What salary do you need to live in Erie, PA?

Erie housing costs at a glance

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $709, $949 and $1,044 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Erie, PA. The largest of those is 47% more than the smallest.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Erie, PA at $177,000. Against a median household income of $63,354, the ratio is 2.8× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Erie's overall prices at 91.0 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $109,951 would elsewhere.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Erie

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $24,000, Okay at $47,000 and Comfortable at $94,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 12% of income and the median home is 1.9× income.

The Royal grade is within reach at $280,000 a year, where both rent and the median home price look small next to 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 Erie.

What different incomes look like in Erie

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 63 and a three-bedroom 57, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $100,000, consistent with the $94,000 line above.

How Erie ranks among 387 metros

Out of 387 metros, Erie has the 271st highest price parity and the 332nd highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and in the bottom quarter on rent.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Springfield, MO ($950) and Kokomo, IN ($947).

Erie vs. the rest of Pennsylvania

Statewide, Pennsylvania's median two-bedroom rent is $1,245 and its median home value $254,500. Erie's rent is −24% against that, and its home value −30%; the price parity is 91.0 versus 97.6 for the state.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $150,000 — above Erie's $94,000 line.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Pennsylvania? Williamsport, PA, Altoona, PA, and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Does the typical Erie income clear the bar?

A household at the Erie median income of $63,354 would see a two-bedroom score of 54 — Okay — with rent at 18% of income. Reaching Comfortable would take $30,646 more than the median household earns. For Pennsylvania as a whole, the median household income of $77,971 scores 46 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

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