In New York City, a $100,000 Salary Feels Like $36,000
For many, earning a salary topping $100,000 feels like a mark of success — but how far it goes depends on where you live. In New York City, that annual paycheck is worth just $36,000, after taxes and accounting for the steep cost of living.
That’s according to an analysis of 76 of the largest US cities to see where $100,000 goes furthest by SmartAsset, a consumer-focused financial information provider. New York ranked last, with take-home pay of $35,791. It was joined in the bottom 10 by other notoriously expensive cities like San Francisco, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Memphis, Tennessee, took the No. 1 spot on SmartAsset’s list, with $86,444 in take-home pay after taxes and adjusting for cost of living.
SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000. Then, it adjusted the remaining amount for the local cost of living, which includes the price of housing, groceries, utilities, transportation and other goods and services, using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research for the third quarter of 2022.
