What salary do you need to live in Jackson, TN?

Jackson housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Jackson, TN metro at $713 for a one-bedroom, $972 for a two-bedroom and $1,121 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $259 a month, and the third bedroom another $149.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Jackson, TN at $185,300. Against a median household income of $61,177, the ratio is 3.0× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Jackson's overall prices at 85.5 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $116,929 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Jackson

For two bedrooms, $86,000 is where Jackson turns Comfortable. Below that, $43,000 marks the start of Okay and $19,000 the start of Tight; under $19,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 14% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $228,000 — 2.7× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Jackson shows the matching grade.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Jackson

Take a $75,000 salary. In a one-bedroom the rent share is 11% and the score 66, Comfortable; in a three-bedroom the share rises to 18% and the score falls to 59, Okay.

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

How Jackson ranks among 387 metros

On price level Jackson is 377th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 318th, and on median home value 332nd. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the bottom 10% and rent in the least expensive quarter.

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA ($973) and Utica-Rome, NY ($972) bracket Jackson on two-bedroom rent.

Jackson vs. the rest of Tennessee

How Jackson stacks up against its state: $972 for a two-bedroom against Tennessee's $1,143, $185,300 for the median home against $286,700, and a price level of 85.5 against 91.9.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $132,000 — above Jackson's $86,000 line.

The nearest matches in Tennessee, judged on rent and price parity together, are Johnson City, TN, Cleveland, TN, and Morristown, TN.

The median Jackson household

A household at the Jackson median income of $61,177 would see a two-bedroom score of 55 — Okay — with rent at 19% of income. That falls $24,823 short of the $86,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Tennessee as a whole, the median household income of $69,595 scores 47 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

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