Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Alexandria's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Alexandria?
Your $100,000 in Alexandria has the same purchasing power as $130,753 in the average US city. You'd need $30,753 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Alexandria's cost index of 76, sorted by closest match.
Alexandria has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. The cost-of-living math actually works and walkable in a way most us cities aren't are the headliners, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
By the numbers, Alexandria is one of the more affordable US cities of its size. The composite index sits at 76, about 24% below the national average, with housing as the main driver of the discount. Median rent in town runs about $928/mo against a typical household income of $49,049, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
With a citywide Walk Score of 57/100, Alexandria sits firmly in the walkable-by-US-standards camp. Pick a central neighborhood and most daily errands happen without keys in your hand.
Average AQI in Alexandria comes in around 43, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Alexandria runs around 19 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Alexandria's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Not really a snow town. With winters averaging 43°F, Alexandria sits in the mild-cold band where snowflakes appear occasionally and everything melts within a day. Most years see one storm worth talking about.
Cool, not cold. Winters in Alexandria sit around 43°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Properly hot. Alexandria's summer averages around 92°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Alexandria falls in roughly USDA Zone 9. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Around 105 feet (32 m) above sea level — flat enough that nothing about Alexandria's altitude shows up in daily life.
Hurricane season covers June through November, with peak activity in late summer and early fall. For Alexandria, the practical advice is: have a few days of water and supplies on hand from August onward, know your evacuation route, and don't wait for the news to tell you a storm is "probably nothing" — track the cone yourself.
Alexandria's reported crime rate runs high: about 8,140 per 100,000 residents, materially above the national average. Specific neighborhoods vary widely, but the city-wide aggregate is on the rougher end of the US distribution.
Alexandria is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 76 versus the 100 national baseline — about 24% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
In parts, yes. With a citywide Walk Score of 57/100, Alexandria has genuinely walkable neighborhoods alongside more sprawled stretches. If walkability matters to you, the neighborhood choice will matter more than the city-level number.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $53,536 to live in Alexandria the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Alexandria runs about $928/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.