What salary do you need to live in St. Cloud, MN?

What housing costs in St. Cloud

Census figures put the median gross rent in the St. Cloud, MN metro at $866 for a one-bedroom, $1,110 for a two-bedroom and $1,388 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $244 a month, and the third bedroom another $278.

Homeowners in St. Cloud report a median home value of $272,800. That works out to 3.6× the local median household income of $76,497, a mid-range ratio.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 87.6, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 12.4% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $114,114 would at average US prices.

St. Cloud: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $29,000, Okay at $58,000 and Comfortable at $116,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 2.4× income.

The Royal grade is within reach at $284,000 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.

Four salaries, three home sizes in St. Cloud

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Okay, with scores from 49 to 57.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 61.

St. Cloud on the national list

Ranked against all 387 metros, St. Cloud sits 347th on overall price level and 210th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 180th.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Billings, MT ($1,111) and Lebanon, PA ($1,109).

St. Cloud next to Minnesota and similar metros

Compared with Minnesota as a whole, two-bedroom rent in St. Cloud is 18% lower ($1,110 vs. $1,356) and the median home is 17% lower ($272,800 vs. $329,300).

The Minnesota figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $181,000 against $116,000 for St. Cloud.

Within Minnesota, the metros closest to St. Cloud on rent and overall prices are Mankato, MN, Duluth, MN-WI, and La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $124,000, $106,000, and $121,000.

Does the typical St. Cloud income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $76,497, which grades Okay (53) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. The Comfortable line is 52% above what the median household makes. Statewide, the Minnesota median household ($89,062) grades Tight on the state's own medians. 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.