Moving from New York City to Austin with a $100,000 salary? MoveMath’s engine says you need only $63,813 in Austin to maintain the same annual surplus — a $36,187 reduction in gross income that leaves you equally well off after taxes and costs. Moving into New York is the reverse: a single renter earning $80,000 in Chicago needs $104,786 in New York City, a 31% raise just to stay even. Use the cost-of-living calculator to compute the exact figure for your household and any two metros.
Salary equivalence: single renter, 7 city pairs
Single adult, renting at HUD FY2027 FMR (1-bedroom), USDA Moderate-Cost food, 1 car at 12,000 mi/year at 25 mpg, no childcare. Source: MoveMath 2026 engine.
| Move | Income in A | Need in B | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago to New York City | $80,000 | $104,786 | +$24,786 | +31.0% |
| Denver to Seattle | $85,000 | $90,191 | +$5,191 | +6.1% |
| Chicago to Miami | $80,000 | $80,399 | +$399 | +0.5% |
| New York City to Austin | $100,000 | $63,813 | -$36,187 | -36.2% |
| Los Angeles to Phoenix | $90,000 | $66,159 | -$23,841 | -26.5% |
| San Francisco to Nashville | $120,000 | $80,923 | -$39,077 | -32.6% |
| New York City to Dallas | $90,000 | $57,967 | -$32,033 | -35.6% |
The Chicago-to-Miami comparison ($80,000 needs $80,399 in Miami) illustrates that not all “no income tax” moves are savings. Miami’s rent (FMR 1-BR: $2,121) is significantly higher than Chicago’s ($1,780), which offsets the $3,815 Illinois income tax saving at $80,000 almost exactly.
How the calculation works
MoveMath’s salary equivalence algorithm:
- Compute the full budget for your household in city A at your current income. The result is a “surplus” — after-tax income minus all modeled costs.
- Find the income in city B that produces the same surplus, holding all household inputs constant (same food plan, same car use, same childcare). Taxes and costs change with location; spending preferences do not.
- The found income is the “equivalent salary” in city B.
Because taxes are progressive, the equivalent salary is not simply income × (B cost index / A cost index). At $100,000, a single filer pays 29.6% of gross income in total taxes in New York City and 20.8% in Austin. Every dollar of salary given up in Austin also takes tax away with it, so the equivalent salary falls further than prices alone would suggest.
The role of BEA Regional Price Parities
BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP) measure average price levels for a metro relative to the US average (US = 100). They cover goods, housing, utilities, and other services. MoveMath uses RPP to adjust food costs and the “other goods and services” baseline, but rent comes from HUD FMR (a more current and precise source) and taxes from the 2026 engine.
RPP values for reference (BEA 2024 vintage):
| Metro | Overall RPP | Housing RPP | Goods RPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City, NY | 112.6 | 148.6 | 110.3 |
| San Francisco, CA | 115.6 | 194.7 | 108.5 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 113.6 | 170.4 | 106.6 |
| Seattle, WA | 111.1 | 151.3 | 104.0 |
| Denver, CO | 105.8 | 146.9 | 101.0 |
| Chicago, IL-IN | 103.6 | 112.0 | 107.3 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 103.3 | 121.2 | 95.0 |
| Dallas, TX | 103.1 | 117.9 | 102.8 |
| Austin, TX | 98.1 | 120.4 | 93.8 |
| Nashville, TN | 96.3 | 104.6 | 96.2 |
Austin’s overall RPP (98.1) is below the US average, driven by a goods RPP of 93.8 — goods are meaningfully cheaper than the national average. Nashville’s overall RPP (96.3) is the lowest in the table.
Why two cities with the same RPP can require different salaries
RPP measures prices relative to the US average. Two cities with RPP = 100 have the same average price level but may have very different tax burdens, rent distributions, or childcare costs. A city with flat 5% income tax and average RPP needs a different salary than a no-income-tax city with the same RPP.
MoveMath computes the actual tax and cost budget rather than using RPP as a proxy, which is why its salary equivalence differs from a simple price-index calculation.
How to negotiate a cost-of-living raise
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Use MoveMath’s salary equivalence as your anchor. This is the salary at which you are indifferent between the two cities. It is based on official data and a defensible methodology.
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Add your target cushion. If the move is a promotion, you should come out ahead of equivalent. Add $5,000–$15,000 to the equivalence figure as a target.
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Frame it as maintaining purchasing power, not personal gain. “Based on HUD Fair Market Rent, BEA price parities, and the state income tax difference, a fair salary in [city B] for a $100k role in [city A] is approximately $X” is more persuasive than “the city is expensive.”
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Account for other factors. If the employer provides housing assistance, a signing bonus, or other relocation benefits, factor those into the calculation.
See how to negotiate salary for a relocation for the full negotiation playbook. Use the cost-of-living calculator to run the comparison for your specific household. Related: New York to Austin, Austin cost of living, Tennessee.