Moving from Boston to Columbus
You'd keep $752 more a month in Columbus
+$9,024 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
Columbus leftover
$2,632
+$752 vs Boston
In 2022-2023, 218 households moved Boston → Columbus (avg AGI $80,261). 214 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Boston | Columbus | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $9,042 | $7,561 | −$1,481 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,416 | $1,880 | −$536 |
| Take-home pay | $6,626 | $5,681 | −$945 |
| Rent | $2,619 | $1,174 | −$1,445 |
| Getting around | $445 | $526 | +$81 |
| Groceries | $464 | $372 | −$92 |
| Healthcare | $522 | $419 | −$103 |
| Utilities | $290 | $233 | −$57 |
| Everything else | $406 | $326 | −$80 |
| Left over | $1,880 | $2,632 | +$752 |
To break even in Columbus, 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
+$1,158
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.7% in Boston, 24.9% in Columbus.
More about Columbus
Boston, MA in full
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
Columbus, OH in full
The most affordable large metro with a growing white-collar job base.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Columbus on Columbus wages.
Columbus → Boston →Questions
Is the cost of living lower in Columbus than Boston?
A one-bedroom is about $2,619 in Boston versus $1,174 in Columbus. On a one-adult, one-bedroom household, leftover is about $752 a month higher in Columbus. Change the job or household on the comparison to see your number.
Does Columbus have state income tax?
Columbus is in Ohio, which taxes wage income, plus a local wage tax of 2.50%.
What changes if you move from Boston to Columbus?
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.