Trenton, NJ
Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Trenton ranks 14th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 16th for income. A household earns $104,148 a year while median rent runs $1,744/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (14th of 300), while job market is the soft spot (263rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 258th and home prices 236th 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 Trenton, your take-home is worth about $56,854 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
- 16th of 300↑31%$104,148
- 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.
- 259th of 300103 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $100,938
- Per-capita income
- $54,995
- Full-time pay
- $51,098
Housing
- Median rent
- 258th of 300↑41.3%$1,744/mo
- Home value
- 236th of 300↑49.7%$436,500
- Property tax
- $8,709/yr · 2%
- Sales tax
- 6.60%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 263rd of 3006.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 25th of 30047.3%
- Avg commute
- 241st of 30027.4 min
People
- Population
- 392,138
- Population change
- +6.7%
- Median age
- 39.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 28.6%
- Broadband
- 93%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 106th of 30043
- Natural-hazard loss
- 206th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 88th of 30016.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.9%
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
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — trenton-mercer ap.
What jobs pay in Trenton
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $197,420
- Family medicine physicians
- $192,090
- Financial managers
- $184,800
- General & operations managers
- $181,450
- Pharmacists
- $138,910
- Lawyers
- $138,760
- Software developers
- $128,770
- Web developers
- $106,730
- Civil engineers
- $101,090
- Registered nurses
- $99,990
- Accountants & auditors
- $99,550
- Electricians
- $98,210
- Secondary school teachers
- $79,100
- Elementary school teachers
- $77,850
- Plumbers
- $76,360
- Construction laborers
- $71,920
- Police officers
- $69,160
- Carpenters
- $65,690
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,460
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,930
- Customer service reps
- $47,590
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,070
- Janitors
- $37,640
- Retail salespersons
- $36,720
- Cashiers
- $34,710
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 Trenton metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New Jersey are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York2,448
- Pennsylvania1,783
- California1,048
- Texas468
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Trenton
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Trenton metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Trenton metro?
- Median gross rent across the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area is $1,744 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Trenton.
- What is the median household income in the Trenton metro?
- A typical household in the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area earns $104,148 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Trenton expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area runs about 3% 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 Trenton metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $100,938 (versus its face value of $104,148). CityLedger rates the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Trenton metro?
- The median home value across the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area is $436,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Trenton metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Trenton-Princeton, NJ Metro Area is 6.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).