What salary do you need to live in Grand Island, NE?

The cost side of living in Grand Island

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Grand Island, NE metro at $773 for a one-bedroom, $994 for a two-bedroom and $1,158 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $221 a month, and the third bedroom another $164.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $218,400. That is only 3.1× the area's median household income of $69,704, a low ratio by national standards.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 86.7 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Grand Island has the buying power of roughly $115,397 at national average prices.

How much you need to earn in Grand Island

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $24,000 for Tight, $48,000 for Okay and $96,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $48,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Reaching Royal takes $244,000 — 2.5× 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.

Grand Island at four common salaries

Choosing a bigger place in Grand Island at $75,000 trims the score from 62 to 56 without leaving Okay.

Of the four salaries, $100,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $75,000 still lands at Okay.

Grand Island on the national list

On price level Grand Island is 358th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 294th, and on median home value 262nd. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the bottom 10% and rent in the bottom quarter.

Next to Grand Island on the national rent ranking: Dubuque, IA ($994) and Michigan City-La Porte, IN ($994).

Grand Island vs. the rest of Nebraska

How Grand Island stacks up against its state: $994 for a two-bedroom against Nebraska's $1,083, $218,400 for the median home against $238,600, and a price level of 86.7 against 90.1.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $114,000, so Grand Island needs $18,000 less than Nebraska overall.

If Grand Island is on your list, Sioux City, IA-NE-SD, Lincoln, NE, and Omaha, NE-IA are the most similar Nebraska metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

Does the typical Grand Island income clear the bar?

A household at the Grand Island median income of $69,704 would see a two-bedroom score of 56 — Okay — with rent at 17% of income. Put differently, Grand Island's typical household is $26,296 below the $96,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. Statewide, the Nebraska median household ($76,475) grades Okay on the state's own medians. 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.