After-tax raise
Estimate federal income tax, employee FICA and state income tax before comparing what the salary increase may actually leave you.
TOOOLBOX MOVE · US RELOCATION CALCULATORIs that new salary
Is that new salary
actually a raise?
Compare a job offer across U.S. cities using estimated 2026 federal, payroll and state income taxes, housing and regional living costs. See the salary you may need before you move.
2026 tax estimateNo signupInstant result
HOW IT WORKS
One job offer. Three numbers that matter.
Monthly room
Compare estimated take-home pay after the rent and spending assumptions you actually enter.
Break-even salary
Estimate the target salary the new city would need to preserve the same after-tax monthly room.
READ BEFORE YOU DECIDE
The calculator is useful only when its assumptions are visible.
Calculate your break-even offer
Work through higher recurring costs, an explicit tax assumption, one-time moving costs, and the months needed to earn them back.
Read the worked guide →Where the benchmarks come from
Review the Census and BLS context, refresh schedule, source boundaries, and the difference between public data and your inputs.
Review data sources →What the result cannot tell you
Understand local-tax gaps, benefits, debt, childcare, insurance, moving costs, and other household details that require your own review.
Read common questions →EVIDENCE-LED DECISION GUIDES
Verify the offer, then test what could break the result.
Verify the job offer before comparing cities
Separate guaranteed pay, conditional compensation, benefits, taxes, housing, commute costs, and unresolved questions before treating the raise as real.
Open the verification checklist →Stress-test rent and commute assumptions
Use a worked $1,200 monthly-pay advantage to see how a rent increase, longer commute, or insurance change can turn a gain into a deficit.
Run the sensitivity example →Calculate the relocation payback period
Compare after-tax monthly improvement with one-time moving costs instead of assuming the higher salary immediately pays for the move.
Read the break-even guide →WORKED EXAMPLE · ILLUSTRATIVE INPUTS
Why a $25,000 raise may add only $784 of monthly room before tax.
Current case
A $100,000 salary is about $8,333 per month before tax. Entered rent of $2,100 and other monthly spending of $2,000 leave about $4,233 before tax.
New-city case
A $125,000 salary is about $10,417 per month before tax. Entered rent of $3,200 and other monthly spending of $2,200 leave about $5,017 before tax.
The decision boundary
The gross raise is about $2,083 per month, but the before-tax room rises by only about $784. Taxes, benefits, insurance, debt, childcare and moving costs can narrow or reverse that gain.
This example is not a city benchmark or a tax result. It demonstrates why MOVE keeps salary, rent, spending and after-tax estimates visible instead of presenting the larger offer as an automatic improvement.
DATA & METHODOLOGY
Built for direction, not false precision.
The calculator uses 2026 federal income-tax brackets and standard deductions, employee Social Security and Medicare rules, a state-income-tax estimate, and a directional regional cost benchmark. Bulk city and comparison templates remain unpublished while each candidate page receives distinct editorial analysis before release.
Your rent and spending are user inputs, so the model does not depend on scraped apartment listings. Estimates can exclude local or city income taxes, credits, itemized deductions, benefits, debt, childcare, insurance and other household-specific factors. Results are informational only and are not financial, tax, legal or investment advice.
PUBLIC REVIEW RECORD · AUGUST 27, 2026
See what changed, what was verified, and what remains unpublished.
MOVE publishes the calculator, reviewed trust pages, and manually edited decision guides. Account, order, payment, bulk city, and comparison templates remain outside the public sitemap until they provide a complete and distinct reader task.