Bloomington vs State College
Metro-area medians — Bloomington, IL Metro Area vs State College, PA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Bloomington comes out ahead, winning 8 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
Bloomington is both cheaper to live in (about 3% less) and higher-earning (about 5% more) than State College. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Bloomington.
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, Bloomington leaves you about $595/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 Bloomington 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
- + Average commute
Bloomington vs State College — frequently asked
- Is Bloomington cheaper than State College?
- Bloomington is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 3% below State College's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Bloomington or State College?
- Bloomington has the higher median household income — $81,240 versus $77,110 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 5% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Bloomington or State College?
- A paycheck stretches further in Bloomington. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $86,853 there versus $79,690 in State College.
- Which has cheaper rent, Bloomington or State College?
- Bloomington has cheaper rent — a median of $1,034/mo versus $1,189/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).