Reading vs Philadelphia leftover
You'd keep $40 more a month in Philadelphia
$2,415/mo leftover in Philadelphia vs $2,375 in Reading after tax and rent ($40 more). +$480 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms. Not a cost-of-living index.
Reading leftover
$2,375
a month after tax and rent
Philadelphia leftover
$2,415
+$40 vs Reading
Compare Reading to another metro
Same paycheck. Try a different city next to Reading.
Monthly gap
Reading → Philadelphia
$40
more / month in Philadelphia
$2,415 in Philadelphia · $2,375 in Reading · One adult, renting a 1-bedroom
Home
Only when you tap. We match the nearest metro and don't keep the coordinates.
Destination
In 2022-2023, 1,828 households moved Reading → Philadelphia (avg AGI $64,734). 2,203 went the other way. The whole move →
+$40 / mo
| Per month | Reading | Philadelphia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,333 | $8,096 | +$763 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,774 | $2,254 | +$480 |
| Take-home pay | $5,559 | $5,842 | +$283 |
| Rent | $1,167 | $1,530 | +$363 |
| Getting around | $563 | $418 | −$145 |
| Groceries | $401 | $408 | +$7 |
| Healthcare | $451 | $459 | +$8 |
| Utilities | $251 | $255 | +$4 |
| Everything else | $351 | $357 | +$6 |
| Left over | $2,375 | $2,415 | +$40 |
To break even in Philadelphia, you'd need to earn
$96,500
Household gross, versus $88,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Reading does now.
The tax difference alone
−$3,044
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 24.2% in Reading, 27.8% in Philadelphia.
More about Philadelphia
Reading, PA in full
A flat 3.07% state income tax, a median 2-bedroom asking rent of $1,389 and 195 sunny days; commutes average 25 minutes.
Philadelphia, PA in full
East Coast density at half of Boston's rent, minus a 3.75% city wage tax.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Philadelphia on Philadelphia wages.
Philadelphia → Reading →Questions
Is the cost of living lower in Philadelphia than Reading?
A one-bedroom is about $1,167 in Reading versus $1,530 in Philadelphia. On a one-adult, one-bedroom household, leftover is about $40 a month higher in Philadelphia. Change the job or household on the comparison to see your number.
Does Philadelphia have state income tax?
Philadelphia is in Pennsylvania, which taxes wage income, plus a local wage tax of 3.75%.
What changes if you move from Reading to Philadelphia?
Take-home pay is recalculated under Pennsylvania tax, rent is priced at the same bedroom count, and leftover is the gap. The from-to page also lists IRS households that already made the move, when that data exists.
Leftover is take-home after federal, state and city wage tax, minus asking rent at the bedroom count you set, minus a modelled month of groceries, utilities, healthcare, transport and childcare. It is not a cost-of-living index and not a moving quote. The dollar gap between Reading and Philadelphia moves when you change the job, remote versus local pay, or bedrooms. How the math works · Leftover vs a COL index · Why a cheaper COL% can still lose leftover.
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.