What salary do you need to live in Bloomington, IN?

What housing costs in Bloomington

Renters in Bloomington pay a median $1,193 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $1,023, three bedrooms $1,376, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $4,236 a year.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Bloomington, IN at $263,700. That works out to 4.0× the local median household income of $65,543, a mid-range ratio.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Bloomington's overall prices at 95.1 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $105,170 would elsewhere.

How much you need to earn in Bloomington

For two bedrooms, $141,000 is where Bloomington turns Comfortable. Below that, $70,000 marks the start of Okay and $35,000 the start of Tight; under $35,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 10% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $421,000 — 3.0× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

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.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Bloomington

Take a $75,000 salary. In a one-bedroom the rent share is 16% and the score 50, Okay; in a three-bedroom the share rises to 22% and the score falls to 45, Tight.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 55.

How Bloomington ranks among 387 metros

Ranked against all 387 metros, Bloomington sits 167th on overall price level and 162nd on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 193rd.

Bakersfield-Delano, CA ($1,197) and San Angelo, TX ($1,193) bracket Bloomington on two-bedroom rent.

Bloomington next to Indiana and similar metros

How Bloomington stacks up against its state: $1,193 for a two-bedroom against Indiana's $1,076, $263,700 for the median home against $218,200, and a price level of 95.1 against 93.3.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $117,000 — below Bloomington's $141,000 line.

Within Indiana, the metros closest to Bloomington on rent and overall prices are Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN, Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, and Columbus, IN. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $143,000, $137,000, and $129,000.

The median Bloomington household

A household at the Bloomington median income of $65,543 would see a two-bedroom score of 43 — Tight — with rent at 22% of income. Put differently, Bloomington's typical household is $75,457 below the $141,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. For Indiana as a whole, the median household income of $71,957 scores 51 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.