LivingCostFacts / county

Dauphin County, PA: cost of living

Compare HUD rent benchmarks with household income in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. These figures describe area-wide conditions rather than a personal budget.

Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA metro RPP: 98.7 (BEA 2024; U.S. = 100). Regional context, not a county-specific price estimate.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

$1,598
2BR monthly rent

HUD FY2027

25.2%
Rent / household income

Annual 2BR FMR ÷ ACS median income

$76,242
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$236,400
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

Read the local picture

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

2BR rent: county vs state vs US

HUD FY2027 monthly gross FMR. State and U.S. values are population-weighted county means. Dollars per month.

  1. Dauphin County$1,598
  2. Pennsylvania$1,528
  3. United States$1,761
0$1,761

Put the benchmark in context

The rent-to-income comparison uses 12 months of the 2BR FMR divided by median household income. It compares different vintages and all household types; it is not the share of renter households that are cost burdened.

Annual income vs annual 2BR rent

ACS 2020–2024 median household income and 12 × HUD FY2027 2BR FMR. Dollars per year; separate vintages and household groups.

  1. Median household income$76,242
  2. Annual 2BR rent$19,176
0$76,242

Income remaining after this rent benchmark is $57,066 per year, before taxes, food, transport, health care and other expenses.

This county or equivalent belongs to the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA metro area. Its 2024 metro-wide all-items RPP is 98.7. A metro RPP is not a county-specific price estimate.

The data in view

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$1,166
  2. 1 bedroom$1,285
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,598
  4. 3 bedrooms$2,055
  5. 4 bedrooms$2,100
0$2,100

Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items98.7
  2. Goods100.7
  3. Housing rents96.3
  4. Utilities108.1
  5. Other services97.7
0108.1

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$1,166
1 bedroom$1,285
2 bedrooms$1,598
3 bedrooms$2,055
4 bedrooms$2,100

Homeownership and population

Property taxes are for owner-occupied homes, not a renter charge. A + marks a Census top-coded estimate.

MeasureValue
Median annual real estate taxes paid$3,198
Population used for weighting (HUD pop2024)289,593

Compare rent and income

State and U.S. rents are population-weighted means of available county benchmarks; income is the published ACS median.

Area2BR rent / monthMedian household income
Dauphin County$1,598$76,242
Pennsylvania$1,528$77,971
United States$1,761$80,734