What salary do you need to live in Mount Vernon, WA?

Rent, home values and prices in Mount Vernon

A one-bedroom in Mount Vernon rents for a median of $1,074 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,471 and a three-bedroom for $1,967. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $17,652.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $545,100. Local median household income is $89,263, so the median home is 6.1× a typical income — high enough that ownership weighs heavily in the score unless income is well above the median.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Mount Vernon's overall prices at 102.4 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $97,615 would elsewhere.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Mount Vernon

For two bedrooms, $260,000 is where Mount Vernon turns Comfortable. Below that, $129,000 marks the start of Okay and $65,000 the start of Tight; under $65,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 7% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $711,000 — 2.7× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Mount Vernon.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Mount Vernon

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 34 and a three-bedroom 25, both Tight; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 12% of income.

Where Mount Vernon falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Mount Vernon sits 53rd on overall price level and 78th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 30th.

Greeley, CO ($1,473) and Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL ($1,450) bracket Mount Vernon on two-bedroom rent.

Mount Vernon vs. the rest of Washington

Compared with Washington as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Mount Vernon is 16% lower ($1,471 vs. $1,756) and the median home is 3% lower ($545,100 vs. $564,600).

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $324,000 — above Mount Vernon's $260,000 line.

Within Washington, the metros closest to Mount Vernon on rent and overall prices are Bellingham, WA, Walla Walla, WA, and Kennewick-Richland, WA. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $289,000, $198,000, and $200,000.

The median Mount Vernon household

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $89,263, which grades Tight (34) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. That falls $170,737 short of the $260,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. Statewide, the Washington median household ($98,141) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

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