Cost of Living Calculator: Compare Two States

Equivalent salary = your salary x (new composite index / current composite index), using the C2ER Cost of Living Index (Q2 2026, published by MERIC), where 100 is the national average. Equivalent rent uses the index's Housing component instead of the composite, because the composite blends groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and other goods, and housing alone often sits far from that blend. The tax lines multiply your current salary by each rate you enter and subtract; with a progressive state's top rate that overstates the gap, so read them as a range check. The index compares price levels, not wages, job markets or your own spending mix. The table below lists all six parts of each state's index (housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, health care, other goods and services); only the composite and the housing part enter the calculator. The state pages that remain run the calculator two ways at its defaults ($75,000 salary, $1,500 rent): from a place at the national average (both indices 100), and between the state and each state it borders, with that state's own indices and rate entered as where you live now (Alaska and Hawaii, which border no state, against California, Oregon and Washington). Their income tax column is a separate check: the state's single-filer rates and its own standard deduction or exemption applied to the matching salary, which comes out below the flat-rate line wherever the state has brackets or an allowance. Its 30% rent answer uses HUD's affordability guideline (rent at no more than 30% of gross income), which budgets for rent alone and none of the other five parts.

Source: Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC): C2ER Cost of Living Index, Q2 2026 · checked 2026-10-09

All six parts and the composite of the C2ER Cost of Living Index, Q2 2026 (100 = national average); only the composite and the housing part enter the calculator. The salary column runs the calculator from a place at the national average with $75,000; the income tax column is the rate the picker fills.

Cities and metro areas take part in the C2ER price survey voluntarily, and MERIC builds each state's index by averaging the indices of its participating areas. Fair Market Rent is HUD's FY2027 statewide two-bedroom figure, set near the 40th percentile of gross rents, not a median asking rent. Income tax: the flat rate, or the top rate where income is taxed in brackets.

• MERIC: Cost of Living Data Series (C2ER, Q2 2026)
• HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027