What salary do you need to live in Winston-Salem, NC?

Rent, home values and prices in Winston-Salem

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $934, $959 and $1,195 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Winston-Salem, NC. The largest of those is 28% more than the smallest.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $233,300. That works out to 3.5× the local median household income of $65,975, a mid-range ratio.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Winston-Salem's overall prices at 92.0 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $108,645 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Winston-Salem

For two bedrooms, $110,000 is where Winston-Salem turns Comfortable. Below that, $55,000 marks the start of Okay and $28,000 the start of Tight; under $28,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 10% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $297,000 — 2.7× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Winston-Salem

Choosing a bigger place in Winston-Salem at $75,000 trims the score from 55 to 51 without leaving Okay.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $110,000 line above.

Where Winston-Salem falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Winston-Salem sits 242nd on overall price level and 326th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 235th.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Hammond, LA ($962) and Hot Springs, AR ($958).

Winston-Salem next to North Carolina and similar metros

How Winston-Salem stacks up against its state: $959 for a two-bedroom against North Carolina's $1,164, $233,300 for the median home against $288,900, and a price level of 92.0 against 94.3.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $142,000, so Winston-Salem needs $32,000 less than North Carolina overall.

Within North Carolina, the metros closest to Winston-Salem on rent and overall prices are Goldsboro, NC, Burlington, NC, and Greenville, NC. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $89,000, $119,000, and $99,000.

The median Winston-Salem household

The median household in the metro earns $65,975 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 50, Okay. The Comfortable line is 67% above what the median household makes. Statewide, the North Carolina median household ($72,388) grades Okay on the state's own medians. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

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