The Salary You Need To Live Comfortably in the 15 Best Places in the South

Ever been curious where the best places to live in America are? Even further, have you considered the cost of living there?

US News & World Report recently crafted a list of the best places to live in the United States, gathering together the finest locations to make your home and build your career throughout America. GOBankingRates has culled from that list the 15 best places to live in the South.

GOBankingRates cross-referenced these Southern cities with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Freddie Mac, the Tax Foundation and Zillow to discern such information as grocery and healthcare costs, mortgage rates and rent levels of each city.

Curious whether you have the salary to meet the cost of living of the 15 best places in the South?

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $116,801
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $58,401
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $144,211
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $72,106

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $80,683
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $40,342
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $84,220
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $42,110

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $87,945
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $43,972
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $101,023
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $50,511

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $84,467
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $42,233
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $105,658
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $52,829

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $78,791
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $39,396
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $81,974
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $40,987

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $92,364
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $46,182
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $104,585
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $52,292

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $87,219
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $43,609
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $131,969
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $65,985

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $104,858
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $52,429
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $110,964
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $55,482

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $99,748
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $49,874
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $124,442
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $62,221

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $78,069
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $39,035
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $87,557
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $43,774

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $76,803
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $38,402
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $74,069
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $37,035

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $91,503
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $45,751
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $113,527
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $56,763

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $81,221
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $40,611
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $92,547
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $46,274

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $76,908
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $38,454
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $77,827
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $38,913

• Salary needed for a renter to live comfortably: $79,292
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $39,646
• Salary needed for a homeowner to live comfortably: $85,548
  • Annual cost of living for renters: $42,774

Methodology: In order to find the salary needed to live comfortably in the best places in the South (AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV) GOBankingRates sourced the best places to live from the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2024-2025.” With these cities isolated, GOBankingRates found the following for each city: (1) Annual rent sourced from Zillow’s February 2025 data; (2) February 2025 home value as sourced from Zillow; (3) annual mortgage (assuming a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.67% interest with 20% down and not including PMI or HOA fees), sourced from Freddie Mac; (4) annual property taxes sourced from Tax Foundation; (5) annual grocery costs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 consumer expenditure for “food at home” and extrapolating it out by each city’s grocery cost of living from Sperling’s Best Places; (6) annual healthcare costs found by taking the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 consumer expenditure for “healthcare” and extrapolating it out by each city’s healthcare cost of living sourced from Sperling’s Best Places; (7) annual utilities costs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 consumer expenditure and extrapolating it out by each city’s utilities cost of living from Sperling’s Best Places; and (8) annual transportation costs found by taking the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 consumer expenditure and extrapolating it out by each city’s transportation cost of living index from Sperling’s Best Places. For homeowners, factors (2) through (8) were combined to give each city a (9) annual cost of necessities for homeowners and then following the 50/30/20 rule, where no more than 50% of income should go toward necessities, GOBankingRates found (10) the minimum salary for homeowners to live comfortably. For renters, factors (1), (5), (6), (7) and (8) were combined to give (11) annual cost of necessities for renters. Following the 50/30/20 rule, GOBankingRates found (12) the minimum salary for renters to live comfortably. All data was collected on and is up to date as of Mar. 24, 2025.