Houston, TX → Los Angeles, CA
Moving to Los Angeles costs you $1,459 a month
−$17,508 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
| Per month | Houston | Los Angeles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,958 | $8,739 | +$780 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,661 | $2,374 | +$713 |
| Take-home pay | $6,298 | $6,365 | +$67 |
| Rent | $1,199 | $2,276 | +$1,077 |
| Getting around | $572 | $674 | +$102 |
| Groceries | $380 | $476 | +$96 |
| Healthcare | $428 | $536 | +$108 |
| Utilities | $238 | $298 | +$60 |
| Everything else | $333 | $417 | +$84 |
| Left over | $3,149 | $1,690 | −$1,459 |
To break even in Los Angeles, you'd need to earn
$134,000
Household gross, versus $95,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Houston does now.
The tax difference alone
−$5,779
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 20.9% in Houston, 27.2% in Los Angeles.
Houston, TX in full
The cheapest housing of any top-10 metro, paid for in property tax and humidity.
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 → Houston →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.