What salary do you need to live in Yuma, AZ?

The cost side of living in Yuma

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Yuma, AZ metro at $792 for a one-bedroom, $999 for a two-bedroom and $1,271 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $207 a month, and the third bedroom another $272.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Yuma, AZ at $217,800. Against a median household income of $62,876, the ratio is 3.5× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 92.7 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Yuma has the buying power of roughly $107,868 at national average prices.

Yuma: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $28,000, Okay at $55,000 and Comfortable at $111,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 11% of income and the median home is 2.0× income.

The Royal grade is within reach at $318,000 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.

Yuma at four common salaries

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 58 and a three-bedroom 50, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

Yuma on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Yuma has the 220th highest price parity and the 288th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the middle half on overall prices and near the middle on rent.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA ($999) and Peoria, IL ($998).

Comparing Yuma with Arizona

Compared with Arizona as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Yuma is 35% lower ($999 vs. $1,541) and the median home is 45% lower ($217,800 vs. $394,500).

Run Arizona's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $221,000; Yuma's line is −50% from that.

Within Arizona, the metros closest to Yuma on rent and overall prices are Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ, Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ, and Tucson, AZ. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $130,000, $98,000, and $166,000.

Yuma's median income on the scale

A household at the Yuma median income of $62,876 would see a two-bedroom score of 49 — Okay — with rent at 19% of income. That falls $48,124 short of the $111,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Arizona as a whole, the median household income of $79,964 scores 36 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.