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

The cost side of living in Kingston

A one-bedroom in Kingston rents for a median of $1,168 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,609 and a three-bedroom for $1,860. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $19,308.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Kingston, NY at $352,500. With median household income at $86,271, a typical home costs 4.1× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

Prices overall are close to average. BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 100.7 against a US baseline of 100, so $100,000 here buys roughly $99,296 worth of the national basket.

How much you need to earn in Kingston

For two bedrooms, $215,000 is where Kingston turns Comfortable. Below that, $107,000 marks the start of Okay and $53,000 the start of Tight; under $53,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 9% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $722,000. At that income rent is 3% of pay and the median home 0.5× income.

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

Four salaries, three home sizes in Kingston

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 40 and a three-bedroom 33, both Tight; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

None of the four salaries reaches Comfortable for two bedrooms; even $150,000 scores 55, Okay, which fits the $215,000 line above.

Kingston on the national list

Ranked against all 387 metros, Kingston sits 75th on overall price level and 48th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 109th.

Bellingham, WA ($1,614) and Stockton-Lodi, CA ($1,609) bracket Kingston on two-bedroom rent.

Comparing Kingston with New York

Statewide, New York's median two-bedroom rent is $1,620 and its median home value $423,800. Kingston's rent is −1% against that, and its home value −17%; the price parity is 100.7 versus 107.9 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $278,000, so Kingston needs $63,000 less than New York overall.

If Kingston is on your list, Ithaca, NY, Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY, and Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY are the most similar New York metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

The median Kingston household

The median household in the metro earns $86,271 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 39, Tight. Put differently, Kingston's typical household is $128,729 below the $215,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. Statewide, the New York median household ($85,974) grades Tight 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.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.