Scranton vs Springfield
Metro-area medians — Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA Metro Area vs Springfield, MA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Springfield comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Scranton and Springfield cost about the same to live in, but Springfield households earn about 5% 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, Scranton leaves you about $3,152/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 Springfield for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Scranton vs Springfield — frequently asked
- Is Scranton cheaper than Springfield?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Scranton and Springfield metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Scranton or Springfield?
- Springfield has the higher median household income — $71,402 versus $68,079 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 5% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Scranton or Springfield?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($72,768 versus $74,330).
- Which has cheaper rent, Scranton or Springfield?
- Scranton has cheaper rent — a median of $1,072/mo versus $1,158/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).