Cost of living in New York, NY
The New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area (19,940,274 people) ranks #4 of 149 for prices among the U.S. metro areas we cover. Here's what it costs to live there.
Hover over or tap a dot to see its value.
See all 149 cities
Price level, from cheaper to pricier.
- The Villages, FL 85.4
- McAllen, TX 85.9
- Springfield, MO 88.6
- Wichita, KS 88.9
- Jackson, MS 89.0
- Tulsa, OK 89.2
- Columbus, GA 89.3
- Little Rock, AR 89.4
- El Paso, TX 89.9
- Oklahoma City, OK 90.4
- Sioux Falls, SD 90.6
- Baton Rouge, LA 90.8
- Clarksville, TN 90.9
- Fargo, ND 90.9
- Killeen, TX 91.1
- Spartanburg, SC 91.1
- Fayetteville, AR 91.4
- Chattanooga, TN 91.5
- Toledo, OH 91.5
- Birmingham, AL 91.6
- Des Moines, IA 91.7
- Augusta, GA 91.9
- Omaha, NE 91.9
- Fayetteville, NC 92.0
- Winston-Salem, NC 92.0
- Jacksonville, NC 92.1
- Memphis, TN 92.2
- Kansas City, MO 92.5
- Fort Wayne, IN 92.6
- Knoxville, TN 92.6
- New Orleans, LA 92.6
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Louisville, KY 93.1
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Billings, MT 93.5
- Myrtle Beach, SC 93.6
- Columbia, SC 93.7
- Cleveland, OH 93.9
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- Pittsburgh, PA 94.7
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Albuquerque, NM 95.5
- Columbus, OH 95.5
- Grand Rapids, MI 95.5
- Indianapolis, IN 95.7
- Syracuse, NY 95.7
- Buffalo, NY 95.8
- Nashville, TN 96.3
- Wilmington, NC 96.4
- Asheville, NC 96.5
- Cheyenne, WY 96.5
- Gainesville, FL 96.7
- Milwaukee, WI 96.9
- Tucson, AZ 96.9
- Crestview, FL 97.0
- Rochester, NY 97.0
- Lakeland, FL 97.1
- Charlotte, NC 97.3
- Madison, WI 97.3
- Panama City, FL 97.3
- Durham, NC 97.6
- Pensacola, FL 97.7
- Richmond, VA 97.9
- Virginia Beach, VA 97.9
- Hilton Head Island, SC 98.0
- Austin, TX 98.1
- Provo, UT 98.2
- Raleigh, NC 98.2
- Prescott, AZ 98.3
- Boise, ID 98.4
- Houston, TX 98.6
- Harrisburg, PA 98.7
- Daytona Beach, FL 99.4
- Jacksonville, FL 99.5
- Albany, NY 99.6
- Allentown, PA 100.0
- Palm Bay, FL 100.0
- Atlanta, GA 100.1
- Greeley, CO 100.2
- Las Vegas, NV 100.2
- Port St. Lucie, FL 100.2
- Detroit, MI 100.3
- Ogden, UT 100.3
- Spokane, WA 100.3
- Norwich, CT 100.4
- Punta Gorda, FL 100.5
- Colorado Springs, CO 100.7
- Ann Arbor, MI 100.9
- Bakersfield, CA 100.9
- Burlington, VT 100.9
- Salt Lake City, UT 100.9
- Tampa, FL 100.9
- Charleston, SC 101.0
- Reno, NV 101.0
- Fort Collins, CO 101.1
- Orlando, FL 101.4
- Eugene, OR 101.6
- Providence, RI 101.8
- Portland, ME 101.9
- Fresno, CA 102.2
- Cape Coral, FL 102.3
- Sarasota, FL 102.4
- Worcester, MA 102.5
- Philadelphia, PA 102.6
- Hartford, CT 102.7
- Dallas, TX 103.1
- Naples, FL 103.2
- Trenton, NJ 103.2
- Phoenix, AZ 103.3
- Bend, OR 103.6
- Chicago, IL 103.6
- Olympia, WA 103.7
- Baltimore, MD 104.5
- New Haven, CT 104.6
- Minneapolis, MN 104.8
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Portland, OR 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Riverside, CA 106.4
- Sacramento, CA 106.7
- Bridgeport, CT 106.9
- Santa Rosa, CA 107.8
- Boston, MA 108.3
- Vallejo, CA 108.5
- Santa Barbara, CA 108.8
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- San Jose, CA 110.4
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- New York, NY 112.6
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Miami, FL 114.2
- San Francisco, CA 115.6
Compare New York with your city
See what you'd need to earn in New York to keep your lifestyle, after taxes and local prices. The calculator starts from Philadelphia, PA, which sends the most households here of the metros we cover (IRS, 2022–2023), using its median household income as an illustrative single-earner salary. Household income can include several earners and other income; it is not a typical individual wage. Pick your own city, salary and filing status.
