Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Medford's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Medford?
Your $100,000 in Medford has the same purchasing power as $99,602 in the average US city.
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 Medford's cost index of 100, sorted by closest match.
If you're weighing Medford, the strongest single argument is around short commutes are the local norm.
Average commute time in Medford runs around 17 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 Medford'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 36°F, Medford 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 Medford sit around 36°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Reliably warm. Medford's summer averages around 81°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.
Medford 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.
Roughly 1,430 feet (436 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Worse than the national norm, but it depends where. Medford's ~4,836 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.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Medford's index of 100 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Medford scores 44 out of 100 on Walk Score, which translates to "car-dependent but not aggressively so". Transit Score is 23 out of 100. Some neighborhoods buck the citywide average; the dense inner cores are usually noticeably more walkable than the city number suggests.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $70,280 to live in Medford 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 Medford runs about $1,214/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.