Pick two places and enter the pay to see take-home, costs, the money left over and what your pay buys in each place.
Name two cities or states and your nursing pay in each, hourly or yearly. The calculator compares local price levels from federal data, estimates take-home and costs for one adult or uses your own figures, and shows what is left each month in each place.
Price levels come from U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis · 2024 Regional Price Parities, released 2026-02-19, for all 50 states and DC, with metro price levels and census median rent where a city has them. Posted pay is what employers advertise, not take-home.
The higher rate is not always the better month. Take out taxes, rent and living costs in each place, then compare what is left.
Example
RN · three 12-hour shifts
$97,344 a year · price level 103.4 (US 100)
$2,200left each month
$80,496 a year · price level 94.3 (US 100)
$2,300left each month
Raleigh, NC leaves $100 more each month, on $16,848 less pay a year.
Price levels: BEA 2024 Regional Price Parities, by state. Take-home and costs are the amounts entered in the example.
Example
Save it to reopen from Saved work or download it. Keep your role and the place you prefer as job preferences, and job matches use them.
Comes back in: Saved work · Job matches
The one that leaves you more each month, not the one with the higher salary. Take out taxes, rent and living costs in each place; the city with more left over pays more in real terms, even when its salary is lower.
No. A higher salary in a high-cost city can leave less each month than a lower one elsewhere, mostly because of rent and state taxes. The comparison shows both the salary and what remains.
Yes. Unless you describe a household, it estimates federal, state and payroll taxes and basic living costs for one adult, labelled as an estimate. For another household, enter your own take-home and costs.
RN · three 12s · a preschooler
Example
Raleigh leaves you $100 more each month.
Left each month
$2,200
$6,100 take-home · $3,900 costs
Left each month
$2,300
$5,600 take-home · $3,300 costs
Raleigh leaves a little more each month despite the lower rate, and family nearby can help with childcare. Portland pays more an hour, but its higher monthly costs take most of the difference.
