What salary do you need in each city?
The same salary buys very different lives in Dallas and New York. Compare what's left after taxes and rent — and what you'd have to earn in another city to live the same.
To live like $120,000 in Dallas–Fort Worth, you'd need…
| City | Salary needed | Median 1BR rent |
|---|---|---|
| Houston, TX | $118,400 | $1,230/mo |
| Dallas–Fort Worth, TX(your city) | $120,000 | $1,325/mo |
| Austin, TX | $123,700 | $1,540/mo |
| Miami, FL | $142,300 | $2,600/mo |
| Chicago, IL | $144,000 | $2,100/mo |
| New York City, NY | $204,600 | $4,620/mo |
The comparison holds constant what's left each month after taxes and median rent: $6,446/mo in your case.
How this works: same take-home math as our take-home calculator (2026 federal + FICA + state/local), minus each city's median one-bedroom rent (Zumper, Jul 2026, approximate). Groceries, transport, and lifestyle differences are smaller and not modeled — this is a budgeting compass, not a promise.
Build the roadmap that goes with itMore tools: Take-home pay · Landing cash