Salary comparisons that tell the truth
A $160K offer in New York and a $130K offer in Austin are not what they look like. We compare the same job across cities by real salary — take-home pay after federal tax, state tax, and FICA, adjusted for local cost of living. It’s the number that decides where you actually come out ahead.
Featured matchups
Software Engineer
San Francisco vs Austin
Austin wins by $43,091 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Software Engineer
New York City vs Miami
Miami wins by $17,968 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Registered Nurse
Los Angeles vs Austin
Austin wins by $16,423 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Data Scientist
San Francisco vs Seattle
Seattle wins by $29,784 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Financial Analyst
New York City vs Chicago
Chicago wins by $24,176 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Product Manager
Seattle vs Austin
Austin wins by $17,268 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Marketing Manager
New York City vs Austin
Austin wins by $28,289 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Mechanical Engineer
Houston vs Dallas
Houston wins by $9,680 in real take-home.
Project Manager
Boston vs New York City
Boston wins by $4,710 in real take-home — despite a lower gross salary.
Compare by role
Software Engineer →Registered Nurse →Data Scientist →Financial Analyst →Product Manager →Marketing Manager →Mechanical Engineer →Project Manager →
Compare by city matchup
San Francisco vs Austin →New York City vs Miami →New York City vs Austin →San Francisco vs Seattle →Los Angeles vs Austin →Chicago vs Dallas →New York City vs Chicago →Houston vs Dallas →Boston vs New York City →Seattle vs Austin →
Data derived from BLS OEWS wage percentiles and C2ER cost-of-living indices. See methodology.