Sacramento, CA → Los Angeles, CA
Moving to Los Angeles costs you $432 a month
−$5,184 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 2,618 households moved Sacramento → Los Angeles (avg AGI $75,035). 2,772 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Sacramento | Los Angeles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $8,042 | $8,744 | +$703 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,102 | $2,376 | +$274 |
| Take-home pay | $5,939 | $6,368 | +$429 |
| Rent | $1,677 | $2,276 | +$599 |
| Getting around | $600 | $674 | +$74 |
| Groceries | $424 | $476 | +$52 |
| Healthcare | $477 | $536 | +$59 |
| Utilities | $265 | $298 | +$33 |
| Everything else | $371 | $417 | +$46 |
| Left over | $2,125 | $1,693 | −$432 |
To break even in Los Angeles, you'd need to earn
$113,500
Household gross, versus $96,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Sacramento does now.
The tax difference alone
−$784
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.1% in Sacramento, 27.2% in Los Angeles.
More about Los Angeles
Sacramento, CA in full
Bay Area access at two-thirds the rent, with California's tax bill intact.
Los Angeles, CA in full
Perfect weather, deep job market, and a car payment you can't avoid.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Los Angeles on Los Angeles wages.
Los Angeles → Sacramento →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.