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CityLedger

Blacksburg vs Las Cruces

Metro-area medians — Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA Metro Area vs Las Cruces, NM Metro Area — not the cities proper.

Blacksburg comes out ahead, winning 6 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.

Blacksburg and Las Cruces cost about the same to live in, but Blacksburg households earn about 7% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Blacksburg.

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.

Blacksburg, VA
$57,747
take-home / yr · 23% to tax
$62,288
real value after local prices
Las Cruces, NM
$58,938
take-home / yr · 21% to tax
$65,332
real value after local prices

On $75,000 for just you, Las Cruces leaves you about $3,044/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.

Measure
Blacksburg
Las Cruces
Livability (CityLedger)
49/100
31/100
Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
92.7
90.2
Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
$70,670
$67,789
Median household income
$65,518
$61,154
Median rent
$1,123/mo
$1,031/mo
Median home value
$270,600
$259,000
Unemployment
3%
6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
36.5%
31.6%
Average commute
22 min
22.3 min
Air quality (median AQI)
38
62
Avg temperature
58°F
59°F

Choose Blacksburg for

  • + Livability (CityLedger)
  • + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
  • + Median household income
  • + Unemployment
  • + Bachelor's degree or higher
  • + Air quality (median AQI)
Full Blacksburg profile →

Choose Las Cruces for

  • + Median rent
  • + Median home value
Full Las Cruces profile →

Blacksburg vs Las Cruces — frequently asked

Is Blacksburg cheaper than Las Cruces?
They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Blacksburg and Las Cruces metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
Which has higher household income, Blacksburg or Las Cruces?
Blacksburg has the higher median household income — $65,518 versus $61,154 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 7% more.
Does a paycheck go further in Blacksburg or Las Cruces?
A paycheck stretches further in Blacksburg. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $70,670 there versus $67,789 in Las Cruces.
Which has cheaper rent, Blacksburg or Las Cruces?
Las Cruces has cheaper rent — a median of $1,031/mo versus $1,123/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).