Vocations · Professional Development · Job offers

A bigger number
in a pricier city
can be a pay cut.

Type your salary and a price index for each place. The calculator gives the salary that keeps you even and what the offer really buys.

Check the offerWhat you get

The cost-of-living salary adjustment calculator

The worked example weighs a $70,000 offer in Seattle against $58,000 in Kansas City. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
The matching salary, the offer in today’s prices, the gap a year and a month, and a number to ask for. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Job seekers weighing an offer in another city, new graduates choosing where to start, and anyone relocating for work.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Find both places in one price index table.
  2. Type your salary now.
  3. Add the offer.
  4. Price a real apartment in the new place.
  5. Ask for the matching number if the offer falls short.

Check the offer

How the adjustment works

One ratio, used in both directions.

The worked example: Kansas City to SeattleNow$58,000index 92.5Ratio× 1.230113.8 ÷ 92.5To match$71,356in SeattleThe offer$56,898$70,000 in today’s pricesThe worked example: Kansas City to SeattleNow$58,000index 92.5Ratio× 1.230113.8 ÷ 92.5To match$71,356in SeattleThe offer$56,898$70,000 in today’s prices
Scale the salary by the ratio of the two price indexes; scale the offer back the other way.

A price index

A price index compares what the same basket of housing, goods and services costs in different places. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes regional price parities by state and metro area, with the U.S. average at 100. An index of 113.8 means prices about 13.8% above average.

Both directions

To keep the same buying power, multiply your salary by the new index over the old one. To see what an offer is worth in today’s prices, divide the other way. Taxes are not in a price index, so compare take-home pay as well when state taxes differ.

Sources

  1. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Regional Price Parities by state and metro area (bea.gov).
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index and Consumer Expenditure Surveys (bls.gov).
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics by area (bls.gov/oes).
  4. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Evaluating a job offer’s pay and benefits (consumerfinance.gov).

The worked example’s salary, offer and index numbers are examples, not published values. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.