What salary do you need to live in Detroit, MI?

Detroit housing costs at a glance

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $984, $1,254 and $1,399 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI. The largest of those is 42% more than the smallest.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $249,700. Against a median household income of $76,664, the ratio is 3.3× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Prices overall are close to average. BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 100.3 against a US baseline of 100, so $100,000 here buys roughly $99,703 worth of the national basket.

Detroit: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $40,000, Okay at $79,000 and Comfortable at $159,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 9% of income and the median home is 1.6× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $553,000. At that income rent is 3% of pay and the median home 0.5× income.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Detroit.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Detroit

Take a $75,000 salary. In a one-bedroom the rent share is 16% and the score 47, Okay; in a three-bedroom the share rises to 22% and the score falls to 42, Tight.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 10% of income.

Where Detroit falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Detroit sits 83rd on overall price level and 136th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 207th.

Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL ($1,263) and Rochester, MN ($1,250) bracket Detroit on two-bedroom rent.

Detroit in a Michigan context

Statewide, Michigan's median two-bedroom rent is $1,162 and its median home value $231,600. Detroit's rent is +8% against that, and its home value +8%; the price parity is 100.3 versus 96.2 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $134,000, so Detroit needs $25,000 more than Michigan overall.

The nearest matches in Michigan, judged on rent and price parity together, are Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI, Traverse City, MI, and Lansing-East Lansing, MI.

Does the typical Detroit income clear the bar?

A household at the Detroit median income of $76,664 would see a two-bedroom score of 44 — Tight — with rent at 20% of income. Reaching Comfortable would take $82,336 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the Michigan median household ($72,875) grades Okay on the state's own medians. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

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