Syracuse, NY
Syracuse, NY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Syracuse, NY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Syracuse ranks 156th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 144th for income. A household earns $76,313 a year while median rent runs $1,114/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (23rd of 300), while job market is the soft spot (176th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 95th and home prices 51st 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 Syracuse, your take-home is worth about $60,364 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
- 144th of 300↑24.7%$76,313
- 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.
- 162nd of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $79,707
- Per-capita income
- $42,732
- Full-time pay
- $46,420
Housing
- Median rent
- 95th of 300↑31.4%$1,114/mo
- Home value
- 51st of 300↑52.5%$217,600
- Property tax
- $4,643/yr · 2.1%
- Sales tax
- 8.53%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 104th of 30037.4%
- Avg commute
- 65th of 30021.7 min
People
- Population
- 655,189
- Population change
- +1%
- Median age
- 40.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.5%
- Broadband
- 94%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 23rd of 30036
- Natural-hazard loss
- 59th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 64th of 30016.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.2%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — syracuse hancock intl ap.
What jobs pay in Syracuse
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $191,510
- IT managers
- $169,760
- Financial managers
- $169,270
- Pharmacists
- $149,510
- Software developers
- $129,100
- Lawyers
- $128,910
- General & operations managers
- $108,140
- Civil engineers
- $102,330
- Registered nurses
- $86,960
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,230
- Elementary school teachers
- $78,560
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,900
- Web developers
- $77,670
- Electricians
- $77,110
- Police officers
- $75,370
- Plumbers
- $67,040
- Carpenters
- $62,250
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,330
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $54,300
- Construction laborers
- $49,180
- Waiters & waitresses
- $47,640
- Customer service reps
- $45,360
- Janitors
- $38,230
- Retail salespersons
- $35,250
- Cashiers
- $33,950
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 Syracuse metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New York are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New Jersey1,568
- Pennsylvania1,172
- California1,017
- Massachusetts966
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Syracuse
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Syracuse metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Syracuse metro?
- Median gross rent across the Syracuse, NY Metro Area is $1,114 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Syracuse.
- What is the median household income in the Syracuse metro?
- A typical household in the Syracuse, NY Metro Area earns $76,313 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Syracuse expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Syracuse, NY Metro Area runs about 4% 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 Syracuse metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $79,707 (versus its face value of $76,313). CityLedger rates the Syracuse, NY Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Syracuse metro?
- The median home value across the Syracuse, NY Metro Area is $217,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Syracuse metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Syracuse, NY Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).