Raleigh, NC
Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Raleigh ranks 7th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 19th for income. A household earns $102,144 a year while median rent runs $1,674/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (7th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (249th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 248th and home prices 249th 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 Raleigh, your take-home is worth about $59,769 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
- 19th of 300↑27.5%$102,144
- 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.
- 195th of 30098 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $104,062
- Per-capita income
- $54,982
- Full-time pay
- $56,878
Housing
- Median rent
- 248th of 300↑46.1%$1,674/mo
- Home value
- 249th of 300↑63.1%$465,800
- Property tax
- $3,082/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 72nd of 3003.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 11th of 30052.5%
- Avg commute
- 241st of 30027.4 min
People
- Population
- 1,562,009
- Population change
- +12.3%
- Median age
- 37.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 15.4%
- Broadband
- 96.5%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 103rd of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 15th of 30014.5%
- 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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — raleigh ap.
What jobs pay in Raleigh
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $218,830
- IT managers
- $173,960
- Financial managers
- $163,130
- Pharmacists
- $133,120
- Software developers
- $132,770
- Lawyers
- $131,920
- General & operations managers
- $114,940
- Civil engineers
- $101,440
- Registered nurses
- $84,830
- Web developers
- $82,250
- Accountants & auditors
- $81,950
- Police officers
- $65,860
- Plumbers
- $60,540
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,380
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,170
- Electricians
- $56,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $52,110
- Carpenters
- $50,820
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,870
- Construction laborers
- $45,650
- Customer service reps
- $41,900
- Janitors
- $34,980
- Waiters & waitresses
- $34,860
- Retail salespersons
- $33,100
- Cashiers
- $29,770
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 Raleigh metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in North Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York4,684
- Virginia3,979
- Florida3,597
- California3,553
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Raleigh
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Raleigh metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Raleigh metro?
- Median gross rent across the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area is $1,674 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Raleigh.
- What is the median household income in the Raleigh metro?
- A typical household in the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area earns $102,144 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Raleigh expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area runs about 2% 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 Raleigh metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $104,062 (versus its face value of $102,144). CityLedger rates the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Raleigh metro?
- The median home value across the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area is $465,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Raleigh metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area is 3.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).