Tuscaloosa, AL
Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Tuscaloosa ranks 243rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 260th for income. A household earns $62,280 a year while median rent runs $1,042/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 12% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (24th of 300), while job market is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 58th and home prices 77th 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 Tuscaloosa, your take-home is worth about $65,837 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
- 260th of 300↑25.3%$62,280
- 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.
- 24th of 30088 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $70,997
- Per-capita income
- $33,433
- Full-time pay
- $36,795
Housing
- Median rent
- 58th of 300↑21.4%$1,042/mo
- Home value
- 77th of 300↑44.8%$239,500
- Property tax
- $737/yr · 0.3%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 273rd of 3006.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 195th of 30030.8%
- Avg commute
- 170th of 30024.7 min
People
- Population
- 281,081
- Population change
- +11.6%
- Median age
- 34.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.2%
- Broadband
- 91%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 172nd of 300$14/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 250th of 30022.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.2%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — tuscaloosa ap asos.
What jobs pay in Tuscaloosa
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $132,430
- Financial managers
- $130,000
- IT managers
- $126,270
- Lawyers
- $114,100
- Software developers
- $104,870
- General & operations managers
- $101,210
- Civil engineers
- $92,230
- Registered nurses
- $75,250
- Accountants & auditors
- $71,690
- Web developers
- $67,310
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,630
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,220
- Electricians
- $60,110
- Police officers
- $59,670
- Plumbers
- $59,530
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $50,190
- Carpenters
- $48,870
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $38,930
- Customer service reps
- $37,990
- Construction laborers
- $36,460
- Janitors
- $32,280
- Retail salespersons
- $29,630
- Cashiers
- $28,110
- Waiters & waitresses
- $26,930
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 Tuscaloosa metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Alabama are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Georgia1,265
- Florida895
- Texas886
- South Carolina863
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Tuscaloosa
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Tuscaloosa metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Tuscaloosa metro?
- Median gross rent across the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area is $1,042 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Tuscaloosa.
- What is the median household income in the Tuscaloosa metro?
- A typical household in the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area earns $62,280 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Tuscaloosa expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area runs about 12% 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 Tuscaloosa metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $70,997 (versus its face value of $62,280). CityLedger rates the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Tuscaloosa metro?
- The median home value across the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area is $239,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Tuscaloosa metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Tuscaloosa, AL Metro Area is 6.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).