Moving from Boston to Cleveland
You'd keep $764 more a month in Cleveland
+$9,168 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
Boston leftover
$1,880
a month after tax and rent
Cleveland leftover
$2,644
+$764 vs Boston
In 2022-2023, 149 households moved Boston → Cleveland (avg AGI $128,678). 194 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Boston | Cleveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $9,042 | $7,405 | −$1,637 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,416 | $1,826 | −$590 |
| Take-home pay | $6,626 | $5,579 | −$1,047 |
| Rent | $2,619 | $1,100 | −$1,519 |
| Getting around | $445 | $515 | +$70 |
| Groceries | $464 | $364 | −$100 |
| Healthcare | $522 | $410 | −$112 |
| Utilities | $290 | $228 | −$62 |
| Everything else | $406 | $319 | −$87 |
| Left over | $1,880 | $2,644 | +$764 |
To break even in Cleveland, you'd need to earn
$75,000
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
+$1,256
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.7% in Boston, 24.7% in Cleveland.
More about Cleveland
Boston, MA in full
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
Cleveland, OH in full
World-class hospitals and an orchestra, at the lowest rents of any large metro.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Cleveland on Cleveland wages.
Cleveland → Boston →Questions
Is the cost of living lower in Cleveland than Boston?
A one-bedroom is about $2,619 in Boston versus $1,100 in Cleveland. On a one-adult, one-bedroom household, leftover is about $764 a month higher in Cleveland. Change the job or household on the comparison to see your number.
Does Cleveland have state income tax?
Cleveland is in Ohio, which taxes wage income, plus a local wage tax of 2.50%.
What changes if you move from Boston to Cleveland?
Take-home pay is recalculated under Ohio tax, rent is priced at the same bedroom count, and leftover is the gap. The from-to page also lists IRS households that already made the move, when that data exists.
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.