Utica, NY
Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Utica ranks 181st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 188th for income. A household earns $71,584 a year while median rent runs $888/mo, making it expensive relative to 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 rent (10th of 300), while education is the soft spot (222nd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 10th and home prices 31st 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 Utica, your take-home is worth about $62,359 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
- 188th of 300↑23.9%$71,584
- 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.
- 104th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $77,239
- Per-capita income
- $38,956
- Full-time pay
- $45,413
Housing
- Median rent
- 10th of 300↑22%$888/mo
- Home value
- 31st of 300↑50.7%$198,600
- Property tax
- $3,564/yr · 1.8%
- Sales tax
- 8.53%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 109th of 3004%
- Bachelor's+
- 222nd of 30028.1%
- Avg commute
- 42nd of 30021 min
People
- Population
- 287,932
- Population change
- -0.7%
- Median age
- 41.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.5%
- Broadband
- 91.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 12th of 30027
- Natural-hazard loss
- 70th of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 108th of 30017.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.9%
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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Education
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — rome griffiss airfield.
What jobs pay in Utica
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $208,840
- IT managers
- $160,000
- Financial managers
- $144,760
- Lawyers
- $130,100
- Pharmacists
- $129,870
- Software developers
- $113,390
- General & operations managers
- $98,350
- Registered nurses
- $94,300
- Civil engineers
- $91,370
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,830
- Secondary school teachers
- $78,950
- Elementary school teachers
- $77,010
- Plumbers
- $72,810
- Electricians
- $61,660
- Police officers
- $60,510
- Carpenters
- $59,540
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,650
- Construction laborers
- $49,710
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,310
- Waiters & waitresses
- $45,950
- Customer service reps
- $45,250
- Janitors
- $36,310
- Retail salespersons
- $34,530
- Cashiers
- $33,070
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 Utica 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.
- Florida658
- Pennsylvania274
- North Carolina181
- New Jersey175
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Utica
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Utica metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Utica metro?
- Median gross rent across the Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area is $888 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Utica.
- What is the median household income in the Utica metro?
- A typical household in the Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area earns $71,584 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Utica expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Utica-Rome, NY 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 Utica metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $77,239 (versus its face value of $71,584). CityLedger rates the Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Utica metro?
- The median home value across the Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area is $198,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Utica metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Utica-Rome, NY Metro Area is 4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).