What salary do you need to live in State College, PA?

Rent, home values and prices in State College

Renters in State College pay a median $1,237 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $986, three bedrooms $1,439, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $5,436 a year.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $323,500. With median household income at $74,291, a typical home costs 4.4× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 96.8, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 3.2% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $103,346 would at average US prices.

State College: the pre-tax income for each grade

For two bedrooms, $164,000 is where State College turns Comfortable. Below that, $82,000 marks the start of Okay and $41,000 the start of Tight; under $41,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 9% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $469,000 — 2.9× 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 State College shows the matching grade.

Four salaries, three home sizes in State College

At $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 46 (Okay), a two-bedroom 43 (Tight) and a three-bedroom 40 (Tight). The $5,436 a year between the smallest and largest home is what moves the grade.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 10% of income.

State College on the national list

Out of 387 metros, State College has the 134th highest price parity and the 147th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it near the middle on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

Kansas City, MO-KS ($1,238) and Springfield, MA ($1,234) bracket State College on two-bedroom rent.

Comparing State College with Pennsylvania

How State College stacks up against its state: $1,237 for a two-bedroom against Pennsylvania's $1,245, $323,500 for the median home against $254,500, and a price level of 96.8 against 97.6.

Run Pennsylvania's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $150,000; State College's line is +9% from that.

Within Pennsylvania, the metros closest to State College on rent and overall prices are Reading, PA, York-Hanover, PA, and Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $149,000, $142,000, and $155,000.

Where the typical State College household lands

The median household in the metro earns $74,291 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 43, Tight. Put differently, State College's typical household is $89,709 below the $164,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. For Pennsylvania as a whole, the median household income of $77,971 scores 46 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.