Phoenix, AZ → St. Louis, MO
You'd keep $79 more a month in St. Louis
+$948 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
| Per month | Phoenix | St. Louis | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $7,583 | $0 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,709 | $1,905 | +$196 |
| Take-home pay | $5,875 | $5,679 | −$196 |
| Rent | $1,276 | $1,144 | −$132 |
| Getting around | $586 | $545 | −$41 |
| Groceries | $396 | $368 | −$28 |
| Healthcare | $446 | $414 | −$32 |
| Utilities | $248 | $230 | −$18 |
| Everything else | $347 | $322 | −$25 |
| Left over | $2,577 | $2,656 | +$79 |
To break even in St. Louis, you'd need to earn
$89,500
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
−$2,350
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 22.5% in Phoenix, 25.1% in St. Louis.
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
St. Louis, MO in full
The lowest home prices of any metro over 2 million people.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from St. Louis on St. Louis wages.
St. Louis → 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.