Sources

Methodology

PayByCity is a static site. Pages are generated at build time from official BLS and BEA releases, with no live agency calls in production.

Cost of living

Metro price levels use Regional Price Parities (RPP) from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (MARPP). US average = 100. This build uses the 2024 vintage and includes:

• All items (headline RPP used for salary equivalence)
• Goods
• Services: housing (rents)
• Services: other

Utilities (LineCode 4) are omitted from the UI in this release. Missing component cells are never invented.

Salary equivalence for a move: salary_destination = salary_origin × (RPP_destination / RPP_origin)

Wages

Occupational figures are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) (May 2025): published metro medians, 25th/75th percentiles where available, and OEWS employment. We only generate a wage page when BLS published a metro median. No scaled or imputed fill-ins.

OEWS employment is a published employment estimate for the occupation in the metro, not a count of job openings. National medians for comparison come from the same OEWS release. Wages and RPPs join on CBSA.

Coverage (this build)

• 75 metros (largest by OEWS employment among areas with BEA RPP)
• 150 occupations (largest by national OEWS employment)
• 10,725 published metro wage pairs
• OEWS: May 2025 (released 2026-05-15)
• RPP year: 2024
• Seed generated: 2026-08-23T22:05:08.272Z

State income tax (compare pages)

Compare pages include a lightweight single-filer state income tax estimate using simplified brackets (or flat rates) and a flat standard deduction where applicable. Multi-state metros use the primary state code (first segment of the metro state field). This is separate from the cost-of-living target salary: RPP answers purchasing-power equivalence; tax parity answers “same after-tax dollars” without adjusting for price levels. Keep about $X after origin state tax; the tax parity target is about $Y gross at the destination to take home that same $X after destination state tax (and how much more or less gross that is vs origin). Federal income tax and FICA are not modeled.

Schedules are approximate compilations for tax year 2026, drawn primarily from:

• Tax Foundation: State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets (2026)
• Federation of Tax Administrators: State Individual Income Taxes

This is not a tax return or advice. It omits federal tax, FICA, local/city taxes, credits, filing-status differences, and most itemized deductions. Always verify against your state revenue agency and a tax professional.

Not in scope

• Year-over-year OEWS/RPP series (single vintage only)
• HUD Fair Market Rents / FMR / ACS median rent dollars
• Local city income tax models and full tax-software fidelity
• Childcare, healthcare premiums, or benefits

Updates

Seed data is rebuilt when newer BLS OEWS or BEA RPP vintages are published. Pages always show the vintage dates above (OEWS period and RPP year). State tax schedules are refreshed separately when rate tables change.

Official sources: BLS OEWS and BEA Regional Price Parities ; tax rate compilations linked above.

Citation

“PayByCity.” Built from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2024). Generated 8/23/2026.