Topic list · 25 cities
The US cities where the lowest annual salary clears a comfortable 50/30/20 budget, ranked from cheapest up.
| # | City | State | Salary needed | Median local | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleston | WV | $79,844 | $45,170 | $34,674 |
| 2 | Wichita | KS | $81,847 | $46,650 | $35,197 |
| 3 | Fargo | ND | $82,159 | $49,690 | $32,469 |
| 4 | Little Rock | AR | $82,508 | $44,730 | $37,778 |
| 5 | Lincoln | NE | $82,855 | $48,860 | $33,995 |
| 6 | Sioux Falls | SD | $83,215 | $46,720 | $36,495 |
| 7 | El Paso | TX | $83,564 | $37,880 | $45,684 |
| 8 | Baton Rouge | LA | $83,876 | $47,940 | $35,936 |
| 9 | Tulsa | OK | $84,188 | $45,460 | $38,728 |
| 10 | Cleveland | OH | $84,463 | $59,384 | $25,079 |
| 11 | St. Louis | MO | $84,703 | $48,290 | $36,413 |
| 12 | Oklahoma City | OK | $84,836 | $45,880 | $38,956 |
| 13 | Birmingham | AL | $85,364 | $46,330 | $39,034 |
| 14 | Louisville | KY | $85,508 | $47,750 | $37,758 |
| 15 | Lexington | KY | $85,508 | $47,580 | $37,928 |
| 16 | Memphis | TN | $85,556 | $45,610 | $39,946 |
| 17 | Columbia | SC | $85,604 | $45,380 | $40,224 |
| 18 | Jackson | MS | $85,892 | $42,010 | $43,882 |
| 19 | Huntsville | AL | $86,420 | $50,470 | $35,950 |
| 20 | New Orleans | LA | $86,924 | $45,970 | $40,954 |
| 21 | Des Moines | IA | $87,103 | $50,450 | $36,653 |
| 22 | Milwaukee | WI | $87,583 | $49,720 | $37,863 |
| 23 | Detroit | MI | $87,914 | $50,740 | $37,174 |
| 24 | Cincinnati | OH | $87,943 | $48,490 | $39,453 |
| 25 | Kansas City | MO | $88,063 | $49,480 | $38,583 |
What This List Shows
This list ranks US cities by the lowest annual salary required to live comfortably, starting from the cheapest. "Live comfortably" means a 50/30/20 budget: needs covered, some discretionary spending, some savings. Not luxury, not deprivation. Charleston, WV tops the list at $79,844 a year. Wichita, KS comes in second at $81,847, and Fargo, ND third at $82,159. For context, the national median required salary sits at $97,658, so the cities at the top of this list clear that bar by roughly $15,000 to $18,000. That gap is real money. The cheapest city on this entire list, Charleston, needs $79,844 a year.
What This List Means
Low required salary and low local wages often travel together, and this list makes that tension visible. Charleston, WV needs $79,844 a year to live comfortably, but the median local salary there is $45,170, leaving a gap of $34,674. That means most residents working local jobs cannot actually reach the budget this ranking is built on. The pattern holds across the list. El Paso, TX residents need $83,564, but the median local salary is only $37,880, producing the widest salary gap on the entire list at $45,684. The cities that look cheapest on paper are often the ones where local wages fall furthest short of the number that defines "comfortable."
Cleveland, OH is the notable exception. Cleveland requires $84,463, which is higher than Charleston or El Paso, but its median local salary of $59,384 closes the gap to $25,079, the narrowest on the list. Affordability is not just a cost problem. It is also an income problem, and the required annual figure only tells half the story. The salary gap in El Paso is $45,684.
How to Use This List
If you earn around $95,000 remotely, this list is genuinely useful. At that income, you would clear the required salary in every city shown, including Fargo, ND at $82,159, and you would cover needs and wants while still saving. What the list does not capture is the local job market if your remote income ever disappears, neighborhood-level cost differences within a city, or economic trajectory. A city with low costs today may be moving in either direction. The metric also says nothing about climate, school quality, or healthcare access, all of which affect real household budgets in ways that do not show up in the required annual figure. The most concrete starting point: Fargo, ND at $82,159 required, with a local median of $49,690.
Frequently asked questions
Why do these cities have such a low cost of living?
Low-cost metros tend to share a few traits: housing supply that hasn't been bid up by coastal demand, lower local wages that compress the cost of services, and smaller-but-not-tiny populations. Charleston, WV tops this list at $79,844 per year, well below the national median of $97,658.
Should I move to one of these cities just because it's cheap?
Not on cost alone. Low cost often correlates with thinner local job markets, so a job offer or remote income that travels with you matters more than the ranking itself. The salary gap column in the table above shows how far the local median wage falls short of the comfortable-living figure in each city.
How are these rankings calculated?
Each city's annual salary figure comes from applying the 50/30/20 budget rule to housing (HUD Fair Market Rents, 2-bed), food, transport, healthcare, utilities, and other necessities (BLS regional data). The 25 cities on this list are the cheapest by that figure across the cities CityWage tracks.