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

Rent, home values and prices in Dayton

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH metro at $821 for a one-bedroom, $1,021 for a two-bedroom and $1,214 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $200 a month, and the third bedroom another $193.

Homeowners in Dayton report a median home value of $201,100. Against a median household income of $71,739, the ratio is 2.8× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 92.7 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Dayton has the buying power of roughly $107,882 at national average prices.

How much you need to earn in Dayton

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $27,000, Okay at $54,000 and Comfortable at $108,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 1.9× income.

Reaching Royal takes $325,000 — 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.

Dayton at four common salaries

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Okay, with scores from 52 to 58.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $108,000 line above.

Dayton compared with every US metro

Out of 387 metros, Dayton has the 222nd highest price parity and the 274th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the middle half on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Macon-Bibb County, GA ($1,023) and Flint, MI ($1,016).

Dayton in a Ohio context

Compared with Ohio as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Dayton is 4% lower ($1,021 vs. $1,063) and the median home is 6% lower ($201,100 vs. $214,800).

Run Ohio's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $114,000; Dayton's line is −5% from that.

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

Does the typical Dayton income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $71,739, which grades Okay (53) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $36,261 more than the median household earns. For Ohio as a whole, the median household income of $71,389 scores 52 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.