What salary do you need to live in Merced, CA?

What housing costs in Merced

A one-bedroom in Merced rents for a median of $1,073 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,217 and a three-bedroom for $1,489. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $14,604.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $391,800. Set against the $65,510 median household income, that is a ratio of 6.0×, which keeps the buying part of the score low for most incomes.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 98.3 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Merced has the buying power of roughly $101,755 at national average prices.

Income needed for each grade in Merced

For two bedrooms, $183,000 is where Merced turns Comfortable. Below that, $91,000 marks the start of Okay and $46,000 the start of Tight; under $46,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 8% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $492,000 — 2.7× 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.

What different incomes look like in Merced

Choosing a bigger place in Merced at $75,000 trims the score from 41 to 36 without leaving Tight.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 10% of income.

How Merced ranks among 387 metros

Out of 387 metros, Merced has the 107th highest price parity and the 155th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

York-Hanover, PA ($1,220) and Tyler, TX ($1,214) bracket Merced on two-bedroom rent.

Merced in a California context

Compared with California as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Merced is 42% lower ($1,217 vs. $2,103) and the median home is 47% lower ($391,800 vs. $734,700).

Run California's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $439,000; Merced's line is −58% from that.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving California? Bakersfield-Delano, CA, Hanford-Corcoran, CA, and Visalia, CA have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Where the typical Merced household lands

A household at the Merced median income of $65,510 would see a two-bedroom score of 36 — Tight — with rent at 22% of income. Reaching Comfortable would take $117,490 more than the median household earns. For California as a whole, the median household income of $99,122 scores 23 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

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