What salary do you need to live in Ithaca, NY?

Ithaca housing costs at a glance

A one-bedroom in Ithaca rents for a median of $1,226 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,493 and a three-bedroom for $1,666. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $17,916.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $290,900. With median household income at $74,024, a typical home costs 3.9× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 103.3, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 3.3% more than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $96,789 would at average US prices.

How much you need to earn in Ithaca

For two bedrooms, $207,000 is where Ithaca turns Comfortable. Below that, $100,000 marks the start of Okay and $50,000 the start of Tight; under $50,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 9% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $749,000 — 3.6× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

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.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Ithaca

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 40 and a three-bedroom 35, both Tight; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 12% of income.

Ithaca compared with every US metro

On price level Ithaca is 43rd of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 71st, and on median home value 161st. The two rankings agree, both falling in the top quarter.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL ($1,499) and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN ($1,489).

Comparing Ithaca with New York

Statewide, New York's median two-bedroom rent is $1,620 and its median home value $423,800. Ithaca's rent is −8% against that, and its home value −31%; the price parity is 103.3 versus 107.9 for the state.

Run New York's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $278,000; Ithaca's line is −26% from that.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving New York? Kingston, NY, Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY, and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Does the typical Ithaca income clear the bar?

A household at the Ithaca median income of $74,024 would see a two-bedroom score of 37 — Tight — with rent at 24% of income. Put differently, Ithaca's typical household is $132,976 below the $207,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. For New York as a whole, the median household income of $85,974 scores 32 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

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