Grand Rapids vs Lansing leftover
Moving to Lansing costs you $15 a month
$2,375/mo leftover in Lansing vs $2,390 in Grand Rapids after tax and rent ($15 less). −$180 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms. Not a cost-of-living index.
Grand Rapids leftover
$2,390
a month after tax and rent
Lansing leftover
$2,375
−$15 vs Grand Rapids
Compare Grand Rapids to another metro
Same paycheck. Try a different city next to Grand Rapids.
Monthly gap
Grand Rapids → Lansing
$15
less / month in Grand Rapids
$2,375 in Lansing · $2,390 in Grand Rapids · One adult, renting a 1-bedroom
Home
Only when you tap. We match the nearest metro and don't keep the coordinates.
Destination
In 2022-2023, 1,016 households moved Grand Rapids → Lansing (avg AGI $48,387). 1,228 went the other way. The whole move →
−$15 / mo
| Per month | Grand Rapids | Lansing | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,250 | $6,899 | −$351 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,739 | $1,689 | −$50 |
| Take-home pay | $5,511 | $5,210 | −$301 |
| Rent | $1,252 | $980 | −$272 |
| Getting around | $535 | $486 | −$49 |
| Groceries | $368 | $378 | +$10 |
| Healthcare | $414 | $425 | +$11 |
| Utilities | $230 | $236 | +$6 |
| Everything else | $322 | $330 | +$8 |
| Left over | $2,390 | $2,375 | −$15 |
To break even in Lansing, you'd need to earn
$83,000
Household gross, versus $87,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Grand Rapids does now.
The tax difference alone
−$649
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 24.0% in Grand Rapids, 24.5% in Lansing.
More about Lansing
Grand Rapids, MI in full
Lake Michigan beaches, cheap housing, and a 4.25% flat tax.
Lansing, MI in full
A flat 4.25% state income tax, a median 2-bedroom asking rent of $1,167 and 164 sunny days; commutes average 22 minutes.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Lansing on Lansing wages.
Lansing → Grand Rapids →Questions
Is the cost of living lower in Lansing than Grand Rapids?
A one-bedroom is about $1,252 in Grand Rapids versus $980 in Lansing. On a one-adult, one-bedroom household, leftover is about $15 a month lower in Lansing. Change the job or household on the comparison to see your number.
Does Lansing have state income tax?
Lansing is in Michigan, which taxes wage income, plus a local wage tax of 1.00%.
What changes if you move from Grand Rapids to Lansing?
Take-home pay is recalculated under Michigan 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.
Leftover is take-home after federal, state and city wage tax, minus asking rent at the bedroom count you set, minus a modelled month of groceries, utilities, healthcare, transport and childcare. It is not a cost-of-living index and not a moving quote. The dollar gap between Grand Rapids and Lansing moves when you change the job, remote versus local pay, or bedrooms. How the math works · Leftover vs a COL index · Why a cheaper COL% can still lose leftover.
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.