Denver, CO → Madison, WI
Moving to Madison costs you $27 a month
−$324 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 148 households moved Denver → Madison (avg AGI $73,764). 257 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Denver | Madison | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $8,250 | $7,783 | −$467 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,057 | $1,930 | −$127 |
| Take-home pay | $6,193 | $5,853 | −$340 |
| Rent | $1,490 | $1,335 | −$155 |
| Getting around | $551 | $509 | −$42 |
| Groceries | $420 | $388 | −$32 |
| Healthcare | $473 | $437 | −$36 |
| Utilities | $263 | $243 | −$20 |
| Everything else | $368 | $340 | −$28 |
| Left over | $2,630 | $2,603 | −$27 |
To break even in Madison, you'd need to earn
$94,000
Household gross, versus $99,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Denver does now.
The tax difference alone
−$139
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 24.9% in Denver, 24.8% in Madison.
More about Madison
Denver, CO in full
Mountains in an hour, 245 sunny days, and a flat 4.4% state tax.
Madison, WI in full
A university town with big-city wages and small-city commutes.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Madison on Madison wages.
Madison → Denver →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.