Saginaw, MI
Saginaw, MI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Saginaw, MI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Saginaw ranks 273rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 268th for income. A household earns $61,455 a year while median rent runs $972/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 9% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is home prices (8th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 31st and home prices 8th 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 Saginaw, your take-home is worth about $63,951 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
- 268th of 300↑27.2%$61,455
- 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.
- 67th of 30091 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $67,614
- Per-capita income
- $34,462
- Full-time pay
- $40,267
Housing
- Median rent
- 31st of 300↑27.7%$972/mo
- Home value
- 8th of 300↑46.8%$159,000
- Property tax
- $2,412/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 243rd of 30025.7%
- Avg commute
- 100th of 30022.9 min
People
- Population
- 187,714
- Population change
- -1.5%
- Median age
- 41.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2.7%
- Broadband
- 89.1%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 152nd of 300$13/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 240th of 30022.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.6%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 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
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — saginaw mbs intl ap.
What jobs pay in Saginaw
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $236,610
- Pharmacists
- $144,470
- IT managers
- $143,910
- Financial managers
- $129,020
- Lawyers
- $104,760
- Software developers
- $101,430
- Registered nurses
- $95,160
- General & operations managers
- $81,950
- Civil engineers
- $81,190
- Plumbers
- $80,440
- Electricians
- $79,860
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,310
- Elementary school teachers
- $73,810
- Secondary school teachers
- $66,300
- Carpenters
- $62,240
- Police officers
- $60,070
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $50,200
- Construction laborers
- $49,000
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,620
- Waiters & waitresses
- $39,430
- Customer service reps
- $36,150
- Janitors
- $34,720
- Retail salespersons
- $31,210
- Cashiers
- $29,300
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 Saginaw 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.
- Indiana260
- Florida235
- Illinois198
- Georgia190
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Saginaw
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Saginaw metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Saginaw metro?
- Median gross rent across the Saginaw, MI Metro Area is $972 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Saginaw.
- What is the median household income in the Saginaw metro?
- A typical household in the Saginaw, MI Metro Area earns $61,455 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Saginaw expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Saginaw, MI Metro Area runs about 9% 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 Saginaw metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $67,614 (versus its face value of $61,455). CityLedger rates the Saginaw, MI Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Saginaw metro?
- The median home value across the Saginaw, MI Metro Area is $159,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Saginaw metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Saginaw, MI Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).