Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Lawrence's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Lawrence?
Your $100,000 in Lawrence has the same purchasing power as $81,506 in the average US city. You'd need $18,494 more 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 Lawrence's cost index of 123, sorted by closest match.
People moving to Lawrence usually have at least one specific reason. Most of them line up with what the data shows: among the safer us cities of its size, most daily life happens on foot, plus 2 more things worth knowing. Here's what's actually on the table.
Lawrence reports roughly 1,411 crime incidents per 100,000 residents, well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. As always, citywide numbers paper over real differences between neighborhoods — but the broader trend here is on the calmer end of the US distribution.
Lawrence's Walk Score is 82/100 — top-tier walkability by US standards. Groceries, coffee, work, social life: most of it lands within reasonable foot range of wherever you live. A lot of residents skip car ownership entirely, which is its own form of savings on top of the lifestyle change. Transit Score comes in at 54/100 too, so even the trips that are too far to walk are usually doable on a bus or train.
Lawrence's air quality index averages about 30 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in Lawrence is about 23 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
Reasons are pulled from Lawrence'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.
Snow is a regular feature, not a surprise. With winter temperatures hovering near 26°F, Lawrence sees enough snowfall that locals don't think twice about it but also enough mild stretches that nobody owns three pairs of boots.
Cold but workable. Winter in Lawrence averages about 26°F — colder than the national norm, mild compared to the upper Midwest. A solid coat handles most days; the genuine cold snaps are short.
Pleasantly warm. Lawrence's summer averages around 80°F — comfortable for outdoor evenings, hot enough on peak days to warrant AC but mild compared to the Sun Belt.
Zone 8, give or take a half-zone. Lawrence's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 8 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Lawrence sits at about 43 feet (13 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Atlantic basin storms can form from June 1 to November 30, but the serious ones cluster in August, September, and the first half of October. Residents of Lawrence learn the season's rhythm fast: watch the cone, board up when it's the call, and don't shrug off the slow-mover storms — those are usually the ones that flood.
By the numbers, yes. Lawrence reports roughly 1,411 crime incidents per 100,000 residents — well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. The big caveat applies as always: every city has neighborhoods that look nothing like the citywide average. But the citywide average here is genuinely good.
Yes, noticeably. Lawrence's cost-of-living index runs 123, about 23% above the US baseline. Housing usually accounts for most of the markup; groceries and services run higher too but with less drama.
Yes — Lawrence is one of the more walkable US cities. A Walk Score of 82/100 means most daily errands can be done on foot in most neighborhoods. Transit Score is 54 out of 100. Many residents go car-free comfortably.
Roughly $85,883 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Lawrence runs about $1,502/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.