Eugene vs Medford
Metro-area medians — Eugene-Springfield, OR Metro Area vs Medford, OR Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Medford comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 5 clearly-decided measures.
Eugene and Medford are closely matched on both cost of living and household income. 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, Medford leaves you about $72/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 Medford for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median rent
- + Unemployment
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Eugene vs Medford — frequently asked
- Is Eugene cheaper than Medford?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Eugene and Medford metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Eugene or Medford?
- Household incomes are similar — $73,476 in the Eugene metro versus $74,653 in Medford (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
- Does a paycheck go further in Eugene or Medford?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($72,342 versus $73,598).
- Which has cheaper rent, Eugene or Medford?
- Medford has cheaper rent — a median of $1,369/mo versus $1,470/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).