What salary do you need to live in Akron, OH?

Akron housing costs at a glance

Renters in Akron pay a median $1,080 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $798, three bedrooms $1,132, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $4,008 a year.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Akron, OH at $213,000. That is only 2.9× the area's median household income of $72,371, a low ratio by national standards.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 93.4 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Akron has the buying power of roughly $107,101 at national average prices.

Akron: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $29,000, Okay at $58,000 and Comfortable at $116,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 1.8× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $354,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.6× income.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

Akron at four common salaries

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 57 and a three-bedroom 52, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 61.

Where Akron falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Akron sits 200th on overall price level and 233rd on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 277th.

Next to Akron on the national rent ranking: Jacksonville, NC ($1,082) and Champaign-Urbana, IL ($1,079).

Akron vs. the rest of Ohio

Compared with Ohio as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Akron is about the same ($1,080 vs. $1,063) and the median home is about the same ($213,000 vs. $214,800).

The Ohio figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $114,000 against $116,000 for Akron.

If Akron is on your list, Cleveland, OH, Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH, and Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN are the most similar Ohio metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

The median Akron household

The median household in the metro earns $72,371 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 52, Okay. That falls $43,629 short of the $116,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Ohio as a whole, the median household income of $71,389 scores 52 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.