Cost of Living Salary Comparison Calculator

How the cost of living salary comparison works

Every city on this page carries a cost-of-living index where the US national average equals 100. A city at 150 costs about 50% more than the national average, and a city at 90 costs about 10% less. To find the salary that keeps your standard of living steady after a move, multiply your current pay by the ratio of the two indices: new salary = current salary times (destination index divided by current index).

Here's how that plays out. Say you earn $90,000 in a city with an index of 150 and you are moving to a city with an index of 100. Multiply $90,000 by (100 divided by 150) and you get $60,000, the salary that buys the same lifestyle in the cheaper city. The formula runs in reverse for a pricier destination, which is where the "you'd need more" framing comes from.

What the cost of living index includes (and what it leaves out)

The composite index blends five everyday categories: housing, groceries, transportation, utilities, and healthcare (plus miscellaneous goods and services). Housing carries the most weight because rent and home prices vary far more between metros than anything else, so the breakdown table above almost always shows housing as the biggest swing. Two cities can match on groceries and utilities yet sit far apart overall on rent alone.

The one thing the index leaves out is taxes. Cost-of-living figures compare the prices of goods and services, not what your state and the federal government withhold from each paycheck. That gap matters: an index-equivalent gross salary tells you what things cost, but not what actually lands in your account.

Cost of living is only half the relocation math, taxes are the other half

Two destinations with the same cost index can leave you with very different take-home pay, because state income tax stacks on top. Move to a no-income-tax state like Texas, Florida, or Washington and a given gross salary stretches further than the same gross in California or New York, even when groceries and rent look similar. The cost index won't show that, so a cost-of-living-equivalent salary is a starting point, not the finish line.

That's where the take-home side comes in. The net-to-gross salary calculator works the tax math for a single state, and the Stub44 Salary Calculator app models federal, state, and FICA pay across all 50 states plus DC, with saved profiles so you can weigh two job offers side by side. Pair the equivalent salary from this tool with the take-home figure from those, and you'll know what a move really costs you, not just what the price tags say.

Using the comparison to negotiate or plan a move

Treat the equivalent salary as a negotiation floor. If a job in a pricier city offers less than that number, the raise on paper is a pay cut on the ground. Sanity-check the result against real rent and home listings in the neighborhoods you'd actually live in, since housing drives most of the difference and your own rent can land above or below the metro average.

Just remember the limits: these indices are approximate reference values for relative comparison, not precise current-period budgets, and they leave taxes out entirely. Use them to frame the conversation and set expectations, then confirm the take-home math before you sign.