St. Louis, MO → Los Angeles, CA
Moving to Los Angeles costs you $956 a month
−$11,472 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
| Per month | St. Louis | Los Angeles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $8,756 | +$1,173 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,905 | $2,381 | +$476 |
| Take-home pay | $5,679 | $6,375 | +$697 |
| Rent | $1,144 | $2,276 | +$1,132 |
| Getting around | $545 | $674 | +$129 |
| Groceries | $368 | $476 | +$108 |
| Healthcare | $414 | $536 | +$122 |
| Utilities | $230 | $298 | +$68 |
| Everything else | $322 | $417 | +$95 |
| Left over | $2,656 | $1,700 | −$956 |
To break even in Los Angeles, you'd need to earn
$124,000
Household gross, versus $91,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as St. Louis does now.
The tax difference alone
−$1,539
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 25.1% in St. Louis, 27.2% in Los Angeles.
St. Louis, MO in full
The lowest home prices of any metro over 2 million people.
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 → St. Louis →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.