Buffalo, NY → Phoenix, AZ
You'd keep $53 more a month in Phoenix
+$636 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 154 households moved Buffalo → Phoenix (avg AGI $62,714). 133 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Buffalo | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,417 | $7,573 | +$156 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,858 | $1,705 | −$152 |
| Take-home pay | $5,559 | $5,867 | +$309 |
| Rent | $1,178 | $1,276 | +$98 |
| Getting around | $517 | $586 | +$69 |
| Groceries | $372 | $396 | +$24 |
| Healthcare | $419 | $446 | +$27 |
| Utilities | $233 | $248 | +$15 |
| Everything else | $326 | $347 | +$21 |
| Left over | $2,516 | $2,569 | +$53 |
To break even in Phoenix, you'd need to earn
$90,000
Household gross, versus $89,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Buffalo does now.
The tax difference alone
+$2,385
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 25.0% in Buffalo, 22.5% in Phoenix.
More about Phoenix
Buffalo, NY in full
Cheap housing, a 21-minute commute, and 85 inches of snow.
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Phoenix on Phoenix wages.
Phoenix → Buffalo →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.