Phoenix, AZ → Madison, WI
You'd keep $49 more a month in Madison
+$588 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 160 households moved Phoenix → Madison (avg AGI $72,731). 174 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Phoenix | Madison | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $7,818 | +$235 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,709 | $1,942 | +$233 |
| Take-home pay | $5,875 | $5,876 | +$1 |
| Rent | $1,276 | $1,335 | +$59 |
| Getting around | $586 | $509 | −$77 |
| Groceries | $396 | $388 | −$8 |
| Healthcare | $446 | $437 | −$9 |
| Utilities | $248 | $243 | −$5 |
| Everything else | $347 | $340 | −$7 |
| Left over | $2,577 | $2,626 | +$49 |
To break even in Madison, you'd need to earn
$93,000
Household gross, versus $91,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Phoenix does now.
The tax difference alone
−$1,965
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 22.5% in Phoenix, 24.8% in Madison.
More about Madison
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
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 → Phoenix →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.