Raleigh, NC → Boston, MA
Moving to Boston costs you $858 a month
−$10,296 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 303 households moved Raleigh → Boston (avg AGI $104,842). 623 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Raleigh | Boston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,875 | $9,045 | +$1,170 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,926 | $2,417 | +$491 |
| Take-home pay | $5,949 | $6,628 | +$678 |
| Rent | $1,249 | $2,619 | +$1,370 |
| Getting around | $568 | $445 | −$123 |
| Groceries | $384 | $464 | +$80 |
| Healthcare | $432 | $522 | +$90 |
| Utilities | $240 | $290 | +$50 |
| Everything else | $336 | $406 | +$70 |
| Left over | $2,740 | $1,882 | −$858 |
To break even in Boston, you'd need to earn
$124,500
Household gross, versus $94,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Raleigh does now.
The tax difference alone
−$1,732
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 24.5% in Raleigh, 26.7% in Boston.
More about Boston
Raleigh, NC in full
Research Triangle salaries, low taxes, and not much to do downtown.
Boston, MA in full
Great pay in medicine and research, brutal winters, tight housing stock.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Boston on Boston wages.
Boston → Raleigh →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.