Boston, MA
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Boston ranks 1st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 5th for income. A household earns $117,825 a year while median rent runs $2,093/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (1st of 300), while rent is the soft spot (290th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 290th and home prices 285th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
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 in Boston, your take-home is worth about $53,169 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
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.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 5th of 300↑24.8%$117,825
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 283rd of 300108 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $108,829
- Per-capita income
- $63,331
- Full-time pay
- $61,250
Housing
- Median rent
- 290th of 300↑32.6%$2,093/mo
- Home value
- 285th of 300↑41.1%$681,100
- Property tax
- $6,913/yr · 1%
- Sales tax
- 6.25%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 99th of 3003.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 10th of 30053%
- Avg commute
- 288th of 30031.9 min
People
- Population
- 5,025,517
- Population change
- +3.1%
- Median age
- 39.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 20.7%
- Broadband
- 94.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 106th of 30043
- Natural-hazard loss
- 48th of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 14th of 30014.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 5.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — beverly muni ap.
What jobs pay in Boston
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $284,010
- IT managers
- $214,960
- Financial managers
- $209,780
- Lawyers
- $183,350
- Software developers
- $166,090
- Pharmacists
- $139,660
- General & operations managers
- $133,800
- Web developers
- $108,520
- Civil engineers
- $107,670
- Registered nurses
- $106,180
- Accountants & auditors
- $100,150
- Secondary school teachers
- $98,850
- Elementary school teachers
- $98,060
- Plumbers
- $96,760
- Electricians
- $79,910
- Police officers
- $78,180
- Carpenters
- $75,210
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $64,010
- Construction laborers
- $63,420
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $59,670
- Customer service reps
- $49,920
- Janitors
- $46,550
- Waiters & waitresses
- $39,270
- Retail salespersons
- $36,850
- Cashiers
- $36,040
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Boston metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Massachusetts are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York15,705
- California11,569
- Florida7,561
- New Jersey5,825
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Boston
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Boston metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Boston metro?
- Median gross rent across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area is $2,093 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Boston.
- What is the median household income in the Boston metro?
- A typical household in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area earns $117,825 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Boston expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area runs about 8% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Boston metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $108,829 (versus its face value of $117,825). CityLedger rates the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Boston metro?
- The median home value across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area is $681,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Boston metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area is 3.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).