Phoenix, AZ → Spokane, WA
You'd keep $6 more a month in Spokane
+$72 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 237 households moved Phoenix → Spokane (avg AGI $75,376). 371 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Phoenix | Spokane | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $7,114 | −$469 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,709 | $1,411 | −$298 |
| Take-home pay | $5,875 | $5,704 | −$171 |
| Rent | $1,276 | $1,206 | −$70 |
| Getting around | $586 | $538 | −$48 |
| Groceries | $396 | $380 | −$16 |
| Healthcare | $446 | $428 | −$18 |
| Utilities | $248 | $238 | −$10 |
| Everything else | $347 | $333 | −$14 |
| Left over | $2,577 | $2,583 | +$6 |
To break even in Spokane, you'd need to earn
$85,500
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
+$1,910
A year, in state and local income tax. Washington has no wage income tax.
More about Spokane
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
Spokane, WA in full
No income tax, real seasons, and Seattle's outdoors without Seattle's rent.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Spokane on Spokane wages.
Spokane → 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.