Spartanburg, SC
Spartanburg, SC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Spartanburg, SC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Spartanburg ranks 201st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 211th for income. A household earns $68,505 a year while median rent runs $1,139/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 cost of living (71st of 300), while education is the soft spot (259th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 110th and home prices 96th 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 Spartanburg, your take-home is worth about $64,140 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
- 211th of 300↑23.8%$68,505
- 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.
- 71st of 30091 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $75,238
- Per-capita income
- $34,914
- Full-time pay
- $42,212
Housing
- Median rent
- 110th of 300↑35.4%$1,139/mo
- Home value
- 96th of 300↑62.3%$257,800
- Property tax
- $1,325/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.50%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 198th of 3004.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 259th of 30024.5%
- Avg commute
- 247th of 30027.6 min
People
- Population
- 395,934
- Population change
- +23.8%
- Median age
- 38.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.9%
- Broadband
- 92%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 185th of 30049
- Natural-hazard loss
- 73rd of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 217th of 30020.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 13.5%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Home prices
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — greer.
What jobs pay in Spartanburg
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $241,070
- IT managers
- $158,660
- Pharmacists
- $153,610
- Financial managers
- $139,230
- Lawyers
- $120,310
- Software developers
- $114,460
- General & operations managers
- $108,100
- Registered nurses
- $82,360
- Civil engineers
- $79,400
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,080
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,910
- Electricians
- $62,050
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,990
- Police officers
- $57,030
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,110
- Plumbers
- $52,640
- Carpenters
- $51,750
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $50,700
- Customer service reps
- $42,220
- Construction laborers
- $42,210
- Janitors
- $31,620
- Retail salespersons
- $30,540
- Cashiers
- $29,960
- Waiters & waitresses
- $18,370
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 Spartanburg metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in South Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- North Carolina1,929
- California1,025
- Florida843
- Washington508
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Spartanburg
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Spartanburg metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Spartanburg metro?
- Median gross rent across the Spartanburg, SC Metro Area is $1,139 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Spartanburg.
- What is the median household income in the Spartanburg metro?
- A typical household in the Spartanburg, SC Metro Area earns $68,505 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Spartanburg expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Spartanburg, SC 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 Spartanburg metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $75,238 (versus its face value of $68,505). CityLedger rates the Spartanburg, SC Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Spartanburg metro?
- The median home value across the Spartanburg, SC Metro Area is $257,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Spartanburg metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Spartanburg, SC Metro Area is 4.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).