Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Salt Lake City ranks 17th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 24th for income. A household earns $100,548 a year while median rent runs $1,659/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (17th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (278th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 247th and home prices 269th 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 Salt Lake City, your take-home is worth about $57,440 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
- 24th of 300↑25.4%$100,548
- 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.
- 236th of 300101 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $99,683
- Per-capita income
- $45,363
- Full-time pay
- $48,600
Housing
- Median rent
- 247th of 300↑40.5%$1,659/mo
- Home value
- 269th of 300↑61.4%$575,200
- Property tax
- $2,929/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.32%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 109th of 3004%
- Bachelor's+
- 70th of 30040.5%
- Avg commute
- 124th of 30023.5 min
People
- Population
- 1,300,762
- Population change
- +5.5%
- Median age
- 34.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 13.8%
- Broadband
- 93.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 278th of 30056
- Natural-hazard loss
- 214th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 70th of 30016.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.5%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — granite peak dugway proving gr.
What jobs pay in Salt Lake City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $296,510
- IT managers
- $160,810
- Financial managers
- $158,720
- Pharmacists
- $147,010
- Lawyers
- $136,990
- Software developers
- $129,600
- General & operations managers
- $103,710
- Civil engineers
- $98,800
- Web developers
- $88,770
- Registered nurses
- $85,890
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,100
- Police officers
- $80,970
- Elementary school teachers
- $77,920
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,490
- Plumbers
- $64,800
- Electricians
- $62,620
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $62,310
- Carpenters
- $59,870
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $52,650
- Construction laborers
- $47,460
- Customer service reps
- $45,410
- Janitors
- $34,970
- Retail salespersons
- $34,420
- Cashiers
- $33,390
- Waiters & waitresses
- $32,320
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 Salt Lake City metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Utah are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California5,140
- Idaho2,750
- Washington2,568
- Arizona1,817
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Salt Lake City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Salt Lake City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Salt Lake City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area is $1,659 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Salt Lake City.
- What is the median household income in the Salt Lake City metro?
- A typical household in the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area earns $100,548 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Salt Lake City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Salt Lake City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $99,683 (versus its face value of $100,548). CityLedger rates the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Salt Lake City metro?
- The median home value across the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area is $575,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Salt Lake City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT Metro Area is 4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).