What salary do you need to live in Roanoke, VA?

Roanoke housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Roanoke, VA metro at $892 for a one-bedroom, $993 for a two-bedroom and $1,284 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $101 a month, and the third bedroom another $291.

Homeowners in Roanoke report a median home value of $251,400. With median household income at $68,761, a typical home costs 3.7× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Roanoke's overall prices at 93.6 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $106,817 would elsewhere.

Roanoke: the pre-tax income for each grade

For two bedrooms, $120,000 is where Roanoke turns Comfortable. Below that, $60,000 marks the start of Okay and $30,000 the start of Tight; under $30,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 10% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $329,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.8× income.

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

Roanoke at four common salaries

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 53 and a three-bedroom 48, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $120,000 line above.

Roanoke compared with every US metro

Out of 387 metros, Roanoke has the 192nd highest price parity and the 297th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and in the bottom quarter on rent.

Bismarck, ND ($993) and Sheboygan, WI ($993) bracket Roanoke on two-bedroom rent.

Comparing Roanoke with Virginia

How Roanoke stacks up against its state: $993 for a two-bedroom against Virginia's $1,481, $251,400 for the median home against $383,700, and a price level of 93.6 against 101.1.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $216,000, so Roanoke needs $96,000 less than Virginia overall.

Within Virginia, the metros closest to Roanoke on rent and overall prices are Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA, Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA, and Lynchburg, VA. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $120,000, $120,000, and $104,000.

Where the typical Roanoke household lands

A household at the Roanoke median income of $68,761 would see a two-bedroom score of 49 — Okay — with rent at 17% of income. Reaching Comfortable would take $51,239 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the Virginia median household ($93,170) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.