Leftover leaderboard, October 2026

A cost-of-living index will tell you McAllen is cheaper than Manhattan. You already knew that. What it will not tell you is how much of an $80,000 or $160,000 paycheck is still in the account after federal tax, the state, a city wage tax if there is one, and the 1 bd you would actually rent.

Leftover is that dollar. It is the same number on every city page, every ranking, and every head-to-head on this site. This leaderboard is not a second set of math. It is the October 2026 run of the calculator, three times, on three salaries, then sorted by leftover. The 2026 best leftover metros report is the other table: local nurse pay, the same size cutoff.

At $120,000 held flat, McAllen currently leads large metros at $5,021/mo. That is One adult, renting a 1-bedroom, with the paycheck held flat. Not a citywide average, and not a household of four.

Each table is the top 20 metros with at least 500,000 people, ranked by leftover at that salary. The salary does not get scaled by local wages. That is the remote setting on the homepage: you keep the paycheck, and the city only changes the tax and the bills.

The names move between bands. A state with no wage tax looks better as the paycheck grows, because more of the raise survives. A cheap 1 bd matters more at $80,000, when rent is a larger share of take-home. If you want local pay for a specific job, leave this page and run the calculator with a job instead of a custom salary.

City names open that metro with this household already set. The ranking link above each table opens the full ranking sorted by leftover for the same household, including cities this list left off as too small.

A single paycheck that would feel tight on the coasts. Leftover here is what remains after tax, a 1 bd, and the rest of the month.

Open the live ranking at $80,000 to change bedrooms, the household, or local versus remote pay. Each city name uses the same household as this table.

The middle band. Tax brackets start to matter more than they did at $80,000. Rent still decides the top of the list.

Open the live ranking at $120,000 to change bedrooms, the household, or local versus remote pay. Each city name uses the same household as this table.

More take-home in every city, but the ranking is not a copy of $120,000. Higher brackets and the same asking rents reshuffle a few names.

Open the live ranking at $160,000 to change bedrooms, the household, or local versus remote pay. Each city name uses the same household as this table.

The math is the leftover calculation on the methodology page:

• Gross pay is the salary in the table header, held constant in every city.
• Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, and city wage tax where it exists. Filing status comes from the household: one adult and no children files as single.
• Minus asking rent for 1 bd, not a Census median and not a 2 bd blend.
• Minus groceries, healthcare, utilities, getting around, and the rest of the month, scaled by that city's prices outside housing.

Small cities can look even cheaper. They are left off on purpose so the list is places large enough to have a job market, not a ranking of college towns. The full leftover ranking does not apply that size cutoff.

• Rent is a 1 bd asking rent. A couple that needs 2 bd, or a buyer putting 20% down, is not on this list. Changing bedrooms on the homepage is the fastest way to break a pretty ranking.
• Filing status is the site default. One adult, no kids, single. Married filing jointly, or head of household, changes the federal and state bill. The calculator reads that from adults and children.
• Remote means the paycheck does not follow the city. If the job is local, a nurse or a teacher does not take $120,000 to McAllen. Use local pay for that question.
• Leftover is not take-home minus rent only. Groceries, a car in most cities, healthcare, and utilities are in the subtraction. That is why a cheap-rent city with a long drive can lose to a slightly pricier one you can walk.

Those limits are the same as the rest of the site. Leftover versus a cost index is the longer version of why a percentage is the wrong first number. Best leftover metros for remote workers walks the same $80,000, $120,000, and $160,000 household in prose, including why you might skip #1. Why a cheaper cost score can still lose leftover is the worked-example version.

These three bands are a filter, not your offer letter. Set the job, the real paycheck, the people in the house, and the bedrooms you need on the homepage, then sort the ranking by leftover. If two cities survive, open a compare. New York vs Raleigh and Las Vegas vs Reno are pairs that keep coming up.

This series lives on the leftover leaderboard page. Next month's edition is its own page. That page always points at the latest one.