Remote Work Relocation Calculator
Your pay, the cut, and what life costs in both places
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. Confirm the assumptions, current rules, fees, and rounding that apply to your situation before making a decision.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter your salary now and the pay cut your employer applies for the new location, as a percentage.
- 02
Enter a year of housing costs and a year of everything else, first where you live now and then in the new place. Rent or mortgage, property tax and home insurance go in housing; food, transport, utilities, childcare and healthcare go in everything else.
- 03
Enter the total tax on your pay in each place as a share of salary: federal, state, local, Social Security and Medicare together. Last year's return and pay stubs give you today's figure; for the new place, lower or raise it by the change in state and local income tax.
- 04
Enter the one-time cost of the move and the years to compare. In the advanced fields, set the yearly raise you expect, your employer's 401(k) match as a share of salary and how fast living costs rise.
- 05
Read what you come out ahead or behind each year, the largest cut that still breaks even and the payback, then the year-by-year table.
Formula
Salary after the move = salary × (1 − pay cut). Take-home in each place = salary × (1 − that place's total tax rate). Left over = take-home − housing − everything else. Yearly gain = left over after moving − left over staying. Match given up = (salary − salary after the move) × the match rate. Break-even cut = 1 − (left over staying + costs in the new place) ÷ (salary × (1 − the new tax rate)). Payback = moving cost ÷ (yearly gain ÷ 12) months. For each later year, both salaries grow by the raise rate and both sets of costs by the cost growth rate; ahead so far = the sum of each year's gain less the match given up, minus the moving cost.
Example
A remote worker earns $120,000 and is offered a 10% location cut, to $108,000. Staying, with a 26% total tax rate, leaves $88,800 of take-home against $30,000 of housing and $30,000 of everything else: $28,800 left each year. Moving, with a 22% tax rate, leaves $84,240 against $18,000 of housing and $26,000 of everything else: $40,240 left. That is $11,440 a year ahead, and $10,960 after the $480 of 401(k) match lost at a 4% match. The cut could reach 22.2% before moving stopped paying, and the $8,000 move is repaid in 8 months. Over five years, with 3% raises and living costs rising 3% a year in both places, the yearly gain grows from $10,960 to $12,336, the worker is $50,188 ahead after the move, and $63,710 of gross pay has been given up along the way.
Definitions
- Location-based pay
- A salary set by where the employee lives rather than where the office is, so moving to a lower-cost area can bring a cut.
- Total tax rate
- All tax on pay, federal, state, local, Social Security and Medicare, as a share of gross salary.
- Break-even pay cut
- The cut at which what is left after tax and living costs is the same whether you move or stay.
- Employer match
- The amount an employer adds to your 401(k), usually a share of salary, so it falls when salary falls.
- Bona fide employer office
- In New York's rules, an office the employer has established at a remote worker's location; without one, days worked from home can count as New York days.
Good to know
Compare what is left, not the salary
A location pay cut is easy to judge badly because the two numbers on the table, the old salary and the new one, are the least useful ones. What decides whether a move leaves you better off is what is left after tax and the costs of living in each place. A smaller salary in a place where housing costs a third less can leave more money in your account than a larger salary in an expensive city. This page therefore works from three sets of figures for each place: pay, the total tax on that pay, and core living costs split into housing and everything else. On its example, a $120,000 salary taxed at a total of 26% leaves $88,800 of take-home pay. Against $30,000 a year of housing and $30,000 of everything else, $28,800 is left. After a 10% location cut the salary is $108,000, and if the new place's total tax rate is 22%, take-home is $84,240. With housing at $18,000 and everything else at $26,000, $40,240 is left, $11,440 more than staying. Two details make the comparison honest. The first is the tax rate. It should be the total tax on pay, federal and state income tax plus Social Security and Medicare, as a share of salary, not a top bracket, and it should reflect the state and local tax where you will live. The second is the size of the cost fields. Housing is usually the line that moves most between places, so price the home you would actually rent or buy, not a metro average. The rest of the budget often changes less than people expect: groceries, cars, insurance and phone plans cost much the same in many places. If you are unsure, build both years line by line on the cost of living page first and bring the totals here. The largest cut that still breaks even, 22.2% in the example, is the most useful single number, because it tells you how much room a negotiation has.
How a pay cut compounds through raises and the match
A pay cut is not a one-time price. Most raises are a percentage of current salary, so every raise after the move is a percentage of a smaller number, and the dollar gap between the two paths widens each year. On this page's example, a 10% cut on $120,000 is $12,000 in the first year. With 3% raises in either place, the gap grows to about $13,500 by the fifth year, and across five years the cut adds up to $63,710 of gross pay. The same pattern applies to anything set as a share of salary. An employer 401(k) match of 4% of salary shrinks with the cut, $480 in the first year and $2,548 over five years in the example, and that money would have been invested for decades. Bonuses set as a percentage of base pay shrink too. None of this means the move is a mistake. In the example the gain from cheaper living also grows, because costs are assumed to rise 3% a year in both places, and the yearly advantage after the lost match rises from $10,960 in the first year to $12,336 in the fifth. After the $8,000 move, the worker is $50,188 ahead at the end of five years. But the effects that follow the lower salary are worth weighing. Social Security benefits are calculated from your covered earnings over your career, so lower pay in some years can mean a slightly lower benefit later. A future employer may anchor an offer to what you earn now, so a salary cut to live somewhere cheaper can follow you to the next job. And if you later move back to a high-cost area, the employer may not restore the old pay automatically. Try the page with the raise field at 0 and again at your employer's typical raise to see how much of the answer comes from the compounding rather than the first year.
