What salary do you need to live in Chattanooga, TN?

Chattanooga housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Chattanooga, TN-GA metro at $1,057 for a one-bedroom, $1,136 for a two-bedroom and $1,305 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $79 a month, and the third bedroom another $169.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $272,400. That works out to 3.8× the local median household income of $72,161, a mid-range ratio.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 91.5, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 8.5% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $109,333 would at average US prices.

How much you need to earn in Chattanooga

For two bedrooms, $128,000 is where Chattanooga turns Comfortable. Below that, $64,000 marks the start of Okay and $32,000 the start of Tight; under $32,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 11% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $343,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.8× 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 Chattanooga

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 51 and a three-bedroom 48, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

Chattanooga on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Chattanooga has the 259th highest price parity and the 183rd highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are St. Louis, MO-IL ($1,137) and Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV ($1,134).

Chattanooga next to Tennessee and similar metros

Compared with Tennessee as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Chattanooga is about the same ($1,136 vs. $1,143) and the median home is 5% lower ($272,400 vs. $286,700). The metro also reaches into Georgia; it is compared with Tennessee, home of its first-named principal city.

Run Tennessee's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $132,000; Chattanooga's line is −3% from that.

Within Tennessee, the metros closest to Chattanooga on rent and overall prices are Memphis, TN-MS-AR, Clarksville, TN-KY, and Knoxville, TN. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $124,000, $121,000, and $136,000.

Where the typical Chattanooga household lands

A household at the Chattanooga median income of $72,161 would see a two-bedroom score of 49 — Okay — with rent at 19% of income. The Comfortable line is 77% above what the median household makes. For Tennessee as a whole, the median household income of $69,595 scores 47 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.