Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Winston-Salem ranks 240th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 234th for income. A household earns $65,903 a year while median rent runs $1,102/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (57th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (240th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 86th and home prices 114th 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 Winston-Salem, your take-home is worth about $63,740 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
- 234th of 300↑26%$65,903
- 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.
- 90th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $71,600
- Per-capita income
- $39,174
- Full-time pay
- $42,305
Housing
- Median rent
- 86th of 300↑39.1%$1,102/mo
- Home value
- 114th of 300↑64.3%$270,700
- Property tax
- $1,644/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 7.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 57th of 3003.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 150th of 30033.4%
- Avg commute
- 136th of 30023.8 min
People
- Population
- 705,187
- Population change
- +4.3%
- Median age
- 41.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.1%
- Broadband
- 91.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 198th of 30050
- Natural-hazard loss
- 121st of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 170th of 30019.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.4%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Job market
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — winston salem reynolds ap.
What jobs pay in Winston-Salem
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $309,990
- IT managers
- $160,900
- Financial managers
- $155,030
- Pharmacists
- $135,710
- Lawyers
- $126,250
- Software developers
- $124,130
- Web developers
- $100,240
- General & operations managers
- $96,840
- Registered nurses
- $86,120
- Civil engineers
- $84,170
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,950
- Secondary school teachers
- $57,930
- Police officers
- $57,440
- Elementary school teachers
- $56,510
- Electricians
- $56,100
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $51,320
- Carpenters
- $49,940
- Plumbers
- $49,240
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,090
- Construction laborers
- $42,210
- Customer service reps
- $38,410
- Janitors
- $34,150
- Retail salespersons
- $30,100
- Waiters & waitresses
- $29,550
- Cashiers
- $28,130
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 Winston-Salem 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.
- Florida2,067
- Virginia1,955
- New York1,408
- Georgia1,116
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Winston-Salem
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Winston-Salem metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Winston-Salem metro?
- Median gross rent across the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area is $1,102 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Winston-Salem.
- What is the median household income in the Winston-Salem metro?
- A typical household in the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area earns $65,903 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Winston-Salem expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area runs about 8% 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 Winston-Salem metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $71,600 (versus its face value of $65,903). CityLedger rates the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Winston-Salem metro?
- The median home value across the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area is $270,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Winston-Salem metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area is 3.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).