To preserve the same standard of living you have today in Boston on $75,000, you would need $70,370 in Washington. That is a -6.2% composite shift; the line-item breakdown below shows where the gap actually concentrates. Source: C2ER ACCRA, BLS CPI weights.
The equivalent-salary calculation scales your Boston salary by the ratio of the two composite indexes (152 ÷ 162 = 0.938). It answers "how much do I need to earn in Washington to maintain the same consumer-spending power I have today in Boston?"
| Boston salary | Equivalent in Washington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,914 | -$3,086 |
| $75,000 | $70,370 | -$4,630 |
| $150,000 | $140,741 | -$9,259 |
Composite indexes hide the within-budget variance that often matters more than the headline. Housing in Boston can be far above the city's composite, while groceries sit closer to par. The same is true for Washington. Compare the five categories below to see where your specific budget mix changes the picture.
| Category | Boston | Washington | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Rent + median home price | 215 | 199 | -7.4% |
| Groceries Supermarket basket | 110 | 110 | +0.0% |
| Transportation Fuel, transit, parking | 116 | 118 | +1.7% |
| Healthcare Doctor visits, prescriptions | 122 | 100 | -18.0% |
| Utilities Electric, gas, internet | 138 | 115 | -16.7% |
| Composite | 162 | 152 | -6.2% |
Boston, MA and Washington, DC sit within roughly 15% of each other on the composite cost-of-living index — close enough that the move is best framed as a lateral, not an upgrade or downgrade. The headline gap is about -6%, but the more interesting story is the category mix: housing alone runs -7% different between the two cities, which is usually larger than the composite gap because non-housing categories compress around the U.S. average.
For a household whose budget is housing-dominated, this lateral on the composite can still mean a notable change in monthly cash flow. For a household with paid-off housing or a fixed-rate mortgage that does not change with the move, the relevant gap is on the variable categories — groceries, utilities, transportation — where the differences are real but smaller. Either way, treat the move as a sideways step in pure cost terms and let lifestyle, career, and tax factors break the tie.
Income tax is a separate axis from the cost-of-living index, and Massachusetts and District of Columbia can disagree on it sharply. 5.00% versus 8.50% on the top-marginal or flat state rate translates to $3,750 versus $6,375 on a $75,000 salary, a $2,625 delta that stacks with the consumer-price story.
Use the take-home pay calculator to model the after-tax difference at your specific salary and filing status. Federal tax stays constant across the move; only the state piece moves. See the take-home pay calculator or the state-by-state take-home pay article for the precise after-tax number.
No. The composite index for Washington, DC is 152; Boston, MA sits at 162. Washington runs roughly 6% below Boston, with the housing sub-index driving most of the difference and grocery, transport, and utility prices following the same direction at smaller scale.
Plan on roughly $70,370 of gross salary in Washington to match $75,000 of Boston purchasing power. The calculation uses the C2ER ACCRA composite ratio (152/162 = 0.94). That is pre-tax; the state-tax sidebar handles the after-tax piece.
The housing sub-index does the heavy lifting here: 215 in Boston versus 199 in Washington. Groceries, transport, healthcare, and utilities all show smaller deltas (groceries 110/110; transport 116/118; utilities 138/115). When two metros disagree on cost of living, housing is almost always the reason.
No — the composite cost-of-living index focuses on consumer prices and does not include state income tax. The state-tax sidebar on this page handles that adjustment separately. Massachusetts's flat or top-marginal state rate is layered against District of Columbia's, and the gap can be several thousand dollars per year at a typical salary level. Stack the consumer-price equivalence with the state-tax delta for the full after-tax picture.