Akron vs Winston-Salem
Metro-area medians — Akron, OH Metro Area vs Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Akron comes out ahead, winning 7 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Akron and Winston-Salem cost about the same to live in, but Akron households earn about 8% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Akron.
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, Akron leaves you about $486/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Akron for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Akron vs Winston-Salem — frequently asked
- Is Akron cheaper than Winston-Salem?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Akron and Winston-Salem metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Akron or Winston-Salem?
- Akron has the higher median household income — $71,364 versus $65,903 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 8% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Akron or Winston-Salem?
- A paycheck stretches further in Akron. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $76,431 there versus $71,600 in Winston-Salem.
- Which has cheaper rent, Akron or Winston-Salem?
- Akron has cheaper rent — a median of $1,059/mo versus $1,102/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).