What Salary Would I Need to Live There?

How is the salary I would need worked out?

The calculator takes your pay where you live now and works out what you keep after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, state income tax, state payroll deductions such as disability insurance, and any local income tax. It then finds the salary in the other place that leaves you the same amount after that place's taxes, scaled up or down by how much more or less the same things cost there, using the Bureau of Economic Analysis's regional price parities. If you tell it how much you save a year, that amount stays the same in both places and only your spending is scaled by prices.

Why can the salary needed rise faster than prices?

Because taxes take a cut of extra pay. If prices are 20% higher, you need about 20% more to spend, and since federal and most state income taxes take a bigger share as income rises, the raise before tax usually has to be larger than 20% to get there. It is not a fixed rule: a lower state income tax in the new place, the share of your pay you save, and the Social Security wage limit can all narrow or widen the gap, which is why the calculator works out the taxes in both places rather than applying the price difference to your salary.

What are regional price parities?

They are the Bureau of Economic Analysis's measure of how price levels differ across the country, with the national average set at 100. A parity of 115 means the same mix of goods and services costs 15% more than the national average; 90 means 10% less. They cover goods, housing (based on rents from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey), utilities and other services, for every state, every metropolitan area and the rural parts of each state. The latest figures are for 2024.

Does the calculator include housing?

Yes. Rent is the biggest single reason prices differ from place to place, and it is part of the price levels the calculator uses. The housing measure is built from rents, so for an owner it reflects what housing costs to live in rather than mortgage rates or home prices. If you know what you pay now and what you would pay there, enter both under Your own housing costs and the calculator will use them and scale only the rest of your spending.

If I work remotely, which state taxes my pay?

Usually the state where you do the work. A few states tax people who work from home in another state for an employer based in theirs, under what is called a "convenience of the employer" rule. New York is the best known, and Pennsylvania, Delaware and Alabama have similar rules; Nebraska applies one to people who work in the state at least seven days a year, Connecticut and New Jersey apply theirs only to residents of states that have such a rule, and Oregon to managers. Some cities, including Philadelphia, Kansas City and St. Louis, also tax pay earned there by people who live elsewhere. If you move but keep a job based in one of these places, check with a tax adviser before you count on the savings, because you may still owe tax there and get only a credit where you live.

How is this different from other cost of living calculators?

Many popular calculators use the Council for Community and Economic Research's cost of living index, a paid index that covers the roughly 250 urban areas that take part in its survey and prices a basket of goods for higher-income professional households. Most of them also leave out income taxes. This calculator uses the Bureau of Economic Analysis's regional price parities instead, which are free, cover every metro area and the rest of every state, and are built from what typical households buy, and it works out federal, state and local income tax and payroll tax on both sides of the move.

Where would my pay go furthest?

On prices alone, Monroe, LA had the lowest price level of any metro area in 2024 at 83.6, and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA had the highest at 115.6. Taxes change the order for higher earners: a state without an income tax can come out ahead of a slightly cheaper state that has one. The ranked table on this page runs your own salary through every metro area and every state.