Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Dayton's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Dayton?
Your $100,000 in Dayton has the same purchasing power as $115,835 in the average US city. You'd need $15,835 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 Dayton's cost index of 86, sorted by closest match.
So why do people move to Dayton? The honest answer involves a few specific things the data backs up — most clearly cheaper than the national average, with no fine print and you'll get your commute time back. The detail on each one is below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 86, a comfortable 14% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $830/mo against a typical household income of $41,443, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Average commute time in Dayton runs around 21 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 Dayton'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.
Yes, several times a winter. Dayton's winter average of about 26°F sits right around freezing, so storms typically drop real snow that lingers a few days before slush sets in.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Dayton averages roughly 26°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Reliably warm. Dayton's summer averages around 85°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 8. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 8 or colder should survive a typical winter in Dayton. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
Roughly 755 feet (230 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Worse than the national norm, but it depends where. Dayton's ~5,513 per 100,000 reflects a citywide aggregate. Some neighborhoods here are notably safer than the average; others are notably worse. Worth looking at the specific area, not the city-level number.
Dayton is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 86 versus the 100 national baseline — about 14% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
Dayton's Walk Score is 17/100, firmly in the car-required tier. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $60,431 to live in Dayton 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 Dayton runs about $830/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.