Yakima, WA
Yakima, WA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Yakima, WA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Yakima ranks 167th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 151st for income. A household earns $75,399 a year while median rent runs $1,106/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 air quality (29th of 300), while education is the soft spot (291st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 90th and home prices 182nd 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 Yakima, your take-home is worth about $64,172 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
- 151st of 300↑34.1%$75,399
- 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.
- 158th of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $78,915
- Per-capita income
- $31,497
- Full-time pay
- $40,450
Housing
- Median rent
- 90th of 300↑31.8%$1,106/mo
- Home value
- 182nd of 300↑63.7%$349,900
- Property tax
- $2,848/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 287th of 3007.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 291st of 30020%
- Avg commute
- 72nd of 30022 min
People
- Population
- 258,523
- Population change
- +3%
- Median age
- 33.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 18.3%
- Broadband
- 92.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 192nd of 300$15/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 288th of 30026.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 19%
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
- + Commute
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — yakima ap.
What jobs pay in Yakima
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $276,310
- IT managers
- $159,120
- Financial managers
- $157,550
- Pharmacists
- $146,650
- Lawyers
- $131,660
- General & operations managers
- $119,470
- Software developers
- $115,170
- Registered nurses
- $102,950
- Secondary school teachers
- $100,560
- Civil engineers
- $100,510
- Police officers
- $98,340
- Elementary school teachers
- $98,330
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,380
- Electricians
- $78,630
- Carpenters
- $63,300
- Plumbers
- $60,900
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,210
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,450
- Waiters & waitresses
- $49,060
- Construction laborers
- $48,810
- Customer service reps
- $46,570
- Janitors
- $39,210
- Retail salespersons
- $36,640
- Cashiers
- $36,010
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 Yakima metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Washington are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California429
- Oregon282
- Idaho268
- New York224
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Yakima
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Yakima metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Yakima metro?
- Median gross rent across the Yakima, WA Metro Area is $1,106 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Yakima.
- What is the median household income in the Yakima metro?
- A typical household in the Yakima, WA Metro Area earns $75,399 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Yakima expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Yakima, WA 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 Yakima metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $78,915 (versus its face value of $75,399). CityLedger rates the Yakima, WA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Yakima metro?
- The median home value across the Yakima, WA Metro Area is $349,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Yakima metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Yakima, WA Metro Area is 7.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).