Salary equivalence: the only fair way to compare cities
Asking "is City B more expensive than City A?" gives you a single number that hides everything that matters. The more useful question is:how much would I need to earn in City B to live exactly as I do today? That is salary equivalence, and it is the headline this calculator leads with. Multiply your current salary by the ratio of the two cities' overall indices and you get the income that holds your standard of living constant.
The equivalence formula
Equivalent salary = current salary × (indexto ÷ indexfrom)
where each index is stated relative to a US national average of 100. The category breakdown applies the same ratio per category, so you can see whether the gap is driven by housing (it usually is) or something else.
What makes this calculator different
- True salary equivalence. We answer the real question — "you'd need $X in Austin to live like you do on $Y in San Francisco" — instead of a single, hard-to-act-on percentage.
- A category breakdown. Housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare each get a side-by-side index and a percentage change, so you can see precisely where the money goes.
- Built for negotiation. The equivalent salary is your floor for a relocation offer, and the breakdown is the evidence that backs it up.
- ~30 well-known US metros. Coastal and inland, pricey and affordable — pick any two and compare in seconds.
Frequently asked questions
What does a cost-of-living index actually mean?+
A cost-of-living index expresses how expensive a place is relative to a baseline — here, the US national average set to 100. A city with an overall index of 150 is about 50% more expensive than the national average; one at 90 is about 10% cheaper. Comparing two cities is just a matter of dividing their indices: if your destination is at 96 and your origin is at 192, the destination costs roughly half as much, so you can maintain the same standard of living on about half the income.
Why does housing dominate the difference between cities?+
Housing is by far the most variable cost between US metros. Groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare tend to stay within a band of roughly 90–125 almost everywhere, because they trade in national or regional markets. Rent and home prices, by contrast, can run 3–4× the national average in the priciest coastal metros and well below it in the Midwest and South. That is why the category breakdown above almost always shows housing as the single biggest driver of the gap — and why two people on the same salary can have wildly different lifestyles depending on where they live.
How do I use this to negotiate a relocation salary?+
Start from the equivalent salary this tool shows: that is the income you would need in the destination to keep your current standard of living. Use it as your floor in negotiations, not your target. If you earn $120,000 today and the equivalent is $150,000, asking for a lateral $120,000 in the new city is effectively a pay cut. Bring the category breakdown too — it is concrete evidence that the higher number is about housing costs, not a bigger paycheck. Many employers have relocation or cost-of-living adjustment policies, and a specific, defensible figure is far more persuasive than a vague sense that the new city is "expensive."
Does a higher salary in an expensive city actually leave me better off?+
Not automatically. A 30% raise to move somewhere 50% more expensive leaves you worse off in real terms, even though the headline number is bigger. What matters is the gap between your pay increase and the cost-of-living increase — and especially what is left after housing. Because rent and mortgages scale so steeply in expensive metros, a large nominal salary can be largely consumed by a small apartment. Always compare the raise to the equivalent salary here, not to your current pay.
Does this account for taxes — and how accurate is it?+
No. These indices reflect the cost of goods and housing, not state or local income taxes, sales taxes, or property taxes, which can meaningfully change the picture (for example, a no-income-tax state may offset a higher cost of living). Just as importantly, the index figures here are approximate, illustrative estimates relative to a US national average of 100 — they are not live data and they drift year to year and by neighbourhood. Treat the results as a starting point for understanding the relative shape of costs, and verify against a current, authoritative source before making a relocation or job decision.
Disclaimer: The cost-of-living indices used here areapproximate, illustrative estimates stated relative to a US national average of 100 — they are not live or official data, and they vary by year, neighbourhood, and household. Results exclude taxes and are for educational purposes only; verify against a current, authoritative source before making a relocation or job decision. This is not financial advice.