City comparison
Cost of living in New York vs San Francisco
One person needs about €4,270 a month in New York and €3,942 in San Francisco, rent included — San Francisco is 8% 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 San Francisco the way you live in New York on €3,000, you need
€2,770/ month net
8% less than today (-€230)
- New York today
- Basket €4,270 · left over -€1,270 (-42%)
- San Francisco at the matched salary
- Basket €3,942 · left over -€1,172 (-42%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 241% over in San Francisco (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
🇺🇸 San Francisco
The highest pay on the planet for engineers, and the rent to prove it.
Monthly budget: €3,942
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
Should you move to New York or San Francisco?
On salary, San Francisco pays more for tech roles (€9,500 versus €8,200 a month), so the money left over after costs is €5,558 in San Francisco at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €3,200 in New York against €2,900 in San Francisco. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores New York at 61 and San Francisco at 62 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.