Tucson, AZ
Tucson, AZ Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Tucson, AZ Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Tucson ranks 210th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 184th for income. A household earns $72,067 a year while median rent runs $1,300/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (100th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (278th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 165th and home prices 181st 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 Tucson, your take-home is worth about $61,730 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
- 184th of 300↑28.3%$72,067
- 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.
- 178th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $74,376
- Per-capita income
- $41,015
- Full-time pay
- $40,885
Housing
- Median rent
- 165th of 300↑43.6%$1,300/mo
- Home value
- 181st of 300↑65.2%$349,500
- Property tax
- $2,276/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.41%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 138th of 3004.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 100th of 30037.9%
- Avg commute
- 175th of 30024.8 min
People
- Population
- 1,080,149
- Population change
- +3.1%
- Median age
- 39.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 12.8%
- Broadband
- 94.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 278th of 30056
- Natural-hazard loss
- 248th of 300$21/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 174th of 30019.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 13%
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
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — tucson 11 w.
What jobs pay in Tucson
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $227,940
- IT managers
- $151,520
- Pharmacists
- $147,420
- Financial managers
- $126,170
- Software developers
- $123,710
- Lawyers
- $107,510
- Registered nurses
- $94,110
- General & operations managers
- $83,610
- Civil engineers
- $81,490
- Web developers
- $79,060
- Police officers
- $76,970
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,320
- Electricians
- $59,480
- Plumbers
- $59,070
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,640
- Secondary school teachers
- $50,940
- Carpenters
- $49,110
- Elementary school teachers
- $47,220
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,600
- Construction laborers
- $45,060
- Customer service reps
- $40,090
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,490
- Janitors
- $36,180
- Retail salespersons
- $34,530
- Cashiers
- $32,780
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 Tucson metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Arizona are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California7,422
- Texas2,675
- Washington2,197
- Illinois2,101
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Tucson
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Tucson metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Tucson metro?
- Median gross rent across the Tucson, AZ Metro Area is $1,300 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Tucson.
- What is the median household income in the Tucson metro?
- A typical household in the Tucson, AZ Metro Area earns $72,067 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Tucson expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Tucson, AZ Metro Area runs about 3% 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 Tucson metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $74,376 (versus its face value of $72,067). CityLedger rates the Tucson, AZ Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Tucson metro?
- The median home value across the Tucson, AZ Metro Area is $349,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Tucson metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Tucson, AZ Metro Area is 4.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).