New York, NY
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, New York ranks 67th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 26th for income. A household earns $99,852 a year while median rent runs $1,851/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 13% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (26th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (300th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 272nd and home prices 284th 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 New York, your take-home is worth about $51,343 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less 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
- 26th of 300↑20.1%$99,852
- 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.
- 297th of 300113 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $88,708
- Per-capita income
- $55,724
- Full-time pay
- $55,335
Housing
- Median rent
- 272nd of 300↑24.9%$1,851/mo
- Home value
- 284th of 300↑34.4%$648,800
- Property tax
- $9,973/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 8.53%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 252nd of 3005.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 30th of 30045%
- Avg commute
- 300th of 30036.5 min
People
- Population
- 19,940,274
- Population change
- +3.8%
- Median age
- 39.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 30.8%
- Broadband
- 94.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 248th of 30052
- Natural-hazard loss
- 83rd of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 108th of 30017.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.1%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — laguardia ap.
What jobs pay in New York
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $249,150
- Financial managers
- $221,010
- IT managers
- $215,300
- Lawyers
- $208,880
- Software developers
- $166,830
- General & operations managers
- $157,000
- Pharmacists
- $141,320
- Registered nurses
- $119,720
- Civil engineers
- $107,330
- Accountants & auditors
- $105,650
- Police officers
- $105,540
- Web developers
- $104,820
- Secondary school teachers
- $100,800
- Elementary school teachers
- $96,900
- Electricians
- $79,020
- Plumbers
- $78,610
- Carpenters
- $74,300
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $65,040
- Construction laborers
- $61,270
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $59,550
- Customer service reps
- $49,590
- Waiters & waitresses
- $47,610
- Janitors
- $42,840
- Retail salespersons
- $38,280
- Cashiers
- $35,950
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 New York metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New York are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California27,205
- Pennsylvania21,372
- Florida19,674
- Massachusetts14,239
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like New York
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
New York metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the New York metro?
- Median gross rent across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area is $1,851 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of New York.
- What is the median household income in the New York metro?
- A typical household in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area earns $99,852 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is New York expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area runs about 13% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the New York metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $88,708 (versus its face value of $99,852). CityLedger rates the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the New York metro?
- The median home value across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area is $648,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the New York metro?
- The unemployment rate in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area is 5.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).