Louisville, KY → Columbus, OH
You'd keep $165 more a month in Columbus
+$1,980 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 152 households moved Louisville → Columbus (avg AGI $63,678). 106 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Louisville | Columbus | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,333 | $7,567 | +$234 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,919 | $1,882 | −$37 |
| Take-home pay | $5,414 | $5,685 | +$271 |
| Rent | $1,064 | $1,174 | +$110 |
| Getting around | $545 | $526 | −$19 |
| Groceries | $368 | $372 | +$4 |
| Healthcare | $414 | $419 | +$5 |
| Utilities | $230 | $233 | +$3 |
| Everything else | $322 | $326 | +$4 |
| Left over | $2,471 | $2,636 | +$165 |
To break even in Columbus, you'd need to earn
$88,000
Household gross, versus $88,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Louisville does now.
The tax difference alone
+$1,274
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.2% in Louisville, 24.9% in Columbus.
More about Columbus
Louisville, KY in full
Cheap, central, and warmer than the rest of the Midwest.
Columbus, OH in full
The most affordable large metro with a growing white-collar job base.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Columbus on Columbus wages.
Columbus → Louisville →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.