Equal salary in New York: $103,200
Compare any two of 149 U.S. metro areas. All cities
To keep the same lifestyle, you need about $103,200 in New York, NY to match $90,000 in Philadelphia, PA ($13,200 more), after 2026 taxes and local prices.
Single filer, W-2 salary. Uses Pennsylvania and New York state income tax; includes Philadelphia resident tax $3,362 and New York City resident tax $3,053 (inside city limits).
Prices and housing cover the metro area; taxes use Pennsylvania and New York, their principal states. A metro can span several states; living in its other state can change the tax result.
What things cost in New York
The vertical line marks the U.S. average (100). BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 for the metropolitan area.
Taxes in New York
In this fixed example, one single filer earning a $100,000 W-2 salary keeps $70,467 after 2026 federal tax ($13,170), Social Security and Medicare ($7,650) and New York income tax ($4,860), plus $412 in state payroll programs, and $3,441 in New York City resident income tax. The salary is rounded from median household income, not an observed individual wage. This example stays fixed when you change the calculator.
Prices and housing cover the full New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metro area; the tax example uses its principal state, New York. A home in another state within the metro can have different taxes.
New York City residents pay a city income tax of 3.078%–3.876% on New York taxable income (brackets set in law, not indexed). The tax follows where you live, not where you work: people who live outside the five boroughs don't pay it, even when they commute into the city (New York City government employees are the exception). Yonkers, in Westchester County, has its own resident and nonresident taxes.
Housing
| Measure | New York area |
|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,851/mo |
| Median home value | $648,800 |
| Median property tax | $9,973/yr |
| Monthly cost to own the median home (20% down) | $4,478 |
| Median household income | $99,852 |
Climate and jobs in New York
In the New York area the average January low is 28°F and the average July high 85°F, and the area has about 17 days a year at 90°F or hotter. Unemployment averaged 4.8% in 2025, above the U.S. rate (4.3%), and the median wage across all jobs was $61,430 a year, 20% above the U.S. median.
| Climate | 1991–2020 average |
|---|---|
| January low | 28°F |
| July high | 85°F |
| Days 90°F or hotter | 17 a year |
| Precipitation | 50 in a year |
| Snowfall | 30 in a year |
| Jobs and pay | Metro area | U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 average | 4.8% | 4.3% |
| Median wage, all jobs (May 2025) | $61,430 | $50,980 |
| Wage and salary jobs (May 2025) | 9.5 million | 155.5 million |
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages at the New York Central Park Tower station (USW00094728). Weather varies across a metro area, especially with elevation and distance from the coast. Jobs: unemployment from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics; wages and job counts from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which count wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed; wages are before taxes. The 2025 average covers 11 months: October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Retiring in New York
Our modeled retiree budget is about $4,062 a month here with a home owned outright, or $4,475 renting. It uses spending benchmarks for households with a reference person age 65 or older (BLS 2024), adjusted for local prices. These are household-based estimates, not observed spending by a single retiree in New York. See where your budget goes furthest.
