Why is a cost-of-living index not enough on its own?

Because an index describes an average household and you are not one. Housing dominates the comparison for almost everybody, and what you will actually pay depends on where you would live, with whom, and how much space you need — none of which an index knows. Use an index to decide whether a comparison is worth doing, then do the four-number arithmetic for your own situation.

Does ClearHire calculate this for me?

No, and the page says so at the top. ClearHire holds no cost-of-living data and runs no such calculator; what it offers is the method, which is four numbers and a subtraction. Anything that presented itself as a calculator here would be putting a confident interface over data that does not exist.

Which four numbers actually matter?

Housing, tax, transport and one line for everything else, in that order of size for almost everybody. People get this wrong by refining the fourth — comparing grocery baskets across two cities — while getting the first one from an average rather than from a real listing for a place they would actually live. The first number is usually larger than the other three combined.

How do I handle tax when the two places tax differently?

Compare net, not gross, and compare it annually. A higher gross in a jurisdiction with higher income tax, a local tax, or mandatory contributions can be a lower net, and that difference is invisible in the offer letter. If either place taxes something the other does not — social contributions, a city tax, health premiums deducted at source — that belongs in this number rather than in the fourth line.

Should I take a pay cut to move somewhere cheaper?

Only after comparing what is left rather than what is offered, and then only if the non-money comparison also holds. A lower salary in a cheaper city can leave you better off month to month and worse off in absolute savings, which matters if you are saving toward something. Do the arithmetic first, then weigh the things that are not money — they are usually the reason the move is on the table at all.

How does a remote role at a different pay rate change this?

It turns the comparison into one between your actual costs and their pay band, which is a simpler question than comparing two cities. If the employer pays a location-adjusted rate, ask which location it is adjusted to and whether it is reassessed if you move. That single answer is worth more than any index, because it tells you whether the number is stable.

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Cost of living

How to compare what a salary is worth in two cities, and why the headline difference is usually the smallest part of the answer.

Last reviewed: 19 August 2026
Length: About 6 minutes
Scope: Maintained, not published. Corrections welcome.

ClearHire has no cost-of-living calculator and holds no cost-of-living data, so this page is the method rather than a machine. Comparing two cities is arithmetic anyone can do once they know which four numbers to get: housing, tax, transport and everything else — in that order of size, for almost everybody. The reason people get this wrong is not the arithmetic; it is comparing the headline salaries and stopping, because that is the one number both offers put in front of you. A move that raises pay by a fifth and raises rent by half is a pay cut that reads as a promotion.

Who this is for

Where it applies.

Evaluating a remote job offer at a different pay rate

Some companies pay one global rate; some pay locally. The calculator shows whether moving to a cheaper city (with location-adjusted pay) actually nets out as better or worse than staying in your current city.

Negotiating a relocation salary

When a company asks you to move, they should adjust salary for the new city's cost of living. The calculator gives you the number to ask for. Without it, candidates routinely accept salaries that are real-terms pay cuts disguised as moves.

Comparing offers across metros

A $200K offer in NYC and a $170K offer in Austin can be roughly equivalent in purchasing power. The calculator surfaces the difference; the headline number alone misleads.

In order

How it works.

Get the real housing number, for your actual situation
Not a city average — the rent for the size of place you would actually take, in the area you would actually live. This is the largest line for most people and the one where a city average is most misleading, because averages include neighbourhoods you would not move to.
Work out the tax difference on the two gross figures
Often the second-largest line and the easiest to forget, because it never appears in either offer. Where the two places have different systems entirely, this is where a comparison quietly stops being like-for-like.
Add transport, honestly
A car you would need in one city and not in the other is a large recurring cost that nobody puts in a spreadsheet until it has been paid for a year.
Estimate everything else as a single line and stop refining it
Food, utilities, childcare, insurance. It is real and it is smaller than the three above, and chasing precision here while guessing at rent is effort in the wrong place.
Compare what is left, and then compare the things that are not money
Whatever remains after the four lines is the honest difference. Then set it against the parts no calculator holds: who you would be near, what the work is, and how easily you could leave if it went wrong.

Worked

Worked illustrations.

Constructed to show the shape of the decision, not reported cases. The figures are illustrative.

A candidate considering a move from Chicago to NYC

Current $150K in Chicago. Calculator shows $215K equivalent in NYC. Offer comes in at $190K — a real-terms pay cut. Candidate negotiates to $205K and accepts; without the calculator, would have accepted $190K thinking it was a raise.

A remote candidate moving from SF to Austin while keeping SF pay

Current $200K in SF. Austin equivalent: $135K. Candidate keeping $200K in Austin is effectively a 50% pay raise in real-terms purchasing power. The math behind the move is what makes one-rate remote so valuable.

Asked often

Questions people bring here.

Why is a cost-of-living index not enough on its own?: Because an index describes an average household and you are not one. Housing dominates the comparison for almost everybody, and what you will actually pay depends on where you would live, with whom, and how much space you need — none of which an index knows. Use an index to decide whether a comparison is worth doing, then do the four-number arithmetic for your own situation.
Does ClearHire calculate this for me?: No, and the page says so at the top. ClearHire holds no cost-of-living data and runs no such calculator; what it offers is the method, which is four numbers and a subtraction. Anything that presented itself as a calculator here would be putting a confident interface over data that does not exist.
Which four numbers actually matter?: Housing, tax, transport and one line for everything else, in that order of size for almost everybody. People get this wrong by refining the fourth — comparing grocery baskets across two cities — while getting the first one from an average rather than from a real listing for a place they would actually live. The first number is usually larger than the other three combined.
How do I handle tax when the two places tax differently?: Compare net, not gross, and compare it annually. A higher gross in a jurisdiction with higher income tax, a local tax, or mandatory contributions can be a lower net, and that difference is invisible in the offer letter. If either place taxes something the other does not — social contributions, a city tax, health premiums deducted at source — that belongs in this number rather than in the fourth line.
Should I take a pay cut to move somewhere cheaper?: Only after comparing what is left rather than what is offered, and then only if the non-money comparison also holds. A lower salary in a cheaper city can leave you better off month to month and worse off in absolute savings, which matters if you are saving toward something. Do the arithmetic first, then weigh the things that are not money — they are usually the reason the move is on the table at all.
How does a remote role at a different pay rate change this?: It turns the comparison into one between your actual costs and their pay band, which is a simpler question than comparing two cities. If the employer pays a location-adjusted rate, ask which location it is adjusted to and whether it is reassessed if you move. That single answer is worth more than any index, because it tells you whether the number is stable.

Worth knowing

Small things that help.

ClearHire holds no cost-of-living data. This page is a method, and the numbers have to come from where you would actually live.
Rent for the place you would take, not the city average. The gap between those two is where most comparisons go wrong.
Tax is invisible in an offer and frequently the second-largest line.
A remote role paid at one rate is worth more in a cheaper place — that is the whole arithmetic, and it is also the arithmetic the employer is doing.
Do the comparison before the conversation. A relocation figure is much harder to move after you have said the first number.
What is left over matters more than what comes in. Two offers with the same headline can leave very different amounts.

ClearHire Editorial

Written to be corrected. If something here is wrong, say so and it changes.