Cost of Living Salary Calculator

How COL-adjusted salary works

A $100,000 salary in a high price-level metro does not buy the same lifestyle as $100,000 in a lower-cost area. BEA Regional Price Parities express local price levels as a percentage of the U.S. average (100). Dividing target RPP by source RPP scales your salary to an equivalent purchasing-power amount. We cross-check every published geography against Census ACS median gross rent before it enters the dataset.

Data last built: 2026-07-07. This is a price-level model only — state tax, benefits, and commute costs are out of scope.

C2ER/MERIC Cost of Living Index data is proprietary and not republished here. Census ACS median gross rent is used only as a housing-only proxy for cross-checking BEA housing RPP — rent is one component of cost of living, not the whole picture (groceries, healthcare, transportation, and other expenses are not modeled by the rent cross-check).

How to calculate a cost-of-living adjusted salary

1. Enter current salary

   Type your gross annual salary in your current location.

2. Select current and target locations

   Choose city and/or state for both locations. The tool uses verified BEA metro or state RPP data when available.

3. Review equivalent salary and sources

   Read the COL-adjusted equivalent salary with BEA and ACS source vintages disclosed.