Sacramento, CA → Phoenix, AZ
You'd keep $445 more a month in Phoenix
+$5,340 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 815 households moved Sacramento → Phoenix (avg AGI $89,741). 582 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Sacramento | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $8,042 | $7,573 | −$468 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,102 | $1,706 | −$397 |
| Take-home pay | $5,939 | $5,868 | −$72 |
| Rent | $1,677 | $1,276 | −$401 |
| Getting around | $600 | $586 | −$14 |
| Groceries | $424 | $396 | −$28 |
| Healthcare | $477 | $446 | −$31 |
| Utilities | $265 | $248 | −$17 |
| Everything else | $371 | $347 | −$24 |
| Left over | $2,125 | $2,570 | +$445 |
To break even in Phoenix, you'd need to earn
$83,000
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
+$3,095
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 26.1% in Sacramento, 22.5% in Phoenix.
More about Phoenix
Sacramento, CA in full
Bay Area access at two-thirds the rent, with California's tax bill intact.
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Phoenix on Phoenix wages.
Phoenix → 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.