Cost of Living Adjustment Calculator
What a salary needs to be in a more or less expensive city to leave you equally well off, and whether the offer clears it. Index numbers are relative, so only the ratio matters.
Also called: city comparison salary, relocation salary calculator.
$1,950,000.00 to live equivalently, against the 1,800,000 offered. That leaves you behind by $150,000.00 a year in real terms.
An estimate, not an offer or a guarantee. Projected returns assume the rate you entered holds for the whole term, which no market does.
This is what the calculation gives for the numbers you entered. It is an estimate, not advice, and it knows nothing about your situation beyond those numbers. Rules for United States change on a published schedule; the effective date is shown on every rule-based tool.
How this is calculated
Cost of living indices are relative measures with an arbitrary base, so the level means nothing and the ratio means everything. Multiplying your salary by the ratio of the two indices gives the figure that buys the same basket. Comparing that to an actual offer converts a hard decision into a subtraction, though it prices only the basket the index covers.
equivalent salary = current salary * target index / current index- I
- Cost of living index (index)
Method and limits
What it assumes
- The index reflects your own spending pattern, which it rarely does exactly.
What it deliberately does not model
- Indices weight housing heavily. If your housing situation differs from the average, the answer moves a lot.
- Tax differences between locations are separate and often larger than the cost difference.
Formula version 1.0.0 · definition 1.0.0 · United States · Report a problem with this calculator
Frequently asked questions
- Where do I get the index numbers?
- Any consistent published source works, since only the ratio matters. Using two numbers from different sources or years is the one thing that breaks it.