Boston, MA → Buffalo, NY
You'd keep $628 more a month in Buffalo
+$7,536 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 122 households moved Boston → Buffalo (avg AGI $103,385). 171 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Boston | Buffalo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $9,042 | $7,405 | −$1,637 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,416 | $1,854 | −$562 |
| Take-home pay | $6,626 | $5,551 | −$1,075 |
| Rent | $2,619 | $1,178 | −$1,441 |
| Getting around | $445 | $517 | +$72 |
| Groceries | $464 | $372 | −$92 |
| Healthcare | $522 | $419 | −$103 |
| Utilities | $290 | $233 | −$57 |
| Everything else | $406 | $326 | −$80 |
| Left over | $1,880 | $2,508 | +$628 |
To break even in Buffalo, you'd need to earn
$77,000
Household gross, versus $108,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Boston does now.
The tax difference alone
+$922
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.7% in Boston, 25.0% in Buffalo.
More about Buffalo
Boston, MA in full
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
Buffalo, NY in full
Cheap housing, a 21-minute commute, and 85 inches of snow.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Buffalo on Buffalo wages.
Buffalo → Boston →Rent is Zillow's asking rent for each metro; taxes and living costs are modelled. An estimate, not a quote or tax advice. How this is calculated.