You need a $127,000 salary to make rent in Boston
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A worker needs to make nearly $127,000 a year to afford the typical monthly rent in greater Boston, according to a new report.
Why it matters: That's about 26.8% higher than what a Boston-area household would have needed to earn five years ago, per the analysis from Zillow.
- It's also about $10,000 more than the income needed to afford the typical rent nationwide, Zillow found.
The online real estate hub pegged its affordability standard for Boston at 32.5% of household income.
- They found the average observed rent in the Boston area was $3,175 in April 2025.
- The median household income in metro Boston was $110,697 in 2023.
Boston is one of eight U.S. metro markets where renters need to earn over $100,000 to afford rent, alongside New York, San Jose, San Francisco and San Diego.
- Los Angeles, Riverside, California, and Miami round out the top eight priciest markets.
- There were only four $100k-plus markets in 2020.
- The cheapest metro: Birmingham, Alabama, where rent is only $1,436 a month and you'd need to earn $57,428 to afford it comfortably.
The big picture: Nationally, workers need to earn more than $80,000 to comfortably afford the typical rental, up from $60,000 five years ago.
- Rent for a typical U.S. apartment went up by 28.7%, to $1,858 a month, since April 2020, according to Zillow.
- Rent for a single-family home increased 42.9% to $2,256.
- But the national median household income rose only 22.5% to about $82,000 in the same timeframe.
The bottom line: The median household income for Boston proper was $94,755 in 2023, while the per capita income was just over $60,000.