What salary do you need to live in Fort Wayne, IN?

Fort Wayne housing costs at a glance

A one-bedroom in Fort Wayne rents for a median of $834 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,033 and a three-bedroom for $1,148. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $12,396.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $214,100. That is only 3.0× the area's median household income of $71,213, a low ratio by national standards.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 92.6 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Fort Wayne has the buying power of roughly $108,024 at national average prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Fort Wayne

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $28,000, Okay at $56,000 and Comfortable at $112,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 1.9× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $327,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Fort Wayne

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Okay, with scores from 52 to 57.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $112,000 line above.

Fort Wayne on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Fort Wayne has the 227th highest price parity and the 262nd highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

Next to Fort Wayne on the national rent ranking: El Centro, CA ($1,037) and Idaho Falls, ID ($1,033).

Comparing Fort Wayne with Indiana

Statewide, Indiana's median two-bedroom rent is $1,076 and its median home value $218,200. Fort Wayne's rent is −4% against that, and its home value −2%; the price parity is 92.6 versus 93.3 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $117,000, so Fort Wayne needs $5,000 less than Indiana overall.

If Fort Wayne is on your list, Elkhart-Goshen, IN, Evansville, IN, and South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI are the most similar Indiana metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

Where the typical Fort Wayne household lands

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $71,213, which grades Okay (52) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $40,787 more than the median household earns. 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.

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