What salary do you need to live in Jacksonville, NC?

Jacksonville housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Jacksonville, NC metro at $866 for a one-bedroom, $1,082 for a two-bedroom and $1,393 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $216 a month, and the third bedroom another $311.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Jacksonville, NC at $236,400. Against a median household income of $68,148, the ratio is 3.5× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 92.1, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 7.9% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $108,595 would at average US prices.

Income needed for each grade in Jacksonville

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $30,000, Okay at $59,000 and Comfortable at $118,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 2.0× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $336,000. 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.

Jacksonville at four common salaries

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 56 and a three-bedroom 48, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

How Jacksonville ranks among 387 metros

On price level Jacksonville is 241st of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 232nd, and on median home value 231st. The two rankings agree, both falling in the middle half.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Iowa City, IA ($1,084) and Akron, OH ($1,080).

Jacksonville next to North Carolina and similar metros

How Jacksonville stacks up against its state: $1,082 for a two-bedroom against North Carolina's $1,164, $236,400 for the median home against $288,900, and a price level of 92.1 against 94.3.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $142,000 — above Jacksonville's $118,000 line.

The nearest matches in North Carolina, judged on rent and price parity together, are Greensboro-High Point, NC, Fayetteville, NC, and Burlington, NC.

Does the typical Jacksonville income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $68,148, which grades Okay (49) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. The Comfortable line is 73% above what the median household makes. Statewide, the North Carolina median household ($72,388) grades Okay on the state's own medians. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

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