Cost of Living Calculator — Compare Cities & Salaries
Compare cost of living between cities and calculate the equivalent salary needed to maintain your lifestyle. Includes housing, groceries, transport, and state tax adjustments.
$
Equivalent Salary Needed
—
Salary Difference —
Cost Difference % —
Monthly Impact —
Extended More scenarios, charts & detailed breakdown ▾
$
$
Required Salary to Match
—
Offered vs Required —
Real Purchasing Power Change —
Is the Offer Worth It? —
Professional Full parameters & maximum detail ▾
$
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Required Salary (same lifestyle)
—
COL-Adjusted Salary —
Annual Tax Savings from Move —
Monthly Housing Cost Change —
Monthly Groceries Cost Change —
New Annual Savings Capacity —
Quality of Life Score (vs 100) —
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your Current Salary and set your current city cost index (use 100 as baseline).
- Enter the Target City Cost Index relative to your current city.
- The calculator shows the equivalent salary needed in the target city.
- Use the Salary Comparison tab to evaluate a specific job offer.
- Use the Remote Worker tab to see your purchasing power gain from moving to a cheaper city.
Formula
Equivalent Salary = Current Salary × (Target Index ÷ Current Index)
Purchasing Power Gain = Current Salary − Equivalent Salary at New City
Equivalent Raise % = Purchasing Power Gain ÷ Equivalent Salary × 100
Purchasing Power Gain = Current Salary − Equivalent Salary at New City
Equivalent Raise % = Purchasing Power Gain ÷ Equivalent Salary × 100
Example
Example: You earn $80,000 in a city with index 100. A job offer in a city with index 130 pays $95,000. Required salary = $80,000 × 1.30 = $104,000. The $95,000 offer is $9,000 short — your lifestyle would cost more than you earn.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Equivalent Salary = Current Salary × (Target City Index ÷ Current City Index). If your current city is 100 and the target city is 130, you need 30% more salary to maintain the same lifestyle.
- An index of 100 is the baseline (usually the national average). A city with index 150 is 50% more expensive than baseline. Cities like San Francisco (180+) and New York (190+) are well above average.
- Compare the offered salary against the required equivalent salary. If the offer exceeds the required amount, you will have more purchasing power. Use the Salary Comparison tab to evaluate.
- Remote workers who keep their current salary while moving to a cheaper city effectively get a pay raise. Moving from NYC (index 190) to Austin (index 118) on the same salary is equivalent to a 61% raise in purchasing power.
Related Calculators
Sources & References (5) ▾
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index (CPI) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Expenditure Survey — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Economic Accounts — Bureau of Economic Analysis
- Census Bureau — Income and Cost of Living Data — U.S. Census Bureau
- Federal Reserve — Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households — Federal Reserve