CAREER AND RELOCATION RESEARCH
Compare career salaries
and moving costs by metro.
Compare metro-level BLS wage estimates with BEA regional prices and Census housing and commute context. Then test an actual offer with your own costs.
Have two offers? Open the offer calculatorIndependent, source-led researchBLS OEWS May 2025 · BEA RPP 2024 · Census ACS 2020–2024. Worksheet inputs stay out of shareable links and saved comparisons.Snapshot date loading…
Prefer a guided path?
Choose a goal to see suggested next steps and comparison controls.
Start with a job title to explore salary estimates across supported cities.
- Choose your occupation
- Review salary estimates
- Explore city differences
Your research snapshot
Choose an occupation to see published estimates in context.
See ranking context and occupation details
Explore the evidence in more detail
Current research selection loading…
01 / ANALYSIS
◴Price-adjusted median wages
Displaying up to 8 metro areas; the table contains the full selected set.
Price-adjusted = occupational median wage ÷ (regional price parity / 100). Not take-home pay.
02 / EXPLAINER
What the data say
≈
Higher pay doesn't always mean higher purchasing power.
Compare the wage median against overall regional prices. Housing and commute context are separate indicators—not further deductions from the adjusted figure.
03 / EXPLORE
—Metro-by-metro breakdown
Rows with suppressed or unpublished occupation wages display “Unavailable.” Sorting excludes unavailable values from performance rankings.
Scroll this table sideways to view all measures →
| METRO AREA | DETAIL |
|---|
*Median wage: BLS May 2025. Adjusted: BLS May 2025 ÷ BEA 2024 all-items RPP. Rent and commute: ACS 2020–2024, with estimation uncertainty. All values are metro-wide estimates, not offers or personal relocation advice.
NATIONAL CAREER OUTLOOK
Growth and typical entry path
Loading official BLS projections…
BLS 2025–2035 Occupational Projections, Table 1.2. National forecasts are distinct from metropolitan wage estimates.
04 / PAY DISTRIBUTION
Look beyond the median
Published annual wage percentiles describe an occupation's estimated wage distribution in one metro—not a prediction of your personal offer.
Enter a gross base salary to see where it falls relative to this occupation and metro. Your amount stays in this page only.
05 / HEAD TO HEAD
SOURCE-LABELED METRICSCompare two metros directly
Explore wage distributions, price, rent, and commute trade-offs for the selected occupation.
These selectors start with Austin and Denver as an example. Choose your own cities to update the research snapshot and comparison.
Continue to the private offer worksheet ↓Saved comparisons
LOCAL TO THIS DEVICE06 / MULTI-METRO SHORTLIST
UP TO FIVE METROSCompare 3–5 metropolitan areas
Build a shortlist for one occupation. Every indicator retains its own units and source; there is no composite city score.
Scroll this comparison sideways for additional columns →
| METRO AREA | BLS MEDIAN WAGE | ADJUSTED MEDIAN* | BEA PRICE INDEX | ACS GROSS RENT/MO. | ACS 45+ MIN COMMUTE |
|---|
*Site-calculated BLS May 2025 median ÷ BEA 2024 regional price parity. Rent and commute: ACS 2020–2024. Missing occupation wages remain unavailable, even if metro cost data exist. These are observations, not future offers.
07 / RELOCATION WORKSPACE
NO SINGLE CITY SCORESee the trade-offs. Test your assumptions.
Separate what the public data say from the details of your actual job offers and housing choices.
Published estimatesSource-labeled wage, price, rent and commute figures describe metro populations—not your specific offer or home.
Your private scenarioEnter offer and expense assumptions below. Personal amounts stay on this page and are not saved in shared URLs.
These indicators describe different populations and years. A lower median rent or better price-adjusted wage does not establish the best city for an individual.
YOUR WHAT-IF SCENARIO
Compare offers and your own living costs
Blank salary or rent uses an official metro benchmark. Optional annual bonuses and sign-on amounts are your gross cash inputs: annual bonus repeats each year; sign-on applies once to year one. Blank bonus fields assume $0, not an agency estimate. Other monthly costs and one-time moving costs are also user-provided assumptions only. You may enter annual take-home pay from your own statement or payroll estimate; the site does not estimate taxes or deductions.
Optional take-home input: Enter your own annual amount after payroll taxes and deductions. The worksheet uses it only to subtract the listed rent, expenses and moving costs. It does not estimate take-home pay, and these inputs are not included in shareable links or browser-saved comparisons.
Keep compensation terms distinct: Use annual cash bonus for a recurring expected amount and sign-on bonus for the one-time first-year amount. Do not include stock awards, commissions or employer benefits in these cash fields.
Avoid double-counting utilities: Census ACS gross rent includes contract rent plus estimated monthly utilities and fuels. If you use the ACS benchmark, or enter a gross rent that already includes utilities, do not put those utilities in “other monthly expenses.” If your rent quote excludes utilities, add them separately.
OFFER EQUIVALENCE
What salary would equalize your listed first-year expenses?
Uses only the costs you enter or explicitly accept as rent benchmarks. It does not equate taxes, benefits, purchasing power or unlisted living costs.
Important: Recurring gross compensation uses annual base salary plus the annual cash bonus you enter. First-year gross compensation adds your one-time sign-on bonus. Listed rent, monthly expenses and one-time moving costs are subtracted from those gross amounts before taxes; neither remainder is take-home pay, savings, disposable income or a complete household budget. If you enter your own annual take-home amount, a separate result subtracts listed costs without estimating taxes or deductions. Do not double-count rent or utilities. The BEA all-items price-level equivalent is a separate lens, not an amount to subtract these costs from. Inputs stay on this page only and are never included in saved comparisons or shareable links.
Before making a move
Check your actual offer, payroll taxes, benefits, location-specific housing, transport, moving expenses and the reliability of each estimate.
08 / RESEARCH LIBRARY
Explore careers and metropolitan areas
Read source-labeled occupation profiles, city-to-city cost comparisons and practical relocation guides.
CAREER DIRECTORYSalary research by occupationBrowse curated SOC-coded careers and metro estimates↗METRO DIRECTORYWages and living context by metroHousing, all-items price parity and commute context↗CAREER × METRO MATCHUPSCompare specific careers across citiesRead source-labeled two-metro research profiles↗CITY-TO-CITY RESEARCHCompare living costs and salariesRegional prices, rental estimates and moving checklists↗PRACTICAL GUIDESUnderstand the figures before movingOffer comparison, price indexes and salary distributions↗SOURCES & METHODSSee how every comparison is calculatedOfficial source dates, data coverage and limitations↗
09 / TRANSPARENCY
Where the numbers come from
The engine combines BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, BEA regional price parities, and Census ACS estimates. Geography definitions and data years are labeled; the sources measure different populations.
Read full methodology, limitations and source attribution →
Data snapshot loading…