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

Memphis housing costs at a glance

A one-bedroom in Memphis rents for a median of $1,039 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,143 and a three-bedroom for $1,367. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $13,716.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $245,900. That works out to 3.7× the local median household income of $66,401, a mid-range ratio.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 92.2 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Memphis has the buying power of roughly $108,485 at national average prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Memphis

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $31,000, Okay at $62,000 and Comfortable at $124,000 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 $356,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

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

What different incomes look like in Memphis

Choosing a bigger place in Memphis at $75,000 trims the score from 52 to 48 without leaving Okay.

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

Memphis on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Memphis has the 237th highest price parity and the 178th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

Next to Memphis on the national rent ranking: Grants Pass, OR ($1,144) and Columbia, SC ($1,142).

Memphis vs. the rest of Tennessee

How Memphis stacks up against its state: $1,143 for a two-bedroom against Tennessee's $1,143, $245,900 for the median home against $286,700, and a price level of 92.2 against 91.9. Because the metro spans Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, the comparison uses Tennessee, where Memphis itself is.

Run Tennessee's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $132,000; Memphis's line is −6% from that.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Tennessee? Knoxville, TN, Chattanooga, TN-GA, and Clarksville, TN-KY have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

The median Memphis household

A household at the Memphis median income of $66,401 would see a two-bedroom score of 47 — Okay — with rent at 21% of income. Put differently, Memphis's typical household is $57,599 below the $124,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. Statewide, the Tennessee median household ($69,595) grades Okay on the state's own medians. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.