#62 of 66 for you
Boston, MA
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
Left over monthly
$1,897
Versus Chicago
−$483/mo
−$5,796 a year
Local pay for your job
$108,819
Local wages run 16% vs national
Where the money goes
One earner filing as a household, at 1 bedrooms.
- Taxes$2,425
- Rent$2,619
- Other living costs$2,127
- Left over$1,897
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $108,819
- Federal income tax
- −$15,554
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$8,325
- State income tax (MA)
- −$5,221
- Take-home pay
- $79,719
- Effective tax rate
- 26.7%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $2,619
- Groceries
- $464
- Getting around
- $445
- Healthcare
- $522
- Utilities and internet
- $290
- Everything else
- $406
- Total spending
- $4,746
Left over each month
$9,068 gross, minus $2,425 in tax and $4,746 in living costs.
$1,897
What living here is like
- Weather
- 200 sunny days, 82°F in July, 23°F January nights
- Getting around
- One car for the household is workable
- Average commute
- 31 minutes each way
- Size
- 4.9M people
- Buying instead
- Median home $610,900 — roughly $4,178/mo with 20% down, tax and upkeep
- Taxes
- Massachusetts income tax. Sales tax 6.3%, property tax 1.04%.
How it scores against what you said matters
- Money left over
- 34
- Sun and mild weather
- 62
- Access to the outdoors
- 70
- City life and culture
- 88
- A short commute
- 35
Chicago vs Boston, line by line
Same job, same household, both tax codes applied.
Open the comparison →Also worth a look
- Seattle, WA$3,406/mo
No state income tax and high wages, offset by home prices and 150 sunny days.
- Austin, TX$3,176/mo
No income tax, but property taxes are among the steepest anywhere.
- Houston, TX$3,159/mo
The cheapest housing of any top-10 metro, paid for in property tax and humidity.
- Dallas, TX$3,044/mo
No income tax, endless new construction, and a 1.5% property tax bill.