Boston, MA → Los Angeles, CA
Moving to Los Angeles costs you $195 a month
−$2,340 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
| Per month | Boston | Los Angeles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $9,042 | $8,730 | −$312 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,416 | $2,370 | −$45 |
| Take-home pay | $6,626 | $6,360 | −$266 |
| Rent | $2,619 | $2,276 | −$343 |
| Getting around | $445 | $674 | +$229 |
| Groceries | $464 | $476 | +$12 |
| Healthcare | $522 | $536 | +$14 |
| Utilities | $290 | $298 | +$8 |
| Everything else | $406 | $417 | +$11 |
| Left over | $1,880 | $1,685 | −$195 |
To break even in Los Angeles, you'd need to earn
$108,500
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
−$565
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.7% in Boston, 27.2% in Los Angeles.
Boston, MA in full
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
Los Angeles, CA in full
Perfect weather, deep job market, and a car payment you can't avoid.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Los Angeles on Los Angeles wages.
Los Angeles → 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.