San Jose, CA → Phoenix, AZ
You'd keep $635 more a month in Phoenix
+$7,620 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 723 households moved San Jose → Phoenix (avg AGI $171,149). 578 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | San Jose | Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $10,625 | $7,578 | −$3,047 |
| Income and payroll tax | $3,124 | $1,707 | −$1,417 |
| Take-home pay | $7,501 | $5,871 | −$1,630 |
| Rent | $2,990 | $1,276 | −$1,714 |
| Getting around | $746 | $586 | −$160 |
| Groceries | $504 | $396 | −$108 |
| Healthcare | $567 | $446 | −$121 |
| Utilities | $315 | $248 | −$67 |
| Everything else | $441 | $347 | −$94 |
| Left over | $1,938 | $2,573 | +$635 |
To break even in Phoenix, you'd need to earn
$79,500
Household gross, versus $127,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as San Jose does now.
The tax difference alone
+$5,976
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 29.4% in San Jose, 22.5% in Phoenix.
More about Phoenix
San Jose, CA in full
The highest salaries in the country, almost entirely cancelled out by the highest rents.
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 → San Jose →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.