Worcester, MA
Worcester, MA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Worcester, MA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Worcester ranks 29th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 33rd for income. A household earns $96,602 a year while median rent runs $1,563/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (29th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (274th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 223rd and home prices 248th 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 Worcester, your take-home is worth about $56,147 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less 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
- 33rd of 300↑26.5%$96,602
- 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.
- 255th of 300103 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $94,225
- Per-capita income
- $48,350
- Full-time pay
- $53,144
Housing
- Median rent
- 223rd of 300↑43.9%$1,563/mo
- Home value
- 248th of 300↑58.2%$465,500
- Property tax
- $5,669/yr · 1.2%
- Sales tax
- 6.25%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 74th of 30040.2%
- Avg commute
- 274th of 30029.8 min
People
- Population
- 881,248
- Population change
- -7%
- Median age
- 40.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 17%
- Broadband
- 94.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 46th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 82nd of 30016.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 5.7%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — worcester.
What jobs pay in Worcester
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $229,710
- IT managers
- $193,890
- Financial managers
- $170,940
- Software developers
- $146,950
- Pharmacists
- $132,930
- Lawyers
- $129,400
- General & operations managers
- $111,900
- Civil engineers
- $101,770
- Registered nurses
- $100,240
- Accountants & auditors
- $94,070
- Secondary school teachers
- $87,050
- Elementary school teachers
- $82,810
- Plumbers
- $82,260
- Web developers
- $80,840
- Police officers
- $80,210
- Electricians
- $75,510
- Carpenters
- $73,010
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,610
- Construction laborers
- $61,410
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $55,160
- Customer service reps
- $47,540
- Janitors
- $41,030
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,840
- Retail salespersons
- $36,220
- Cashiers
- $34,770
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 Worcester metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Massachusetts are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York1,322
- Rhode Island1,181
- New Hampshire963
- Florida939
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Worcester
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Worcester metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Worcester metro?
- Median gross rent across the Worcester, MA Metro Area is $1,563 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Worcester.
- What is the median household income in the Worcester metro?
- A typical household in the Worcester, MA Metro Area earns $96,602 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Worcester expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Worcester, MA Metro Area runs about 3% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Worcester metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $94,225 (versus its face value of $96,602). CityLedger rates the Worcester, MA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Worcester metro?
- The median home value across the Worcester, MA Metro Area is $465,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Worcester metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Worcester, MA Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).