Relative Salary Calculator
A $150,000 offer can be a pay cut. Salaries only mean something against local prices, so this calculator converts your current salary into the equivalent salary in the target city, tells you the raise you need to break even, and gives a verdict on any actual offer: a real raise or a real-terms pay cut.
Equivalent salary in target city
Estimate only. Indices are composites (US average = 100); the model ignores taxes, your actual spending mix, and neighborhood differences within a city.
Quick Answer
The calculator is pre-filled with the worked example: $80,000 in a city indexed at 91, moving to a city indexed at 165, with a $150,000 offer. The equivalent salary is $145,054.95; the target city is 81.3% more expensive; you need a $65,054.95 raise to break even; and the $150,000 offer beats the equivalent by $4,945.05, a 3.4% real raise. Enter your own numbers and click Calculate.
Key takeaways
- Equivalent salary = current salary × (target index ÷ current index). That single ratio is the whole model.
- A bigger nominal offer is not always a raise. Below the equivalent salary, the move is a real-terms pay cut, however good the number sounds.
- The break-even raise (equivalent minus current) is your negotiation floor. Ask above it: moves carry risk and cost.
- Percentages are not symmetric. Austin (103) to New York (187) needs an 82% raise; the trip back survives a 45% cut. Always recompute from the correct base.
- The index ignores taxes. State income tax differences can dwarf the cost-of-living gap, so check them separately.
How to use the relative salary calculator
Take both indices from the same published series, keep your salary figures gross on both sides, and enter the real offer to get the verdict. Results stay hidden until you click Calculate.
- Current salary: your gross annual pay where you live now. The example uses $80,000.
- Job offer (optional): the actual offer in the target city. The example uses $150,000. Leave it blank and the tool skips the verdict.
- Current city COL index: your city’s index, 91 in the example. Use a published series such as the BEA’s Regional Price Parities, MERIC state indices, or a crowdsourced city index.
- Target city COL index: the destination city’s index from the same series, 165 in the example. Never mix two different series in one calculation.
- Read the three answers: the equivalent salary, the raise needed to break even, and the offer verdict. Reset returns all fields to the worked example.
If the offer also changes how much of your pay survives taxes, the cost of living calculator pairs well with this one for city-to-city comparisons, and the effective raise calculator checks what a raise really adds after the fact.
How the formula works
Each city carries a composite cost-of-living index anchored to a US average of 100: an index of 187 means costs run 87% above average, 88 means 12% below. Your salary scales by the ratio of the two indices, and nothing else is in the model.
Cost difference = (equivalent − current) ÷ current × 100%
Break-even raise = equivalent − current
Offer gap = offer − equivalent (positive = real raise, negative = real-terms pay cut)
Two honest details about how this tool behaves. First, when the target city is cheaper, the break-even line reads like “Raise needed to break even: $–33,689.84”: the negative number means you could take a $33,689.84 cut and still break even. Second, entering an offer of exactly zero shows neither a verdict nor the tip line; the tool treats zero as “no offer entered” silently. Both behaviours are the tool’s published logic, kept as they are and stated here so the numbers never surprise you.
Worked examples, verified in the tool
Every figure below was produced by running the calculator code above. The first row is the pre-filled example; click Calculate to reproduce it.
| Move | Equivalent salary | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| $80,000, index 91 → 165, $150,000 offer | $145,054.95 | 81.3% more expensive; offer beats it by $4,945.05 (3.4% real raise) |
| $90,000, index 103 → 187, $140,000 offer | $163,398.06 | 81.6% more expensive; offer falls short by $23,398.06 (14.3% real-terms pay cut) |
| $75,000, index 187 → 103, $80,000 offer | $41,310.16 | 44.9% cheaper; offer beats it by $38,689.84 (93.7% real raise) |
| $60,000, index 120 → 100, no offer | $50,000.00 | 16.7% cheaper; break-even cut of $10,000; tip line invites an offer |
The worked example as a bar chart: what $80,000 buys at index 91, what you need at index 165, and what the offer actually pays:
The asymmetry that catches people out
The ratio is symmetric but the percentages are not. Going from an index of 103 to 187 needs an 82% raise; coming back from 187 to 103 survives a 45% cut. Both are true, because the percentage changes its denominator. When comparing two offers in opposite directions, always recompute from the correct base instead of flipping the sign.
