Winchester, VA
Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Winchester ranks 104th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 104th for income. A household earns $81,443 a year while median rent runs $1,359/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 hazard safety (49th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (294th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 175th and home prices 198th 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 Winchester, your take-home is worth about $59,873 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
- 104th of 300↑6.3%$81,443
- 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.
- 172nd of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $84,441
- Per-capita income
- $45,600
- Full-time pay
- $47,774
Housing
- Median rent
- 175th of 300↑21.3%$1,359/mo
- Home value
- 198th of 300↑50.4%$372,000
- Property tax
- $1,591/yr · 0.4%
- Sales tax
- 5.77%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 190th of 30031%
- Avg commute
- 294th of 30033.1 min
People
- Population
- 148,005
- Population change
- +6.4%
- Median age
- 41.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.7%
- Broadband
- 92.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 49th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 164th of 30018.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.4%
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
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — martinsburg e w virginia rgnl.
What jobs pay in Winchester
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $198,720
- IT managers
- $166,770
- Financial managers
- $151,990
- Pharmacists
- $135,850
- Software developers
- $133,290
- Lawyers
- $124,760
- Web developers
- $102,380
- Civil engineers
- $100,920
- General & operations managers
- $98,670
- Registered nurses
- $95,650
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,660
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,200
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,590
- Police officers
- $58,960
- Electricians
- $58,960
- Plumbers
- $57,760
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,460
- Carpenters
- $50,180
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,550
- Customer service reps
- $44,460
- Construction laborers
- $42,160
- Waiters & waitresses
- $37,680
- Janitors
- $34,070
- Retail salespersons
- $30,780
- Cashiers
- $29,600
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 Winchester metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Virginia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Maryland515
- Pennsylvania187
- New York182
- Ohio163
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Winchester
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Winchester metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Winchester metro?
- Median gross rent across the Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area is $1,359 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Winchester.
- What is the median household income in the Winchester metro?
- A typical household in the Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area earns $81,443 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Winchester expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Winchester, VA-WV 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 Winchester metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $84,441 (versus its face value of $81,443). CityLedger rates the Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Winchester metro?
- The median home value across the Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area is $372,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Winchester metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).