Cost of Living Comparison
Compare monthly expenses between two cities, auto-filled with real government cost-of-living data for major U.S. metros
Type a major U.S. city above (or its ZIP code, if the city name doesn't match -- useful for smaller towns not directly on our list, since it resolves to the nearest of the 127 metros we cover) to auto-fill estimates from real cost-of-living data, or enter your own numbers directly below.
$3,060/mo
Current City Total
$3,060/mo
New City Total
+0.0%
Difference
To maintain the same standard of living in New City, you'd need roughly
$70,000/year
What is this tool?
Compares your actual monthly expenses against a new city, then calculates the difference and the equivalent salary needed to maintain the same standard of living. When you enter a recognized major U.S. metro area (by city name or ZIP code), estimates are auto-filled using real government cost-of-living data, and a state-level tax and housing comparison appears below — everything stays fully editable, so you can adjust any number to match your actual situation.
How to use it
Type a current and new city, or their ZIP codes if the city name doesn't match directly (useful for smaller towns not on our list of 127 covered metros -- the ZIP resolves to the nearest one). Category estimates and a state tax/housing comparison auto-fill from real data, adjustable to match your own research, then enter your salary to see the equivalent needed in the new city.
Auto-filled estimates come from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis's Regional Price Parities (2023, the most recent available) — a real government cost-of-living index, not a crowdsourced or made-up number, but still a metro-area-wide average, not neighborhood-specific, and about a year old like every free cost-of-living source. State tax and property figures come from Tax Foundation and Census Bureau data, and are state-level averages, not metro-specific -- property tax rates and home values in particular can vary a lot by county. Treat all of this as a solid starting point, then adjust with real listings and your specific target county for anything that matters to your decision.
Watch: Cost of Living Comparison in Action
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Frequently asked questions
How to use Cost of Living Comparison
Beyond the auto-fill described above, it's worth understanding what "equivalent salary" actually means here: the tool takes your current salary and the cost difference between the two metro areas, then calculates what you'd need to earn in the new city to maintain the same real purchasing power -- not the same nominal salary, but the same actual standard of living once local prices are accounted for. If a category estimate looks off for your specific situation (you don't drive, so transportation costs less for you than the metro average, for instance), edit that number directly -- the auto-filled figures are a starting point pulled from real government data, not a locked-in answer.
When to use it
The clearest use is evaluating a job offer or relocation to a different city -- seeing whether a higher salary in a new city actually represents a real raise once cost of living is factored in, since a 15% salary increase moving to a notably more expensive metro can actually be a pay cut in real terms. It's also useful earlier in a job search, before an offer even exists, to set a realistic salary expectation or negotiating target for a specific city based on what your current compensation would actually need to become to maintain your lifestyle.
When not to use it
If you need neighborhood-level precision rather than metro-area averages -- comparing two specific neighborhoods within the same city, for instance -- this tool's data operates at the broader metro level and won't capture that finer-grained difference; local real estate listings and a cost-of-living discussion with people who actually live in the specific area are more precise for that level of detail. For a smaller town not among the 127 covered metro areas, the ZIP-code fallback estimates based on the nearest covered metro, which is a reasonable approximation but genuinely not the same as data specific to that smaller town.
Tips for best results
Before making a final decision based on this comparison, cross-check the housing estimate specifically against real current listings in your target neighborhood -- housing is usually the single largest driver of cost-of-living difference between cities, and metro-wide averages can meaningfully understate or overstate what a specific desirable neighborhood actually costs. If you're comparing offers from two different cities at once, run the comparison twice from your current city as the baseline each time, rather than comparing the two new cities directly against each other, since that keeps both results grounded in your own actual current cost of living.
Limitations
The underlying government data (Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities) is from 2023, the most recent available at time of writing -- cost of living, especially housing, can shift meaningfully in a year or two in a fast-changing market, so treat the auto-filled numbers as a solid recent baseline rather than up-to-the-minute pricing. State tax and property figures are state-level averages, not metro-specific, so property tax rates and typical home values in particular can vary considerably by county within the same state.
Privacy
All calculation happens in your browser using the auto-filled or manually entered figures -- your salary and expense numbers aren't sent to or stored on any server, the comparison is computed locally from data already loaded with the page.
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