Where remote pay is taxed
Moving somewhere cheaper often means moving to a state with a different income tax, and the tax rate you enter for the new place should be the rate you will actually pay. For most remote workers that is simple: you become a resident of the new state, it taxes your income, and the old state stops taxing you once you are no longer a resident there. But two rules can make it more complicated. The first is residency itself. Your old state may still treat you as a resident if you keep a home there and spend enough time in it. New York, for example, treats someone domiciled elsewhere as a resident if they maintain a permanent place of abode in New York for substantially all of the year and spend 184 days or more in the state. The second is the source of the income. States can tax nonresidents on income earned within their borders, and a few decide where remote work is earned by where the employer is rather than where the employee sits. New York's Department of Taxation and Finance explains that if your primary office is in New York and you telecommute from outside the state, your days working from home are treated as days worked in New York unless your employer has established a bona fide employer office at your location. In that case moving to a state with no income tax does not end New York's tax on your pay. Where two states tax the same income, the state where you live usually gives a credit for tax paid to the other, so you end up paying roughly the higher of the two rates rather than both in full. Before you rely on a lower tax rate in the new place, ask your employer's payroll team which states it will withhold for, and check the rules of both states for the year you move. If the change also involves property and sales tax, the state tax move page separates each tax and the federal SALT effect.
Questions to ask before accepting a location adjustment
Employers that adjust pay by location do it in different ways, and the details can change the answer more than the headline percentage. Start with how the cut is applied. Some employers reduce pay as soon as you move; others hold your salary where it is and apply the lower range only to future raises, which slows the gap rather than opening it at once. Ask which zone or tier your new address falls into and whether a move within the same metro area could change it. Ask whether the adjustment is reversed if you move back, and how quickly. Then look past salary. A bonus or equity grant set as a percentage of base pay shrinks with it, and so does a 401(k) match. Health plan options and premiums can differ by region. If the company expects occasional trips to an office, find out who pays for them. On this page's example, a 10% cut leaves the worker $11,440 a year ahead in the first year, and the $8,000 move is repaid in 8 months. The same move with a 25% cut leaves the worker $2,600 a year behind, and $28,175 behind after five years once the move and the smaller match are counted, so the percentage matters a great deal. The break-even figure, 22.2% in the example, is a useful anchor in a negotiation. Some things do not fit in a calculator: being nearer to family, a shorter or no commute, space for a home office, and the job market around you if you later need to change employers. A cheaper place with fewer local employers in your field can make the next job search harder, which is a real cost even if it has no line on this page. Finally, check the move itself. A move across the country with a family can cost far more than a rough guess, and the moving cost page prices the parts that quotes leave out.
Frequently asked questions
Is a pay cut worth it to move somewhere cheaper?
It is when the costs you shed are larger than the take-home you give up. In this page's example, a 10% cut takes a $120,000 salary to $108,000, or $84,240 after tax at 22%. Living costs fall from $60,000 to $44,000, so $40,240 is left each year after moving against $28,800 by staying at a 26% tax rate: $11,440 a year ahead, or $10,960 once the $480 of lost 401(k) match is counted. The $8,000 move is repaid in 8 months, and after five years of 3% raises and 3% cost growth you are $50,188 ahead.
What is the largest pay cut I can accept to move?
The break-even cut is the one at which what is left after tax and living costs is the same in both places. In the example it is 22.2%, or 21.1% once the smaller 401(k) match is counted. Accept a 25% cut instead and the new salary of $90,000 leaves $26,200 a year after tax and costs, $2,600 less than staying; with the match and the move counted you would be $28,175 behind after five years.
How does a location pay cut affect future raises and retirement?
It compounds. Each raise is a percentage of the lower salary, so the dollar gap grows every year. In the example, five years of 3% raises turn a $12,000 cut into $63,710 of gross pay given up, plus $2,548 of employer 401(k) match at 4% of salary, which would itself have kept growing. Social Security benefits are based on your covered earnings, and a later employer may anchor its offer to your current pay, so the effect can outlast the move.
Will my old state still tax me if I work remotely from another state?
It can. States tax their residents on all their income, and nonresidents on income sourced in the state. New York counts a nonresident telecommuter's days at home as days worked in New York when the primary office is there, unless the employer has established a bona fide employer office at the home, so moving to a state without income tax may not remove New York tax from that pay. Where two states tax the same income, the home state usually gives a credit, leaving you at roughly the higher of the two rates.
What tax rate should I enter?
Your total tax as a share of salary: federal income tax, state and local income tax, and the 7.65% of Social Security and Medicare, divided by gross pay. It is well below your top bracket because of the standard deduction and lower brackets. The example uses 26% now and 22% after moving to a place with lower state income tax. If the move changes property and sales tax as well, the state tax move page separates them.
How long does it take for the move to pay for itself?
Divide the moving cost by the monthly gain in what is left after tax and costs. In the example, $8,000 divided by $11,440 a year, about $953 a month, is 8 months. If the cut leaves you behind, as at a 25% cut in the example, the move is never repaid by the numbers on this page.
What does this calculator leave out?
Health insurance premiums that differ by region, trips back to the office, a home office, the job market where you live, and any home you sell or buy. It also holds the tax rates you enter level over the years. If the move comes with a new employer or different benefits, the job offer comparison page weighs the whole package.