What salary do you need to live in Philadelphia, PA?

The cost side of living in Philadelphia

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $1,299, $1,585 and $1,656 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD. The largest of those is 27% more than the smallest.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD at $351,900. That works out to 3.9× the local median household income of $91,289, a mid-range ratio.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 102.6, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 2.6% more than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $97,510 would at average US prices.

Philadelphia: the pre-tax income for each grade

For two bedrooms, $223,000 is where Philadelphia turns Comfortable. Below that, $111,000 marks the start of Okay and $55,000 the start of Tight; under $55,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 9% of gross pay.

The Royal grade is within reach at $770,000 a year, where both rent and the median home price look small next to income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Philadelphia

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 37 and a three-bedroom 33, both Tight; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

In Philadelphia the table's top salary of $150,000 stops at Okay (54) for two bedrooms; Comfortable starts higher, at $223,000.

Where Philadelphia falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Philadelphia sits 50th on overall price level and 55th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 110th.

Colorado Springs, CO ($1,586) and Charleston-North Charleston, SC ($1,581) bracket Philadelphia on two-bedroom rent.

Philadelphia in a Pennsylvania context

How Philadelphia stacks up against its state: $1,585 for a two-bedroom against Pennsylvania's $1,245, $351,900 for the median home against $254,500, and a price level of 102.6 against 97.6. Because the metro spans Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, the comparison uses Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia itself is.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $150,000, so Philadelphia needs $73,000 more than Pennsylvania overall.

Within Pennsylvania, the metros closest to Philadelphia on rent and overall prices are Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ, Lancaster, PA, and Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $186,000, $174,000, and $155,000.

Does the typical Philadelphia income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $91,289, which grades Tight (40) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $131,711 more than the median household earns. For Pennsylvania as a whole, the median household income of $77,971 scores 46 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.