User-entered location dataNo live city databaseNo data saved
This calculator provides estimates based on the compensation, household income, housing, expense, commute, moving-cost and tax-rate assumptions you enter. It does not use a live city cost database, calculate actual taxes, value home equity or determine the tax treatment of moving expenses and reimbursements. Actual costs and income may differ. Results do not constitute financial, tax, legal, real-estate or employment advice.
Guide
How to compare the financial impact of relocating
Why salary alone does not determine relocation value
Salary is one cash input. Employer retirement, benefits, household income, housing, everyday spending, commute time, work costs, moving costs, and timing can materially alter the comparison.
Comparing compensation between locations
Expected cash applies bonus attainment while target cash preserves the full target. Employer retirement and employer-paid benefits add compensation value; employee retirement contributions do not.
Housing cash flow and its limitations
Rent and ownership are compared as cash outflows. The model does not separate mortgage principal, value equity, estimate appreciation, or calculate a mortgage.
Detailed expenses vs regional price indexes
Detailed user-entered expenses are the primary basis. An optional user-entered regional index adjusts only an explicitly unitemized amount, avoiding an automatic city-cost assumption.
Partner income and employment gaps
Monthly timelines preserve partial-year income. A destination gap can model reduced income before a new partner income begins, while separately entered partner benefits remain visible.
Commute time and work-related costs
Office days account for paid leave. Miles, parking, transit, meals, weekly childcare, and monthly work costs reduce economic value; commute hours add to total job time.
Moving costs and employer reimbursement
Nonrecoverable costs reduce destination economic value. Recoverable deposits and cash-only items increase initial cash required, while employer support is displayed separately without automatic matching.
Custom effective-tax assumptions
Optional rates apply only to the cash categories you enter. They do not represent an income-tax return, withholding calculation, refund, deduction, or determination of taxable status.
Required destination salary
A bounded monotonic solver changes destination base salary while retaining salary-based bonus, retirement match, benefits, household income, costs, tax rates, and the selected scenario.
Cumulative relocation break-even
Annual differences are accumulated across the selected horizon. This distinguishes an immediate destination lead from a later recovery of Year 1 moving costs.
What expense-adjusted cash flow means
Household cash after the optional custom tax estimate is reduced by recurring household and work costs. The result is not official purchasing-power parity or take-home pay.
What this calculator does not include
The calculator excludes live city data, geocoding, tax law, home equity, appreciation, financing models, probability-weighted scenarios, legal determinations, and personalized advice.
Transparent math
Methodology
Compensation and time
Both primary jobs use PayArith's shared salary growth, fixed and variable cash, sequential retirement match, employer benefits, paid-leave schedule, safe arithmetic, and effective-hourly model.
Household cash timeline
Partner and other income are evaluated month by month. Expected primary cash and entered support form gross household cash before the optional user-entered tax estimate.
Expenses and scenarios
Housing and recurring expense growth compound without premature rounding. Destination scenario multipliers apply only to their named destination categories; reimbursements and benefits are not expense-multiplied.
Solvers and break-even
Required salaries use finite bounded binary search. Cumulative differences sum the selected metric by year and identify a first crossover or repeated leadership changes.
Common questions
Relocation salary FAQ
What salary do I need after relocating?
The required-salary estimate uses bounded binary search to change destination base salary until the selected destination scenario matches the current location on disposable cash flow, adjusted economic value, total compensation, or adjusted hourly value.
How should I compare salaries between two cities?
Compare expected cash, employer benefits, retirement, household income, housing, recurring expenses, commute time and costs, and one-time transition items rather than salary alone.
Does a higher salary always offset a higher cost of living?
No. Higher housing, healthcare, childcare, transportation, taxes, or work costs can outweigh additional cash compensation, while benefits and household income can change the comparison in the other direction.
Which relocation expenses should I include?
Include moving services, travel, temporary housing, lease termination, setup, deposits, storage, vehicle transport, home sale or purchase costs, replacement purchases, family transition costs, licensing, and employment gaps that apply to you.
How are employer relocation reimbursements handled?
Support is shown separately from moving costs and added in its entered month and year. You choose whether it is recurring or one-time and whether it is included in the custom taxable-cash estimate.
Does the calculator include taxes?
It can apply user-entered effective rates to recurring cash, variable cash, and taxable relocation support. It does not calculate brackets, filing status, federal, state, or local taxes, deductions, credits, withholding, refunds, or balances due.
How does partner income affect the comparison?
Partner and other household income use monthly start and end dates. A destination employment gap can use reduced income during the gap and a new annual income afterward without rounding the gap to a full year.
How is housing treated for homeowners?
The full mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, HOA, maintenance reserve, and parking are cash outflows. Mortgage principal, equity, and appreciation are not modeled.
Can I use a regional price index?
Yes, for an optional unitemized-spending amount only. The user-entered index never changes detailed housing or expense fields and is not represented as official BEA data.
What is expense-adjusted household cash flow?
It is household cash after the optional custom tax estimate, less recurring household expenses and commute or work costs. It is a planning metric, not official purchasing-power parity or take-home pay.
How is the relocation break-even year calculated?
For each year, the selected destination metric is compared with the current-location metric. Annual differences are accumulated, and the first year the destination recovers an initial deficit is reported.
Does the calculator use live city cost data?
No. Location labels and all prices are user-entered. The calculator performs no geocoding, city lookup, API request, or runtime data fetching.
