San Francisco, CA → Madison, WI
You'd keep $237 more a month in Madison
+$2,844 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 131 households moved San Francisco → Madison (avg AGI $103,947). 187 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | San Francisco | Madison | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $10,458 | $7,805 | −$2,654 |
| Income and payroll tax | $3,056 | $1,937 | −$1,118 |
| Take-home pay | $7,403 | $5,867 | −$1,536 |
| Rent | $2,609 | $1,335 | −$1,274 |
| Getting around | $558 | $509 | −$49 |
| Groceries | $512 | $388 | −$124 |
| Healthcare | $576 | $437 | −$139 |
| Utilities | $320 | $243 | −$77 |
| Everything else | $448 | $340 | −$108 |
| Left over | $2,380 | $2,617 | +$237 |
To break even in Madison, you'd need to earn
$89,500
Household gross, versus $125,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as San Francisco does now.
The tax difference alone
+$3,832
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 29.2% in San Francisco, 24.8% in Madison.
More about Madison
San Francisco, CA in full
Dense, walkable, cold in July, and priced for two incomes.
Madison, WI in full
A university town with big-city wages and small-city commutes.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Madison on Madison wages.
Madison → San Francisco →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.