City comparison
Cost of living in New York vs Austin
One person needs about €4,270 a month in New York and €2,411 in Austin, rent included — Austin is 44% cheaper overall.
Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle
Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.
To live in Austin the way you live in New York on €3,000, you need
€1,694/ month net
44% less than today (-€1,306)
- New York today
- Basket €4,270 · left over -€1,270 (-42%)
- Austin at the matched salary
- Basket €2,411 · left over -€717 (-42%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 270% over in Austin (very strong) vs 192% in New York. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇺🇸 New York
Extreme on both sides of the ledger: top-of-market pay, top-of-market burn rate.
Monthly budget: €4,270
Sources: US BLS + Census ACS, CPI-U (NY area) & ACS median gross rent (2024) · 502 community reports
🇺🇸 Austin
No state income tax and a real tech market, with car costs baked in.
Monthly budget: €2,411
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
Should you move to New York or Austin?
On salary, New York pays more for tech roles (€8,200 versus €6,500 a month), so the money left over after costs is €4,089 in Austin at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €3,200 in New York against €1,600 in Austin. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores New York at 61 and Austin at 73 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.