Regional Price Parities published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. RPPs measure the price level of consumption goods and services across US metropolitan areas relative to the national average.

How is the equivalent gross income calculated?

The tool indexes housing, transportation, groceries, healthcare, utilities, miscellaneous, and state/local income tax separately, then grosses up the target metro's required income to deliver the same after-tax discretionary spend.

Which metros are covered?

30 major US metropolitan areas with BEA RPP coverage, plus state and local income-tax overlays.

Why does housing get its own index?

Because shelter is the single largest driver of metro-to-metro cost variance — often 2-3x the spread of the goods basket. Indexing it separately keeps the comparison honest.

Cost-of-Living Comparator · Baratelli Institute

$120K in San Francisco equals what in Austin? Run the real math, with every category shown.

The big-portal cost-of-living calculators (NerdWallet, BankRate, SmartAsset) give you a single percentage and a sales pitch. This tool runs the BEA Regional Price Parity (RPP) framework the federal government uses to compare prices across metros, layers in actual state and local income tax for both locations, separates housing from everything else (because housing dominates), and shows the line-by-line equivalence so you can audit it.

BEA RPP

Federal price-parity index

7 cats

Housing, transport, food, healthcare, taxes, utilities, misc

Tax-adj

State + local income tax modeled

Show-the-math

Every line visible

1. Where you are now

Pick the metro you are leaving, or the one you are anchoring against. The RPP and tax data feed the math.

From metro

Current household gross income

2. Where you are going

Pick the destination metro. The tool computes the equivalent gross income required to maintain the same standard of living.

To metro

Tax filing status

Your equivalence result

EQUIVALENT GROSS INCOME REQUIRED

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Run the comparison to see your equivalent income.

FROM

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RPP —

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RPP —

Category breakdown — what each line of your spending becomes

TAKEAWAY

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Show the math — the BEA RPP framework, line by line ›

Step 1 — Allocate gross income to categories. The BEA RPP framework breaks personal consumption into the following weights (from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2023 metro-area data, adapted to a mid-to-upper-middle household):

Housing — 32% (rent or mortgage + property tax). This is the category that drives 60-80% of the cross-metro variance.
Transportation — 12% (vehicles, fuel, insurance, transit).
Groceries / food — 8%.
Healthcare — 8% (premiums + out-of-pocket; varies by employer / Medicare).
Utilities — 5% (electric, gas, water, internet).
Miscellaneous goods & services — 20% (apparel, entertainment, personal care, household supplies).
Taxes (state + local income) — 15% (computed separately from your stated gross).

Step 2 — Apply RPP index to each category. The BEA publishes a national average of 100 and a separate index for each metro. San Francisco's housing RPP is ~190; Austin's is ~110. So a $32,000 housing budget in SF becomes $32,000 × 110/190 = $18,526 in Austin to buy the same housing.

Step 3 — Recompute taxes at the destination. The tool uses the actual marginal state income-tax rate for the destination, plus any local tax (NYC, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco payroll). Taxes do not move with RPP; they move with state code.

Step 4 — Sum to equivalent gross. Total all the destination-adjusted category dollars, gross up for the destination tax rate, and that is the equivalent gross income required.

Equivalent gross formula: EquivGross = (sum of destination category costs) / (1 − total marginal tax rate at destination)

Caveat on housing weight. If you currently own your home and the destination requires renting (or vice versa), the housing-weight assumption breaks. The tool reports a "housing-only" equivalence number to let you eyeball the housing-driven part separately.

DIG DEEPER · INSTITUTE GUIDES THAT HANDLE THE NEXT DECISION

Related guides & tools

Comparing job offers across geographies → Job Offer Comparator — total comp + 401(k) match + PTO + RSU + state tax + cost of living, up to 3 offers side-by-side.
Pre-liquidity-event residency change → State Tax Migration — CA / NY domicile-audit defense built in.
First-apartment budget on a starting salary → First Apartment Budget — rent + utilities + commute + tax withholding + savings target.
The full family financial planning sequence → Family Financial Planning Guide + the Money Reality series — the foundation for any geography decision.

Disclosure. This tool produces an educational planning estimate. RPP figures are anchored to the most recent BEA Regional Price Parities release (2023 data, published December 2024); they are updated annually with a one-year lag. State and local income-tax rates are 2026 brackets. Healthcare RPP excludes employer-paid premium variation, which can dwarf the metro-level differences for some households. Housing weight assumes a renter / owner with a market-rate mortgage; long-tenured low-mortgage owners will see materially different real housing cost. This is not personalized financial advice. Consult a CFP or relocation specialist who knows your full situation. The Baratelli Institute does not sell investment products. baratelliinstitute.com

$120K in San Francisco equals what in Austin? Run the real math, with every category shown.

1. Where you are now

2. Where you are going

Your equivalence result

Category breakdown — what each line of your spending becomes

Same subject. Four levels of depth.

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