What the index misses
A composite index averages everyone, and your life is not the average. Read this list before negotiating on the number:
What the index captures
- Overall price level: groceries, transport, utilities, services
- Housing costs, the biggest driver of city-to-city gaps
- A like-for-like purchasing-power comparison across places
What the index misses
- State and local income taxes, which can dwarf COL gaps
- Your spending mix: renters, owners, parents and singles differ
- Neighborhood differences hidden inside one city number
- Costs that follow you: federal taxes, student loans, remittances
Taxes deserve the emphasis: the BEA’s Regional Price Parities deliberately exclude taxes, and nine US states have no wage income tax at all while others take over 10% at the top bracket. Run the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator for each side before you sign. If the offer turns out below the equivalent, the salary cut calculator shows what the shortfall does to a paycheck, and the cost of living raise calculator prices a raise that keeps up with inflation where you already live.
What competing calculators miss
The standard tools stop at the equivalent salary. The better ones add honest data; this page adds the decision:
- Salaryitis: the strongest data rival, built on the official BEA Regional Price Parities with a clean state-to-state comparison. It gives no offer verdict and no break-even raise number to negotiate from.
- EverydayTools: also BEA-based with honest methodology notes, but the answer ends at the equivalent salary. There is no “is this offer a raise” step.
- BraveCalculator: walks through the formula with a worked example, but its formula display is garbled and it never tests an offer against the equivalent.
- SmartOnlineCalculator: adds monthly expense breakdowns, but its housing line uses a different formula from its other categories, quietly overstating or understating the biggest cost of all.
- Sitnit (Canada): a thoughtful city-comparison tool with budget splits by lifestyle, but Canada-only and offer-free.
- The gap this page fills: the offer verdict, which turns the equivalent salary into a decision. Beat it and the move is a raise; miss it and you know the exact shortfall to negotiate, with every number reproducible in the tool above.
Frequently asked questions
Current salary × (target city index ÷ current city index). $80,000 × (165 ÷ 91) = $145,054.95.
A composite number comparing a city’s costs to a baseline (US average = 100). Higher means more expensive overall.
The BEA publishes Regional Price Parities for US states and metro areas, MERIC publishes quarterly state indices, and Numbeo and Expatistan publish crowdsourced city indices. Always take both indices from the same series.
Percentages change their denominator: +82% up (103 to 187) vs -45% down (187 to 103). Always recompute from the correct base.
No. State and local income taxes can dwarf COL differences: factor them in separately.
No. Compare the offer against the equivalent salary: below it, the move is a real-terms pay cut.
At least the break-even number (equivalent minus current). Negotiate above it: moves carry risk and cost.
Roughly, but add currency, tax regimes, healthcare, and visa costs: the index is only the cost-of-living slice.
Gross, consistently on both sides. The model scales the figure directly and applies no tax of its own.
Then build your own basket: weight housing, transport, and food by your actual budget instead of the composite.
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References
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Regional Price Parities by State and Metro Area. Current release February 19, 2026. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Cost of Living Data Series. Quarterly state indices from the C2ER survey. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Council for Community and Economic Research. Cost of Living Index, Second Quarter 2026. National average for 248 urban areas = 100. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Numbeo. Methodology and Motivation. Crowdsourced price methodology, New York City = 100 baseline. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Numbeo. Understanding our Cost of Living Indexes. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Expatistan. Cost of Living Index. Crowdsourced city comparisons. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index: Overview. Handbook of Methods. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding Estimator. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. IRS Tax Withholding Estimator helps taxpayers get their federal withholding right. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Protect Your Move: Consumer Protection for Household Moves. Accessed October 23, 2026.