The ten priciest cities in the US where a $300,000 salary feels like $100,000

The top ten most expensive cities in the US have been revealed, where you need to make $300,000 to feel like you’re making $100,000 – and New York didn’t top the list.

Surprisingly, Honolulu was the most expensive city, followed by New York and San Francisco.

A ranking compiled by the personal finance advisor SmartAsset ranked 76 U.S. cities to determine which were the cheapest and most expensive to live in.

To have the “purchasing power” of $100,000 a year, you obviously need a higher annual salary, but how much more depends on local taxes and the cost of living.

In Honolulu, New York, and San Francisco, a salary of about $310,000 equates to $100,000 when taxes and the higher cost of living are taken into account.

In contrast, in Memphis, El Paso and Oklahoma City, a relatively low salary of around $120,000 will provide the same sense of financial freedom, or the “new” $100,000.

In Memphis, El Paso and Oklahoma City, a relatively low salary of around $120,000 offers the same sense of financial freedom, or the “new” $100,000

Honolulu in Hawaii turned out to be one of the most expensive cities in the country. To make you feel like you have $100,000 to spend after tax, a whopping $312,000 is in order

That ranking is heavily influenced by local taxes – the most expensive states, California, Hawaii and New York, all have high income taxes.

The state income tax is about eight percent on an income of $312,000 per year in California. In Hawaii and New York it is around nine and six percent respectively.

Similarly, the states with the cheapest cities, Tennessee and Texas, have no income tax. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s income tax is relatively low — about 4 percent on $120,000 a year income.

Cost of living was considered with the help of the Community and Economic Research Council’s cost of living data, according to SmartAsset. It takes into account the price of housing, groceries, utilities, transportation and other necessary purchases.

The full list found that other California cities require similarly high annual salaries to make it feel like spending $100,000 after taxes.

In Oakland, which is the fourth most expensive city in the US, it takes a salary of at least $246,000 to make you feel like you have $100,000 to take home.

Los Angeles and Long Beach, both in California, ranked fifth and sixth. In both, $245,000 is needed to provide the $100,000 purchasing power.

Others that make up the top 10 most expensive cities are: Washington DC, San Diego, Boston, and Seattle. In Seattle, $210,000 equates to $100,000.

San Francisco was another city that required an income of more than $300,000 to provide $100,000 in purchasing power

Memphis, Tennessee, was the cheapest city in the country according to the ranking. In Memphis, an annual salary of $117.00 will net you $100,000 in after-tax purchasing power

At the other end of the spectrum, Corpus Christi in Texas turned out to be the fourth cheapest city in the US. In the port city on the Gulf of Mexico, a salary of just $122,000 feels like $100,000.

Other cities that made the top ten were mostly in Texas – Lubbock, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Arlington – as well as St. Louis, Missouri.

US census data from last month painted a similar picture. In terms of domestic internal migration, people were recorded leaving counties in states with high taxes and moving to states with less.

Counties home to LA, Chicago and New York City suffered the largest exodus of people in the country — while tens of thousands flocked to Arizona, Texas and Florida.

Los Angeles County, which remains the most populous county in the US, saw an average of 143,000 people leave between July 2021 and July 2022, according to census data.

It was followed by Cook County, home to Chicago, which lost about 94,000 people to other parts of the country. Three of New York City’s counties — Kings, Queens and the Bronx — were all among the top five counties experiencing mass migration.

On the other hand, Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, had the largest influx of domestic migrants, about 33,000.

It was closely followed by Collin County in Texas and Polk County in Florida.