Davenport vs Erie
Metro-area medians — Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL Metro Area vs Erie, PA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Davenport comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Davenport and Erie cost about the same to live in, but Davenport households earn about 13% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Davenport.
Their widest everyday difference: Davenport has the tighter job market — 3% unemployment versus 4.5%.
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, Davenport leaves you about $748/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 Davenport for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
More comparisons
Metros closest to Davenport and Erie on cost, income, size, and education.
Davenport vs Erie — frequently asked
- Is Davenport cheaper than Erie?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Davenport and Erie metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Davenport or Erie?
- Davenport has the higher median household income — $71,446 versus $63,322 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 13% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Davenport or Erie?
- A paycheck stretches further in Davenport. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $80,205 there versus $69,623 in Erie.
- Which has cheaper rent, Davenport or Erie?
- Erie has cheaper rent — a median of $888/mo versus $971/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).