Phoenix, AZ → Tulsa, OK
Moving to Tulsa costs you $20 a month
−$240 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 196 households moved Phoenix → Tulsa (avg AGI $57,122). 109 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Phoenix | Tulsa | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $7,036 | −$547 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,709 | $1,681 | −$28 |
| Take-home pay | $5,875 | $5,355 | −$519 |
| Rent | $1,276 | $971 | −$305 |
| Getting around | $586 | $536 | −$50 |
| Groceries | $396 | $356 | −$40 |
| Healthcare | $446 | $401 | −$45 |
| Utilities | $248 | $223 | −$25 |
| Everything else | $347 | $312 | −$35 |
| Left over | $2,577 | $2,557 | −$20 |
To break even in Tulsa, you'd need to earn
$85,000
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
−$1,610
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 22.5% in Phoenix, 23.9% in Tulsa.
More about Tulsa
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
Tulsa, OK in full
Paid remote workers to move here, and the housing math is why it worked.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Tulsa on Tulsa wages.
Tulsa → 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.