What salary do you need to live in Beckley, WV?

Rent, home values and prices in Beckley

A one-bedroom in Beckley rents for a median of $582 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $816 and a three-bedroom for $1,035. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $9,792.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $129,600. That is only 2.5× the area's median household income of $52,620, a low ratio by national standards.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 88.4 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Beckley has the buying power of roughly $113,162 at national average prices.

Income needed for each grade in Beckley

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $16,000 for Tight, $36,000 for Okay and $71,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $35,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Royal, the top band, starts at $216,000. At that income rent is 5% of pay and the median home 0.6× income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Beckley

Home size shifts the grade at $75,000: Comfortable for one bedroom, Comfortable for two and Okay for three, as the rent share climbs from 9% to 17%.

Of the four salaries, $75,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $50,000 still lands at Okay.

How Beckley ranks among 387 metros

On price level Beckley is 328th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 382nd, and on median home value 385th. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the least expensive quarter and rent among the least expensive tenth.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Mansfield, OH ($817) and Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH ($816).

Beckley vs. the rest of West Virginia

Statewide, West Virginia's median two-bedroom rent is $896 and its median home value $162,600. Beckley's rent is −9% against that, and its home value −20%; the price parity is 88.4 versus 89.5 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $85,000, so Beckley needs $14,000 less than West Virginia overall.

The nearest matches in West Virginia, judged on rent and price parity together, are Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH, Wheeling, WV-OH, and Parkersburg-Vienna, WV.

The median Beckley household

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $52,620, which grades Okay (57) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Put differently, Beckley's typical household is $18,380 below the $71,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. Statewide, the West Virginia median household ($59,608) grades Okay on the state's own medians. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

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