Guide
How to Compare Two Cities Before Accepting a Job Offer
A job offer can look better on paper while leaving you with less flexibility after rent, commuting, insurance, and one-time move costs.
Start with take-home pay, not salary. Then compare the parts of daily life that are least negotiable: housing, transportation, healthcare, childcare, debt payments, and the cash needed to survive the transition.
A practical comparison order
- Estimate target take-home pay using conservative tax and benefit assumptions.
- Price housing based on units you would actually rent or buy, not metro averages.
- Estimate transportation from real commute patterns, parking, tolls, insurance, and second-car needs.
- List move costs before deciding the raise is real.
- Run one optimistic, one expected, and one pessimistic scenario in the workbook.
The offer is stronger when it survives the pessimistic scenario and still leaves monthly breathing room after rebuilding your emergency fund.