What salary do you need to live in Mobile, AL?

What housing costs in Mobile

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Mobile, AL metro at $867 for a one-bedroom, $1,014 for a two-bedroom and $1,207 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $147 a month, and the third bedroom another $193.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $190,700. Against a median household income of $58,880, the ratio is 3.2× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Mobile's overall prices at 88.1 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $113,510 would elsewhere.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Mobile

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $22,000, Okay at $47,000 and Comfortable at $95,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 13% of income and the median home is 2.0× income.

Reaching Royal takes $265,000 — 2.8× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

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

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Mobile

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 61 and a three-bedroom 56, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $100,000 row. One row up, $75,000 scores 59.

Where Mobile falls nationally

Out of 387 metros, Mobile has the 333rd highest price parity and the 277th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the least expensive quarter on overall prices and in the middle half on rent.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Hattiesburg, MS ($1,016) and Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ ($1,013).

Mobile in a Alabama context

How Mobile stacks up against its state: $1,014 for a two-bedroom against Alabama's $960, $190,700 for the median home against $209,900, and a price level of 88.1 against 88.8.

The Alabama figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $97,000 against $95,000 for Mobile.

Within Alabama, the metros closest to Mobile on rent and overall prices are Tuscaloosa, AL, Auburn-Opelika, AL, and Montgomery, AL. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $102,000, $107,000, and $99,000.

The median Mobile household

The median household in the metro earns $58,880 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 52, Okay. That falls $36,120 short of the $95,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Alabama as a whole, the median household income of $63,999 scores 53 against statewide rents. 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.