El Paso, TX → Phoenix, AZ
You'd keep $13 more a month in Phoenix
+$156 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 558 households moved El Paso → Phoenix (avg AGI $50,177). 454 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | El Paso | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $6,625 | $7,560 | +$935 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,265 | $1,701 | +$436 |
| Take-home pay | $5,360 | $5,859 | +$499 |
| Rent | $995 | $1,276 | +$281 |
| Getting around | $527 | $586 | +$59 |
| Groceries | $356 | $396 | +$40 |
| Healthcare | $401 | $446 | +$45 |
| Utilities | $223 | $248 | +$25 |
| Everything else | $312 | $347 | +$35 |
| Left over | $2,548 | $2,561 | +$13 |
To break even in Phoenix, you'd need to earn
$90,500
Household gross, versus $79,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as El Paso does now.
The tax difference alone
−$1,903
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 19.1% in El Paso, 22.5% in Phoenix.
More about Phoenix
El Paso, TX in full
297 sunny days and the lowest rents in Texas, on the lowest wages.
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 → El Paso →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.