- 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.
- 94th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,904
- Per-capita income
- $38,828
- Full-time pay
- $42,771
Housing
- Median rent
- 170th of 300↑40.1%$1,330/mo
- Home value
- 127th of 300↑67%$282,900
- Property tax
- $1,898/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 9.56%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 246th of 3005.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 172nd of 30031.9%
- Avg commute
- 160th of 30024.4 min
People
- Population
- 1,337,653
- Population change
- -0.5%
- Median age
- 37.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6.6%
- Broadband
- 92.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 278th of 30056
- Natural-hazard loss
- 203rd of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 257th of 30022.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 12.1%
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
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — memphis intl ap.
What jobs pay in Memphis
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $256,240
- IT managers
- $161,790
- Financial managers
- $143,880
- Lawyers
- $134,440
- Pharmacists
- $134,220
- Software developers
- $125,580
- General & operations managers
- $102,510
- Civil engineers
- $96,100
- Registered nurses
- $81,500
- Web developers
- $79,690
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,960
- Police officers
- $75,410
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $63,070
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,230
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,510
- Electricians
- $60,890
- Plumbers
- $58,690
- Carpenters
- $50,620
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,140
- Construction laborers
- $44,810
- Customer service reps
- $44,090
- Janitors
- $32,580
- Retail salespersons
- $32,580
- Cashiers
- $29,160
- Waiters & waitresses
- $24,550
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 Memphis 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.
- Texas1,754
- Florida1,503
- California1,339
- Illinois1,288
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Memphis
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Memphis metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Memphis metro?
- Median gross rent across the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area is $1,330 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Memphis.
- What is the median household income in the Memphis metro?
- A typical household in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area earns $68,124 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Memphis expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area runs about 8% 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 Memphis metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,904 (versus its face value of $68,124). CityLedger rates the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Memphis metro?
- The median home value across the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area is $282,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Memphis metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area is 5.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).