Peoria vs Toledo
Metro-area medians — Peoria, IL Metro Area vs Toledo, OH Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Peoria comes out ahead, winning 7 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Peoria and Toledo cost about the same to live in, but Peoria households earn about 12% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Peoria.
Their widest everyday difference: Peoria has the tighter job market — 3.7% unemployment versus 4.6%.
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, Toledo leaves you about $2,433/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 Peoria for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
More comparisons
Metros closest to Peoria and Toledo on cost, income, size, and education.
Peoria vs Toledo — frequently asked
- Is Peoria cheaper than Toledo?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Peoria and Toledo metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Peoria or Toledo?
- Peoria has the higher median household income — $74,352 versus $66,095 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 12% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Peoria or Toledo?
- A paycheck stretches further in Peoria. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $81,499 there versus $72,271 in Toledo.
- Which has cheaper rent, Peoria or Toledo?
- Toledo has cheaper rent — a median of $949/mo versus $1,003/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).