Cost of Living Calculator
Compare cost of living between cities and find the equivalent salary you need when relocating.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What factors make up cost of living?
The main components: housing (typically 30-40% of budget), food (10-15%), transportation (10-15%), healthcare (5-10%), taxes (varies widely), childcare if applicable, utilities and entertainment. Housing has the biggest impact — San Francisco housing costs 3-4x the national average, while Midwest cities can be 30-50% below average.
How much more salary do I need to move from a low to high cost city?
Moving from a median-cost city to San Francisco or New York typically requires 40-70% higher salary just to maintain the same lifestyle. A $80,000 salary in Austin may need to be $130,000+ in San Francisco after accounting for higher rent, taxes and expenses. Use this calculator with real local data for accuracy.
How do I research cost of living before relocating?
Use resources like Numbeo, NerdWallet Cost of Living calculator, CNN Money cost of living tool, and BestPlaces.net. Check Zillow/Apartments.com for actual current rents. Use SmartAsset for tax comparison between states. Talk to people already living in the target city for real-world spending data.
What a salary has to be in a more or less expensive city
A cost of living index compares the price of the same basket of housing, food, transport, utilities and health care between places. If City B's index is 130 against City A's 100, a $60,000 salary in A needs to be $78,000 in B to buy the same life, and only $51,000 in a city indexed at 85. The table applies that arithmetic across common moves.
| Salary in origin (index 100) | Destination index 85 | Index 110 | Index 130 | Index 160 | Index 200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $42,500 | $55,000 | $65,000 | $80,000 | $100,000 |
| $60,000 | $51,000 | $66,000 | $78,000 | $96,000 | $120,000 |
| $80,000 | $68,000 | $88,000 | $104,000 | $128,000 | $160,000 |
| $100,000 | $85,000 | $110,000 | $130,000 | $160,000 | $200,000 |
| $150,000 | $127,500 | $165,000 | $195,000 | $240,000 | $300,000 |
Index 85 is typical of mid-size Southern and Midwestern metros, 110 of Denver or Chicago, 130 of Seattle or Boston, 160 of New York City, and 200 of San Francisco or Manhattan when housing is weighted at a renter's share. Indexes from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) and MIT's living wage data differ by basket, so check which one a quoted figure uses.
Worked example
An offer of $95,000 in Seattle (index about 130) for someone earning $80,000 in Kansas City (index about 92). Convert both to the same base: the Kansas City salary is worth 80,000 x 130 / 92 = $113,000 in Seattle terms. The $95,000 offer is a pay cut of about 16% in real terms, even though it is $15,000 more on paper. The move only makes sense for reasons other than money, or with a bigger number.
Housing is most of the difference
In a typical index, housing is 25% to 30% of the basket but accounts for 60% to 80% of the gap between cheap and expensive cities, because food, cars and phones cost about the same everywhere. A renter in a studio and a family needing three bedrooms experience very different indexes for the same city. Run the calculator with your actual rent or mortgage in both places rather than the published index if housing is your largest cost.
Taxes change the answer
State income tax ranges from 0% (Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Tennessee and four others) to 13.3% in California. A $100,000 earner moving from Austin to Los Angeles pays about $5,000 more in state tax before any price difference. Property tax runs the other way: Texas rates are roughly twice California's. Sales tax, car registration and tolls differ too. The salary after tax calculator on this site handles the income tax side by state.
What the index misses
Child care ($800 to $2,500 a month depending on the city, and often the largest post-housing cost for young families), commute time and its cost, the local salary for your specific job (tech salaries in Austin are not 92% of Seattle's), and the resale value of a home you would buy. An index gives a starting point; the budget calculator on this site with real local figures gives the answer.