Athens vs Auburn
Metro-area medians — Athens-Clarke County, GA Metro Area vs Auburn-Opelika, AL Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Auburn comes out ahead, winning 8 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Auburn is both cheaper to live in (about 6% less) and higher-earning (about 5% more) than Athens. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Auburn.
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, Auburn leaves you about $3,496/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 Auburn for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Athens vs Auburn — frequently asked
- Is Athens cheaper than Auburn?
- Auburn is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 6% below Athens's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Athens or Auburn?
- Auburn has the higher median household income — $68,336 versus $64,951 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 5% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Athens or Auburn?
- A paycheck stretches further in Auburn. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $77,714 there versus $69,583 in Athens.
- Which has cheaper rent, Athens or Auburn?
- Auburn has cheaper rent — a median of $1,111/mo versus $1,238/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).