Cost of Living Comparison Calculator

Compare two US cities and see what salary keeps your buying power the same. Uses our local cost index, built on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis price levels (2024) and each city's own rents; updated November 2026.

A salary of $60,000 in Chicago, IL is equivalent to

$61,900 in Denver, CO

Prices in Denver are 3.2% higher than in Chicago.

Category	Chicago	Denver	Difference
All items	103.9	107.3	+3.2%
Housing (rents)	106.7	139.6	+30.8%
Goods	107.3	101.0	−5.9%
Utilities	83.6	87.9	+5.1%
Other services	100.5	99.4	−1.0%

Chicago cost of living · Denver cost of living

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Popular cities

Popular comparisons

Atlanta, GA vs Denver, CO 101.2 vs 107.3
Seattle, WA vs Atlanta, GA 113.4 vs 101.2
Washington, DC vs Chicago, IL 109.4 vs 103.9
San Francisco, CA vs Boston, MA 122.3 vs 111.8
Burlington, VT vs Eureka, CA 101.4 vs 97.5
New York, NY vs Washington, DC 113.5 vs 109.4
New York, NY vs Philadelphia, PA 113.5 vs 101.5
New York, NY vs Boston, MA 113.5 vs 111.8
New York, NY vs Detroit, MI 113.5 vs 97.5
New York, NY vs Baltimore, MD 113.5 vs 100.1
Los Angeles, CA vs Phoenix, AZ 114.6 vs 102.0
Los Angeles, CA vs Riverside, CA 114.6 vs 106.7

How the comparison works

Each city has a local cost index where the US average is 100. It starts from the Regional Price Parities published each year by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis for the surrounding metro area (or the rural part of the state), and adjusts only the housing part for the city's own median rent compared with the area average. Goods, utilities and services prices stay exactly as BEA publishes them.

Equivalent salary = your salary × (index of the new city ÷ index of your current city). If you earn $60,000 where the index is 95 and move to a place at 114, you would need about $72,000 for the same standard of living.

Every city page goes further, with a modelled monthly budget for three household types, rents by bedroom count, home values, electricity and gasoline prices and regional inflation, all from official public sources.

Figures that come from a larger area (county, state or the non-metro part of a state) are always labelled. Read the methodology.

Cost of living by state

Alabama 88.8
Alaska 102.4
Arizona 100.7
Arkansas 86.9
California 110.7
Colorado 103.1
Connecticut 103.6
Delaware 99.8
District of Columbia 109.9
Florida 103.4
Georgia 96.3
Hawaii 110.0
Idaho 95.5
Illinois 100.0
Indiana 93.3
Iowa 87.8
Kansas 90.1
Kentucky 90.2
Louisiana 88.2
Maine 97.0
Maryland 105.0
Massachusetts 105.8
Michigan 96.2
Minnesota 98.6
Mississippi 87.0
Missouri 90.8
Montana 94.6
Nebraska 90.1
Nevada 100.0
New Hampshire 104.2
New Jersey 108.8
New Mexico 92.2
New York 107.9
North Carolina 94.3
North Dakota 89.0
Ohio 92.8
Oklahoma 87.8
Oregon 103.4
Pennsylvania 97.6
Rhode Island 102.3
South Carolina 93.7
South Dakota 88.6
Tennessee 91.9
Texas 97.1
Utah 98.9
Vermont 98.0
Virginia 101.1
Washington 107.0
West Virginia 89.5
Wisconsin 94.1
Wyoming 92.7

See all states ranked from most to least expensive →

Largest cities

Browse all cities by state →

Questions

How does the cost of living comparison calculator work?

It divides the price level of the city you are moving to by the price level of the city you live in. City price levels are our local cost index: the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2024) for the surrounding area, with housing adjusted to the city's own rents. Equivalent salary = your salary × (index of city B ÷ index of city A).

Does the calculator include taxes?

No. It compares price levels for goods, rents, utilities and other services. State and local income, sales and property taxes are not included.

Why do some places show a state nonmetro figure?

BEA publishes price parities for metropolitan areas, states, and the non-metropolitan part of each state. For cities outside a metro area (including micropolitan areas such as Elko, NV) our local index starts from the nonmetropolitan figure for their state.