66 US metros, run against your actual numbers
Your paycheck is worth a different amount in every city.
Cost-of-living indexes tell you a city is “12% cheaper.” That's not a number you can spend. Uproot starts from your job, your salary and the people who live with you, then works out your real take-home pay after federal, state and city tax, rent at the number of bedrooms you actually need, and what's left at the end of the month.
- Same job, same household
- $2,160
- gap in monthly money left over, best metro to worst
- Tax models
- 51
- states plus DC, and city wage taxes where they bite
- Rent priced by
- Bedrooms
- not a metro-wide average you'd never pay
Start with your situation
Nothing is saved or sent anywhere — your answers live in the URL, so you can bookmark or share a result.
Why a cost-of-living index gives you the wrong answer
It prices a basket you don't buy
The standard index blends restaurant meals, transit passes and a metro-wide average rent into one number. If you cook at home, drive everywhere and need three bedrooms, almost none of that basket is yours.
It ignores your tax bill
Two metros with identical rent can differ by five figures a year once state brackets and city wage taxes land. Philadelphia takes another 3.75% off the top; Texas takes nothing and bills you through property tax instead.
It assumes one household
A studio and a three-bedroom in the same city are different financial places. Childcare for one toddler can cost more per month than the rent difference between metros.
Head-to-head comparisons
Run with a default profile — a registered nurse living alone in Chicago. Change the inputs and every number below moves.