A $70,000 Salary In Texas Is Worth $104,000 In New York. Here Is The Full Map
Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist
Using the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2024 Regional Price Parities, a $70,000 Texas salary has the same statewide, pre-tax buying power as $77,786 in New York, which is $26,214 below the headline figure.
The $104,000 comparison depends on geography and spending category: New York City and New York State are not interchangeable, statewide averages conceal substantial differences within Texas, and even the BEA’s 2024 rent indexes produce a New York equivalent of $88,642.
The Federal Data Produces A Tighter Range
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Price Parities compare prices paid for goods and services across locations, with the national price level set at 100. The BEA’s 2024 all-items index was 97.1 for Texas and 107.9 for New York, meaning statewide prices were about 11.1% higher in New York.
The conversion multiplies $70,000 by the destination’s BEA index and divides the result by Texas’ 97.1 index. The 2024 state ranking derived from the BEA’s SARPP table presents state conversions, but the figures here are calculated from the BEA indexes themselves. Under that method, California requires $79,804, while Arkansas requires $62,647.
Those BEA figures create a $17,157 state-level spread, considerably less than the $34,000 gap between $70,000 and $104,000.
The Selected State Comparisons Remain Narrower
In the BEA-based 2024 calculation, the selected equivalents are Arkansas at $62,647; Mississippi, $62,719; Colorado, $74,325; Florida, $74,542; New York, $77,786; the District of Columbia, $79,228; Hawaii, $79,300; and California, $79,804.
Housing Widens The Gap Further
Housing can produce a larger change for households whose new budgets are dominated by rent. The BEA’s 2024 rent index was 96.5 in Texas and 122.2 in New York, converting a $70,000 Texas housing budget into $88,642 in New York, still $15,358 short of $104,000.
Using only the BEA’s 2024 utilities indexes, 87.5 in Texas and 134.4 in New York, would produce a $107,520 equivalent. Utilities are only one portion of household consumption, however, rather than a measure of the entire cost of living.
The BEA’s Regional Price Parities methodology combines detailed price and expenditure information across goods, rents, utilities and other services. Its index represents the average mix purchased in each region, rather than the spending pattern of a particular renter, homeowner, parent or commuter.
Taxes Limit A Price-Only Map
The comparison uses gross salaries and consumer prices, without estimating income, sales or property-tax liabilities. That omission matters because Texas levies no state individual income tax.
Taxes could push the New York salary required to preserve a Texas worker’s after-tax purchasing power above the BEA’s 2024 result of $77,786. The increase cannot be universal because it depends on filing status, deductions, household income, local jurisdiction and whether the worker lives in New York City.
A homeowner must also account for property taxes, while a commuter may exchange automobile costs for transit expenses. Neither difference can be captured by one statewide salary multiplier, which is why $104,000 might be plausible for a particular city, household and tax profile without being a verified statewide equivalent.
Household Costs Determine The Useful Comparison
For evaluating an offer, the BEA’s 2024 figure of $77,786 is the appropriate statewide, pre-tax starting point, while its $88,642 rent comparison shows how strongly housing can change the result. A worker should then replace statewide averages with the destination’s actual rent or mortgage, taxes, commute, insurance and childcare, because only a household budget can determine whether the new salary preserves the life being moved.
