What salary do you need to live in Lima, OH?

What housing costs in Lima

Renters in Lima pay a median $939 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $619, three bedrooms $1,030, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $4,932 a year.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $165,300. Against a median household income of $64,038, the ratio is 2.6× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 89.7 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Lima has the buying power of roughly $111,521 at national average prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Lima

For two bedrooms, $88,000 is where Lima turns Comfortable. Below that, $44,000 marks the start of Okay and $21,000 the start of Tight; under $21,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 13% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $263,000 — 3.0× 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.

Lima at four common salaries

At $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 67 (Comfortable), a two-bedroom 61 (Okay) and a three-bedroom 59 (Okay). The $4,932 a year between the smallest and largest home is what moves the grade.

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

Where Lima falls nationally

On price level Lima is 295th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 337th, and on median home value 357th. The two rankings agree, both falling in the least expensive quarter.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Terre Haute, IN ($942) and Lynchburg, VA ($938).

Lima next to Ohio and similar metros

Compared with Ohio as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Lima is 12% lower ($939 vs. $1,063) and the median home is 23% lower ($165,300 vs. $214,800).

The Ohio figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $114,000 against $88,000 for Lima.

Within Ohio, the metros closest to Lima on rent and overall prices are Sandusky, OH, Canton-Massillon, OH, and Springfield, OH. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $97,000, $91,000, and $89,000.

The median Lima household

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $64,038, which grades Okay (56) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. That falls $23,962 short of the $88,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Ohio as a whole, the median household income of $71,389 scores 52 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

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