Cost of living calculator

How the calculator works out your new salary

Every year the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the federal agency that measures GDP, publishes Regional Price Parities. Each state and metro area gets one number: its price level compared with the national average, which is set at 100. A score of 110 means prices there run 10% above average. A score of 90 means 10% below. Comparing two places is just a ratio.

1. 1

   Look up both price levels

   In the 2024 data, the Chicago metro scores 103.6 and the Austin metro scores 98.1.

2. 2

   Divide the new place by the old one

   98.1 ÷ 103.6 = 0.9469. Things in Austin cost about 94.7% of what they cost in Chicago.

3. 3

   Multiply your salary by that ratio

   $75,000 × 0.9469 = $71,018. That salary in Austin buys the same basket of goods and services as $75,000 in Chicago, $3,982 less.

4. 4

   Check each category, then taxes

   The overall number hides big swings. Austin's housing scores 120.4 against Chicago's 112.0, so rent costs more even though the total is lower. Then add the tax change: Illinois takes a flat 4.95% of income, and Texas has no income tax.

What the index covers, and what it leaves out

BEA builds the index from the prices behind the Consumer Price Index plus Census Bureau rent data, then weights each category by how much people actually spend on it. It splits into four parts, which are the bars in the calculator:

• Goods: groceries, gasoline, clothing, furniture, cars and everything else you buy as a thing.
• Housing: rents. For owners, BEA uses what the home would rent for. This is the category that moves the most.
• Utilities: electricity, gas, water and similar household services.
• Other services: medical care, restaurants, child care, repairs, transportation services and so on.

The index does not include income taxes, property taxes, home purchase prices or mortgage rates. It also doesn't know your habits. If you rent a small place and cook at home, housing and groceries weigh more in your budget than in the national average. That is why the budget box lets you type your own numbers: each line is moved with its own category index instead of the overall one.

Two more limits. The figures are averages for a whole state or metro, so a downtown condo and an exurb in the same metro get the same number. And the latest data is for 2024. Rents and prices have kept moving since, but the gap between two places changes slowly, so the comparison holds up better than the dollar amounts.

Housing is where places really differ

Goods cost about the same everywhere. In 2024 every state's goods index sat between 93.6 (Arkansas) and 111.6 (Hawaii). Housing is a different story. The San Jose metro scores 211.9 and the Pittsburgh metro scores 72.0, so the same apartment costs nearly three times as much. When you compare offers, look at the housing bar first. If you already own a home you plan to keep, or you'll live with family, the overall index overstates what you'll feel.

State income tax: the part the index leaves out

Nine states don't tax wages: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Washington does tax large capital gains. At the other end, California's top rate is 13.3%, Hawaii's is 11%, New York's is 10.9%, and New Jersey and DC top out at 10.75%. Fifteen states use one flat rate, from 2.5% in Arizona to 5.3% in Idaho.

For a flat-tax state the math is quick. On $75,000, Illinois's 4.95% comes to $3,713 a year before its personal exemption, money you keep after a move to Texas. In graduated states your rate climbs with income, so most people pay well under the top rate. Also watch local income taxes: cities or counties in Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania add their own. And states without an income tax often lean harder on sales and property taxes.

Price levels by state, 2024

Sorted from most to least expensive. Housing is the rents index. Tax is the 2026 single-filer rate range.

The 50 largest metro areas, 2024

Metros ranked by 2024 population, listed here from most to least expensive. Tap one to set it as the place you're moving to.

Before you accept an offer

• Price your actual rent. Pull five real listings in the neighborhood you'd pick, the same size as your place now. The index is an average; your street isn't.
• Compare take-home pay, not gross. A move from a 0% state to a 5% state eats part of any raise. Run both salaries through a paycheck calculator for each state.
• Count the car. A move from a transit city to a driving metro can add a car payment, insurance and gas that no price index shows.
• Ask for the gap plus moving costs. If the calculator says you need $8,000 more, ask for that plus a relocation package. A long-distance move often runs into the thousands.
• Remote workers: some employers cut pay when you move somewhere cheaper. Use these numbers to check whether the cut is fair.

Sources and assumptions

• Price levels: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State and Metro Area, tables SARPP and MARPP, data year 2024, released February 19, 2026. Values rounded to one decimal, as in BEA's news release. Next release: December 2026.
• How the index is built: BEA, Methodology for Regional Price Parities and Estimating Price Levels for Housing Rents.
• Largest metro areas: U.S. Census Bureau, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas population estimates, July 1, 2024.
• State income tax: Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2026 (rates as of January 1, 2026, single filer). For metros that cross state lines, the calculator shows the tax of the first state in the metro's name.
• The salary result assumes your spending follows the national average mix of categories. The budget box uses each category's own index. Taxes are shown but not built into the salary figure.

Common questions