Springfield, IL
Springfield, IL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Springfield, IL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Springfield ranks 88th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 119th for income. A household earns $80,190 a year while median rent runs $1,047/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (13th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (119th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 59th and home prices 29th 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 Springfield, your take-home is worth about $62,107 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
- 119th of 300↑28.9%$80,190
- 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.
- 110th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $86,463
- Per-capita income
- $48,206
- Full-time pay
- $51,655
Housing
- Median rent
- 59th of 300↑29.4%$1,047/mo
- Home value
- 29th of 300↑34.4%$197,600
- Property tax
- $3,762/yr · 1.9%
- Sales tax
- 8.89%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 63rd of 3003.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 59th of 30042.1%
- Avg commute
- 13th of 30019.4 min
People
- Population
- 206,371
- Population change
- -0.3%
- Median age
- 42.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.5%
- Broadband
- 94.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 115th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 105th of 30017.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.4%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — springfield abraham lincoln ca.
What jobs pay in Springfield
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $167,280
- IT managers
- $154,230
- Pharmacists
- $135,440
- Financial managers
- $133,530
- Lawyers
- $131,400
- Civil engineers
- $105,750
- Software developers
- $104,550
- General & operations managers
- $95,990
- Plumbers
- $94,370
- Accountants & auditors
- $86,440
- Electricians
- $84,780
- Registered nurses
- $84,220
- Police officers
- $82,740
- Carpenters
- $76,970
- Secondary school teachers
- $72,510
- Elementary school teachers
- $62,340
- Construction laborers
- $61,400
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $50,350
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,950
- Customer service reps
- $40,230
- Janitors
- $37,170
- Retail salespersons
- $33,450
- Cashiers
- $31,920
- Waiters & waitresses
- $31,200
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 Springfield metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Illinois are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Missouri336
- Mississippi308
- Wisconsin169
- Ohio162
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Springfield
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Springfield metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Springfield metro?
- Median gross rent across the Springfield, IL Metro Area is $1,047 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Springfield.
- What is the median household income in the Springfield metro?
- A typical household in the Springfield, IL Metro Area earns $80,190 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Springfield expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Springfield, IL Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Springfield metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $86,463 (versus its face value of $80,190). CityLedger rates the Springfield, IL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Springfield metro?
- The median home value across the Springfield, IL Metro Area is $197,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Springfield metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Springfield, IL Metro Area is 3.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).