Wilmington, NC
Wilmington, NC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Wilmington, NC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Wilmington ranks 132nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 125th for income. A household earns $78,890 a year while median rent runs $1,578/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 job market (14th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (284th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 227th and home prices 215th 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 Wilmington, your take-home is worth about $60,845 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
- 125th of 300↑36.8%$78,890
- 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.
- 171st of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,817
- Per-capita income
- $47,070
- Full-time pay
- $42,260
Housing
- Median rent
- 227th of 300↑44.4%$1,578/mo
- Home value
- 215th of 300↑54.5%$397,300
- Property tax
- $2,107/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 14th of 3002.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 63rd of 30041.3%
- Avg commute
- 133rd of 30023.7 min
People
- Population
- 480,522
- Median age
- 45.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.1%
- Broadband
- 94.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 284th of 300$40/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 45th of 30016%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 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
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — wilmington intl ap.
What jobs pay in Wilmington
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $207,000
- IT managers
- $160,980
- Financial managers
- $152,150
- Pharmacists
- $151,790
- Software developers
- $123,730
- Lawyers
- $109,620
- Civil engineers
- $94,450
- Web developers
- $91,480
- General & operations managers
- $90,270
- Registered nurses
- $80,970
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,920
- Secondary school teachers
- $57,980
- Plumbers
- $56,390
- Electricians
- $54,080
- Police officers
- $53,520
- Carpenters
- $50,830
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,850
- Elementary school teachers
- $48,240
- Construction laborers
- $46,090
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,830
- Customer service reps
- $38,100
- Janitors
- $35,080
- Retail salespersons
- $30,790
- Waiters & waitresses
- $30,610
- Cashiers
- $28,520
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 Wilmington metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in North Carolina are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Virginia1,682
- Florida1,345
- New York1,204
- Pennsylvania1,158
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Wilmington
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Wilmington metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Wilmington metro?
- Median gross rent across the Wilmington, NC Metro Area is $1,578 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Wilmington.
- What is the median household income in the Wilmington metro?
- A typical household in the Wilmington, NC Metro Area earns $78,890 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Wilmington expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Wilmington, NC 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 Wilmington metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,817 (versus its face value of $78,890). CityLedger rates the Wilmington, NC Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Wilmington metro?
- The median home value across the Wilmington, NC Metro Area is $397,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Wilmington metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Wilmington, NC Metro Area is 2.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).