Cost of Living Calculator — Relocation Salary Suite

It scales your salary by the ratio of two cities’ cost-of-living indexes: equivalent salary = your salary × (index of new city ÷ index of current city). For example, with New York indexed at 100 and Austin at 65, a $120,000 New York salary equals $120,000 × 65/100 = $78,000 in Austin. This calculator uses the same math as professional COL tools, then adds after-tax and job-offer modes they don’t have.

Enter your current salary and city, then your target city — the calculator returns the salary that buys the same standard of living. Examples: $120,000 in New York ≈ $78,000 in Austin, ≈ $99,600 in San Francisco (index 93), ≈ $43,200 in Bangalore (index 36). For the number you actually keep, switch to After-Tax mode, which accounts for federal, state, and (for NYC) city income tax.

Use the City-to-City tab: pick both cities and your current salary. You get the equivalent salary plus a monthly budget-basket breakdown (housing, groceries, transport, utilities) for each city. Every city in the database is indexed to New York = 100, so any pair is directly comparable — for example, London (79) vs Sydney (67): $100,000 in London ≈ $84,810 in Sydney.

If you searched for a cost of living by zip code calculator: this tool works at metro level rather than zip code, because reliable cost data is published per metro area, not per zip. Pick the nearest metro from the 100-city list — e.g. use New York for the NYC metro (including most NJ/CT zip codes), Los Angeles for Southern California, or Chicago for Chicagoland. Zip-level differences within a metro are mostly housing-driven; use the Budget Basket tab to sanity-check rent specifically.

Yes — the International tab covers 55+ cities outside the US: London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Dublin, Madrid, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Jakarta, and more. Amounts are index ratios, so they work in any currency (use the currency selector for formatting). Note: international moves also involve tax residency and visa rules this tool does not model — the after-tax math is US federal/state only.

A relocation salary calculator answers: “what salary do I need in the new city to keep my current lifestyle?” This tool offers two answers: the gross equivalent (pure cost-of-living math — $120k NYC = $78k Austin) and the after-tax equivalent, which is usually the more honest number. Moving from New York to Austin, for instance, the after-tax equivalent of a $120,000 NYC salary is about $106,198 in Austin — lower than the gross $120k, because Texas has no state income tax.

It computes your true take-home pay in your current city — federal income tax (2026-estimate brackets), state income tax (all 50 states + DC, including NYC resident city tax), and FICA — then solves for the gross salary in the destination city that produces the same take-home. Example: $120,000 in New York City nets about $83,096 after federal ($18,047), NY state ($5,732), NYC tax ($3,945), and FICA ($9,180). The same take-home in Austin, Texas (no state tax) needs only about $106,198 gross.

Because taxes vary far more than prices do. Gross math says $120,000 in NYC equals $78,000 in Austin (index 65). But NYC stacks federal + state + city tax while Texas has zero state tax, so the after-tax equivalent is $106,198 — a $28,198 gap the gross number hides. Rule of thumb: moving to a no-income-tax state (TX, FL, WA, NV) almost always beats the gross estimate; moving to California or New York usually undershoots it.

Use the Job Offer tab for comparing job offers: enter each offer’s base salary, annual bonus, and benefits value, plus its city (and state for after-tax mode). The calculator converts both to “total compensation in reference-city dollars” so they’re apples-to-apples. Example: Offer A $120,000 in New York vs Offer B $95,000 in Austin — in New York terms, Offer B is worth $95,000 × 100/65 = $146,154, so the “lower” offer actually buys about $26,154 more lifestyle.

Same Job Offer tab — it works as a job offer comparison calculator for India to USA moves: put the Indian offer (e.g. ₹30 lakh in Bangalore, index 36) and the US offer (e.g. $95,000 in Austin, index 65) side by side with a common reference city. In Austin terms, ₹30,00,000 in Bangalore ≈ $95,000 × (36/65) of purchasing power — the calculator does the ratio math for you. Use any currency via the currency selector (formatting only; no exchange rates are fetched). Note: visa status, purchasing-power parity quirks, and India’s tax regime are not modeled — treat the result as a lifestyle-equivalence estimate.

It converts a past salary into today’s dollars using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). Formula: past salary × (CPI of target year ÷ CPI of base year). Example: $50,000 in 2010 × (329.0/218.056) = $75,439 in 2026 dollars — so a “raise” to $70,000 over that period was actually a pay cut in real terms. The Year tab covers 2000–2026 (2025 estimated, 2026 projected) and works in reverse too. For wage-history analysis specifically, also see our salary-inflation calculator.

Treat them as estimates with a ±10–15% honest band, not personal quotes. The indexes here are editorial estimates indexed to New York = 100, compiled from public data (BLS CPI metro series, Census median rents, Numbeo crowdsourced prices as a sanity check) — they are not official C2ER COLI figures, and crowdsourced data is noisy. Your personal basket (housing especially) can differ a lot from the average: always cross-check with actual rent listings and your own spending before signing a lease or accepting an offer.

Four public sources: (1) city cost indexes — editorial estimates cross-checked against BLS Consumer Price Index metro data, Census Bureau median rents, and Numbeo crowdsourced prices; (2) federal tax — IRS 2025 published brackets, used as the 2026 inflation-adjusted estimate; (3) state tax — simplified published bracket structures for all 50 states + DC; (4) inflation — BLS CPI-U annual averages (2025 estimated, 2026 projected). Full methodology is in the “How the math works” section below.

It estimates US federal + state (+ NYC resident) income tax and FICA to compare take-home pay between cities — useful for relocation math, but it is NOT tax advice and not a tax filing tool. It uses single-filer standard-deduction approximations, ignores local taxes outside NYC, deductions, credits, AMT, and state-specific quirks. For precise paycheck math see our paycheck calculator; for your actual liability, consult a qualified tax professional.

Use gross for a quick lifestyle comparison between similar-tax places; use after-tax whenever the states differ meaningfully — which is most US relocations. The two answers can diverge by tens of thousands of dollars: $120k NYC → Austin is $78,000 gross but $106,198 after-tax. If you’re negotiating a relocation package, bring the after-tax number — it’s the one that determines what you actually keep.

No. This tool provides educational estimates for planning only — not financial, tax, or legal advice. Cost indexes are approximations, tax math is simplified, and your real costs depend on housing choices, lifestyle, and personal circumstances. Verify key numbers (rent listings, your state’s current tax tables) before making relocation or job decisions, and consult qualified professionals for advice about your situation.