Spokane, WA
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Spokane ranks 112th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 79th for income. A household earns $84,350 a year while median rent runs $1,405/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 0% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (17th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (233rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 185th and home prices 233rd 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 Spokane, your take-home is worth about $61,102 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
- 79th of 300↑41.4%$84,350
- 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.
- 228th of 300100 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $84,059
- Per-capita income
- $43,589
- Full-time pay
- $49,153
Housing
- Median rent
- 185th of 300↑50.4%$1,405/mo
- Home value
- 233rd of 300↑68%$434,300
- Property tax
- $3,486/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 138th of 3004.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 148th of 30033.7%
- Avg commute
- 89th of 30022.5 min
People
- Population
- 604,962
- Population change
- +6.4%
- Median age
- 39.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.4%
- Broadband
- 93.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 17th of 300$7/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 105th of 30017.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.5%
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
- + Household income
- + Commute
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — deer park ap.
What jobs pay in Spokane
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $172,900
- Financial managers
- $159,530
- Pharmacists
- $155,560
- Software developers
- $130,690
- Lawyers
- $123,880
- General & operations managers
- $119,420
- Registered nurses
- $111,750
- Civil engineers
- $100,510
- Secondary school teachers
- $99,410
- Elementary school teachers
- $98,800
- Police officers
- $95,660
- Web developers
- $92,310
- Accountants & auditors
- $86,350
- Electricians
- $79,830
- Plumbers
- $72,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $62,980
- Carpenters
- $61,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $52,280
- Construction laborers
- $51,010
- Waiters & waitresses
- $48,560
- Customer service reps
- $46,790
- Janitors
- $40,070
- Retail salespersons
- $36,880
- Cashiers
- $36,290
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 Spokane metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Washington are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Idaho3,905
- California3,829
- Oregon1,824
- Arizona854
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Spokane
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Spokane metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Spokane metro?
- Median gross rent across the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area is $1,405 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Spokane.
- What is the median household income in the Spokane metro?
- A typical household in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area earns $84,350 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Spokane expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area runs about 0% 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 Spokane metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $84,059 (versus its face value of $84,350). CityLedger rates the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Spokane metro?
- The median home value across the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area is $434,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Spokane metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metro Area is 4.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).