Methodology & Data Sources

Not all of your income is affected by where you live. You don't spend 100% of your paycheck on local goods and services — some goes to savings, investments, federal taxes, and online purchases that cost the same everywhere.

MoveNumbers applies cost-of-living differences to 60% of your income (the spending portion). The remaining 40% is treated as location-independent. This prevents the common mistake of saying “City X is 30% cheaper, so you need 30% less salary.”

When you enter your salary and two cities, we calculate a composite cost index for each city across housing, transportation, groceries, healthcare, and utilities — weighted by how much the average American household spends in each category (from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey). The equivalent salary tells you what income in the destination city would give you the same purchasing power.

Our composite cost-of-living index is built from individual category indexes, each weighted by its share of typical household spending.

• •BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) — National average spending by category. Used to weight housing, transportation, food, healthcare, and utilities in the composite index.

• •HUD Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMR) FY2026 — ZIP-level rent estimates for 2-bedroom units. We map each city to its ZIP code(s) and average when a city spans multiple ZIPs. Covers 15,102 cities.
• •Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) — January 2026 — ZIP-level typical home values (middle-tier, smoothed, seasonally adjusted). Used for home price comparisons and mortgage estimates.

This is one of the most common questions we get. Transportation costs include:

• → Car payments (purchase/lease)
• → Gasoline
• → Auto insurance
• → Maintenance & repairs
• → Public transit fares

The national average comes from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, which surveys ~14,000 households annually. We then scale by metro-level cost indexes to reflect local price differences (e.g., higher insurance in Detroit, higher gas in California).

Note: These are averages across car-owning and non-car-owning households. Individual costs vary significantly based on commute distance, vehicle type, and transit availability.

• •BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — National average spending baselines for food at home, medical services, and household utilities (electricity, gas, water, internet).
• •Metro-level cost indexes — Each category is scaled by its respective metro-area cost index to reflect local price differences.

Not every city sits inside a metro area with detailed cost data. Here's how we handle that:

• Within metro area: We use the metro cost index directly.
• Within 60 miles of a metro: We blend the nearest metro index with the state-level Regional Price Parity, weighted by distance. Closer to the metro = more metro influence.
• Beyond 60 miles: We fall back to the state RPP entirely.

• •BLS Regional Price Parities (RPP) 2023 — State-level price indexes relative to the national average. Used as the fallback for cities far from metro areas.

Small towns and rural areas tend to have lower costs than what even state-level data suggests. For cities far from metro areas, we apply a population-based adjustment derived from USDA Economic Research Service urban-rural cost differentials. Smaller populations get a modest downward adjustment to better reflect actual local prices.

• •USDA ERS Urban-Rural Differentials — Research on cost differences across the urban-rural continuum, used to calibrate our population adjustment curve.

• •NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 — School-level data including enrollment, student-teacher ratios, Title I status, magnet/charter designation, and grade spans for every public school in the US.
• •NCES F-33 School District Finance Data 2021-22 — Per-pupil expenditure and revenue data at the district level. The most recent available finance survey.

• •IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) 2023 — Tuition, enrollment, acceptance rates, graduation rates, and institutional characteristics for every accredited college and university.

• •EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) 2024 — County-level monitoring station data. We report the annual median AQI and number of unhealthy days. Cities are mapped to their county's monitoring data.

• •FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) v1.20 — Composite risk scores for 18 natural hazards including flooding, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, and hurricane — calculated at the county and Census tract level.
• •NOAA LOCA CMIP5 Climate Projections (RCP 4.5, 2040-2059) — Downscaled climate model projections for temperature and precipitation changes. We use the moderate emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) to show mid-century climate expectations.

Neighborhood-level data includes walkability scores, bike scores, crime indexes, and local amenity counts. These are sourced from a combination of:

• •Walk Score API — Walkability, transit, and bike scores based on walking routes to nearby amenities.
• •FBI Uniform Crime Report / local police data — Crime statistics aggregated to neighborhood and city levels, normalized per capita.
• •Census ACS 5-Year Estimates — Demographic and economic data at the tract level for neighborhood context.

• •Municipal tax rate schedules (2025) — We track local/city income tax rates for 35+ cities that levy them, including New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Columbus, Cleveland, St. Louis, and others. These are factored into take-home pay comparisons.

We update each data source as new vintages are released. Government data typically lags by 6-18 months. Current vintages are noted next to each source above.

All cost estimates are averages — your individual experience will vary based on lifestyle, family size, and personal spending habits. MoveNumbers gives you a solid starting point, not a guarantee.

Found something off? Let us know.