$95,000 in Columbus vs $140,000 in San Francisco: How to Actually Compare Job Offers Across Cities

The equivalent-salary formula, worked examples, and the traps · updated October 2026 · 7 min read

A friend of mine nearly took a $45,000 "raise" that would have made him poorer. The offer was $140,000 in San Francisco against his $95,000 in Columbus, and his eyes locked onto the 47 percent jump. Mine locked onto the two-bedroom apartments. This is the most common financial self-deception in American career moves, and the fix is one formula and five minutes of arithmetic.

The formula

Equivalent Salary = Current Salary x (New City Index / Current City Index)

Cost-of-living indexes express a city's prices relative to a national average, where 100 is average. To compare two offers, you scale your salary by the ratio of the two indexes. If the destination index is higher, the equivalent salary is higher than your current pay, meaning you need more money there to keep the same lifestyle.

Worked example 1: Reno vs. Anchorage

Offer A: $35,000 in Reno, NV, index 105.1

Offer B: $40,000 in Anchorage, AK, index 123.1

$35,000 x (123.1 / 105.1) = $40,994.29

Verdict: the Reno offer is the better one. You would need $40,994.29 in Anchorage to match Reno's $35,000, and the Anchorage offer is only $40,000. Reno wins by about $994.

Notice how close that is. A $5,000 nominal raise evaporates against a cost gap. This is the textbook case, and it plays out in real moves every week.

Worked example 2: Pittsburgh to San Francisco

Carnegie Mellon's career office published a real example from the CNN cost-of-living calculator: a $50,000 salary in Pittsburgh has the same buying power as $88,322 in San Francisco. Not $60,000. Not $70,000. Eighty-eight thousand. If your SF offer is $85,000, you just took a pay cut to move to one of the most expensive cities on earth.

Worked example 3: Houston to Seattle

Earn $80,000 in Houston (index 91) and move to Seattle (index 165):

$80,000 x (165 / 91) = $145,055

You need roughly $145,000 in Seattle to keep your Houston lifestyle. A $120,000 Seattle offer that looks like a $40,000 raise is actually a $25,000 lifestyle cut.

Now run it on my friend's offers

Columbus and San Francisco sit roughly 60 to 80 points apart on common indexes. Using a representative Columbus index of 95 and San Francisco index of 168 (check a current index for your exact figures, sources vary):

$95,000 x (168 / 95) = $168,000

The $140,000 San Francisco offer falls about $28,000 short of matching his Columbus life. He declined it, and the hiring manager eventually came back with a number that actually competed.

Three things the formula does not capture

State taxes. A move from Columbus to Seattle trades Ohio income tax for zero Washington state income tax, which softens the blow. A move to San Francisco adds California's top bracket, which hardens it. Run after-tax numbers too.
Your personal basket. The index is an average household. If you are a renter, housing dominates your costs and expensive cities hurt more than the index suggests. If you own outright, the gap shrinks.
Trajectory. Expensive metros often pay more over a career. A short-term lifestyle cut can be rational if it buys you into a market where your next two raises are 20 percent bigger. The formula measures purchasing power today, not lifetime earnings.

Use the formula as the starting bid in your thinking, not the final word. And anchor every negotiation in the equivalent salary, because hiring managers in expensive cities know exactly how this math works.

Comparing two metro offers?
Pull real BLS median wages for your occupation in both metros before you negotiate.
Download the salary CSV

FAQs

What is the cost-of-living equivalent salary formula?

Equivalent Salary = Current Salary x (New City Index / Current City Index). It converts your current pay into the salary you would need in the new city to keep the same purchasing power. Cost-of-living indexes use 100 as the national average.

Should I accept a higher salary in a more expensive city?

Only if it beats the equivalent salary. Compute what your current pay is worth in the new city; if the offer exceeds that figure, it is a genuine raise in real terms. Also weigh state taxes, your housing situation, and long-term career trajectory in the expensive market.

Where do cost-of-living indexes come from?

Common sources include the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) index and the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities. Different calculators use different sources, so results vary. Use one source consistently for both cities.