Where people move to and from New York
- New York to Miami
- New York to Philadelphia
- New York to Los Angeles
- New York to Bridgeport
- New York to Washington, D.C.
- New York to Poughkeepsie
- New York to Boston
- New York to Orlando
- Philadelphia to New York
- Miami to New York
- Boston to New York
- Los Angeles to New York
- Washington, D.C. to New York
- San Francisco to New York
- Bridgeport to New York
- Chicago to New York
Considering Philadelphia? The New York to Philadelphia comparison covers rent, salary and moving costs, plus what to check if you keep a New York job after moving.
IRS county-to-county migration data, 2022–2023, aggregated to the 149 metro areas we cover.
Natural hazard risk
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores for the New York area is 96.8 of 100 (very high county-score mean), with modeled expected losses of about $227 per resident per year. A mean of county percentiles is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. It describes the counties in the metro; your property's risk can differ. Disaster risk by county in New York.
The vertical line marks county-score scale midpoint (50).
Frequently asked questions
What salary do you need to live in New York?
In a fixed single-filer W-2 example living inside the principal city, about $98,200 in New York matches the buying power of $75,000 in an average-priced area with no state income tax. The example uses 2026 federal taxes, New York state taxes and modeled resident local taxes where applicable. It stays fixed when calculator inputs change. Renting the median home at 30% of income takes $74,040, and buying the median home with 20% down takes about $191,936.
Is New York expensive?
The New York metro area's price level is 112.6 (U.S. = 100), #4 of the 149 metro areas we cover, from most to least expensive. Its housing rents price index is 148.6, 49% above the U.S. average.
Are people moving to New York?
Counting moves to and from the other 148 metro areas we cover, New York had a net loss of about 61,167 households in 2022–2023 (IRS county migration data).
What is the weather like in New York?
In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the New York area (New York Central Park Tower weather station), the average January low is 28°F and the average July high 85°F. The area has about 17 days a year at 90°F or hotter and gets 50 inches of precipitation a year and about 30 inches of snow.
What are jobs and pay like in New York?
The New York metro area's unemployment rate averaged 4.8% in 2025, above the U.S. rate (4.3%). The median wage across all jobs was $61,430 a year in May 2025, 20% above the U.S. median of $50,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What natural disasters affect New York?
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores is 96.8 out of 100 (very high county-score mean). This is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. The highest county-score means by hazard are strong wind, winter weather, riverine flooding.
Compare New York with other cities
Moving from New York to…
- Albany, NY
- Allentown, PA
- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Baltimore, MD
- Boston, MA
- Bridgeport, CT
- Buffalo, NY
- Cape Coral, FL
- Charleston, SC
- Charlotte, NC
- Chicago, IL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Daytona Beach, FL
- Denver, CO
- Hartford, CT
- Houston, TX
- Jacksonville, FL
- Lakeland, FL
- Las Vegas, NV
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- Naples, FL
- New Haven, CT
- Orlando, FL
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Port St. Lucie, FL
- Poughkeepsie, NY
- Providence, RI
- Raleigh, NC
- San Diego, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Jose, CA
- Sarasota, FL
- Seattle, WA
- Tampa, FL
- Trenton, NJ
- Washington, D.C.
Moving to New York from…
- Albany, NY
- Allentown, PA
- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Baltimore, MD
- Boston, MA
- Bridgeport, CT
- Buffalo, NY
- Charlotte, NC
- Chicago, IL
- Dallas, TX
- Denver, CO
- Detroit, MI
- Hartford, CT
- Houston, TX
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- New Haven, CT
- Orlando, FL
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Poughkeepsie, NY
- Providence, RI
- Raleigh, NC
- San Diego, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Jose, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Tampa, FL
- Trenton, NJ
- Washington, D.C.
Cities with similar prices
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Miami, FL 114.2
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Moving from New York
State-agency links identify the responsible tax office; they do not verify every modeled rule. Use forms and guidance for the year you are filing. Local-tax references retain their own publication or filing years. Some documents cover an earlier filing year; a source link is not a claim that every rule has just been rechecked.