Monroe, MI
Monroe, MI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Monroe, MI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Monroe ranks 144th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 149th for income. A household earns $75,766 a year while median rent runs $1,002/mo, making it moderately affordable for 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 air quality (3rd of 300), while education is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 45th and home prices 93rd 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 Monroe, your take-home is worth about $62,172 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
- 149th of 300↑20.6%$75,766
- 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.
- 128th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,040
- Per-capita income
- $40,992
- Full-time pay
- $48,165
Housing
- Median rent
- 45th of 300↑21.2%$1,002/mo
- Home value
- 93rd of 300↑46.4%$253,500
- Property tax
- $2,814/yr · 1.1%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 189th of 3004.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 273rd of 30023.2%
- Avg commute
- 193rd of 30025.4 min
People
- Population
- 156,045
- Population change
- +3.7%
- Median age
- 43.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 1.7%
- Broadband
- 92%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 3rd of 30018
- Natural-hazard loss
- 121st of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 127th of 30017.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Education
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — detroit willow run ap.
What jobs pay in Monroe
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $153,080
- Financial managers
- $140,110
- Pharmacists
- $130,360
- Lawyers
- $104,020
- Software developers
- $98,270
- Civil engineers
- $96,610
- General & operations managers
- $93,690
- Registered nurses
- $82,170
- Plumbers
- $80,700
- Electricians
- $80,620
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,080
- Police officers
- $65,300
- Secondary school teachers
- $64,390
- Elementary school teachers
- $63,030
- Carpenters
- $59,750
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,510
- Construction laborers
- $51,200
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $44,750
- Customer service reps
- $41,650
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,780
- Janitors
- $35,880
- Retail salespersons
- $34,620
- Cashiers
- $29,320
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 Monroe metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Michigan are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Ohio1,259
- California373
- Florida232
- Delaware165
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Monroe
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Monroe metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Monroe metro?
- Median gross rent across the Monroe, MI Metro Area is $1,002 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Monroe.
- What is the median household income in the Monroe metro?
- A typical household in the Monroe, MI Metro Area earns $75,766 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Monroe expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Monroe, MI 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 Monroe metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,040 (versus its face value of $75,766). CityLedger rates the Monroe, MI Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Monroe metro?
- The median home value across the Monroe, MI Metro Area is $253,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Monroe metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Monroe, MI Metro Area is 4.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).