City comparison
Cost of living in San Francisco vs New York
One person needs about €3,942 a month in San Francisco and €4,270 in New York, 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 New York the way you live in San Francisco on €3,000, you need
€3,250/ month net
8% more than today (+€250)
- San Francisco today
- Basket €3,942 · left over -€942 (-31%)
- New York at the matched salary
- Basket €4,270 · left over -€1,020 (-31%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 192% over in New York (comfortable) vs 241% in San Francisco. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇺🇸 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
🇺🇸 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
Should you move to San Francisco or New York?
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: €2,900 in San Francisco against €3,200 in New York. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores San Francisco at 62 and New York at 61 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.