Greensboro vs Scranton
Metro-area medians — Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area vs Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Scranton comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Greensboro and Scranton cost about the same to live in, but Scranton households earn about 3% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
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, Greensboro leaves you about $100/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 Greensboro for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Choose Scranton for
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Greensboro vs Scranton — frequently asked
- Is Greensboro cheaper than Scranton?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Greensboro and Scranton metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Greensboro or Scranton?
- Scranton has the higher median household income — $68,079 versus $66,072 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 3% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Greensboro or Scranton?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($71,148 versus $72,768).
- Which has cheaper rent, Greensboro or Scranton?
- Scranton has cheaper rent — a median of $1,072/mo versus $1,171/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).