You enter your salary, pick two cities, choose your housing preference and spending style, and the tool calculates your full financial picture in each city side by side. It factors in federal and state income taxes, cost of living differences, housing costs, and your fixed debts to show you exactly how much money you would have left over every month in each place.

The figures are based on national baseline spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, localized using C2ER cost of living indexes, with housing data from Zillow and Redfin. They represent realistic averages for each city — your actual costs will vary based on your specific neighborhood, lifestyle, and spending habits. Use the spending style selector (Budget-Minded, Moderate, Comfort) to get the closest estimate for how you actually live.

Yes. Every city uses the correct state income tax rate for that state. Cities in Texas, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee, Washington, and other no-income-tax states show $0 for state tax, which can make a significant difference in your take-home pay. The tool highlights this clearly when one city has no state income tax and the other does.

The housing number shown is a full PITI payment — principal, interest, property tax, and homeowners insurance — based on the median home price for that city, 10% down, a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate, and state-specific insurance rates. The actual home price used is shown below the housing row so you can see exactly what it is based on. Your rate, down payment, or the specific home you buy will change the number.

Yes. The tool compares any two cities from our database of 200 US cities regardless of where you currently live. It is useful for comparing a city you are considering moving to against another option, or just to understand the cost difference between two places you are curious about.

Yes, completely free. No signup, no email address, no credit card. Run as many comparisons as you want. If you want to dig deeper into a specific city, use our Can I Afford This City tool for a full budget breakdown or Find Your City to discover your top 20 best-matched cities based on your salary and priorities.