Mobile, AL
Mobile, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Mobile, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Mobile ranks 269th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 276th for income. A household earns $60,379 a year while median rent runs $1,106/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 12% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (30th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (276th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 90th and home prices 37th 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 Mobile, your take-home is worth about $65,556 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
- 276th of 300↑21.8%$60,379
- 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.
- 30th of 30088 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $68,536
- Per-capita income
- $33,576
- Full-time pay
- $40,399
Housing
- Median rent
- 90th of 300↑31.2%$1,106/mo
- Home value
- 37th of 300↑49.2%$207,400
- Property tax
- $963/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 246th of 3005.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 229th of 30027.5%
- Avg commute
- 170th of 30024.7 min
People
- Population
- 412,339
- Population change
- -3.7%
- Median age
- 39.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4%
- Broadband
- 92.7%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 141st of 30045
- Natural-hazard loss
- 263rd of 300$30/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 240th of 30022.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.5%
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
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — mobile.
What jobs pay in Mobile
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $137,650
- Financial managers
- $135,780
- Pharmacists
- $134,570
- Lawyers
- $130,490
- Software developers
- $122,540
- Civil engineers
- $107,810
- General & operations managers
- $106,690
- Registered nurses
- $79,490
- Web developers
- $73,260
- Accountants & auditors
- $72,130
- Electricians
- $61,720
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,550
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,970
- Plumbers
- $59,410
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $51,010
- Carpenters
- $48,540
- Police officers
- $47,000
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $38,910
- Customer service reps
- $37,690
- Construction laborers
- $36,830
- Janitors
- $30,420
- Retail salespersons
- $29,710
- Cashiers
- $28,240
- Waiters & waitresses
- $26,860
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 Mobile metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Alabama are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Mississippi1,069
- Florida1,037
- Tennessee870
- Texas681
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Mobile
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Mobile metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Mobile metro?
- Median gross rent across the Mobile, AL Metro Area is $1,106 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Mobile.
- What is the median household income in the Mobile metro?
- A typical household in the Mobile, AL Metro Area earns $60,379 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Mobile expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Mobile, AL Metro Area runs about 12% 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 Mobile metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $68,536 (versus its face value of $60,379). CityLedger rates the Mobile, AL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Mobile metro?
- The median home value across the Mobile, AL Metro Area is $207,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Mobile metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Mobile, AL Metro Area is 5.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).