Chicago to Denver on the C2ER ACCRA composite: +10.3% on the headline, +25.8% on housing alone. A $75,000 Chicago salary lines up with roughly $82,759 in Denver after the consumer-price adjustment. State tax stacks on top — sidebar below.
The equivalent-salary calculation scales your Chicago salary by the ratio of the two composite indexes (128 ÷ 116 = 1.103). It answers "how much do I need to earn in Denver to maintain the same consumer-spending power I have today in Chicago?"
| Chicago salary | Equivalent in Denver | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $55,172 | +$5,172 |
| $75,000 | $82,759 | +$7,759 |
| $150,000 | $165,517 | +$15,517 |
Composite indexes hide the within-budget variance that often matters more than the headline. Housing in Chicago can be far above the city's composite, while groceries sit closer to par. The same is true for Denver. Compare the five categories below to see where your specific budget mix changes the picture.
| Category | Chicago | Denver | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Rent + median home price | 132 | 166 | +25.8% |
| Groceries Supermarket basket | 100 | 102 | +2.0% |
| Transportation Fuel, transit, parking | 108 | 105 | -2.8% |
| Healthcare Doctor visits, prescriptions | 99 | 104 | +5.1% |
| Utilities Electric, gas, internet | 112 | 96 | -14.3% |
| Composite | 116 | 128 | +10.3% |
Chicago, IL and Denver, CO 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 +10%, but the more interesting story is the category mix: housing alone runs +26% 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.
State income tax is not part of the cost-of-living composite, but it is part of your real take-home math. Illinois's effective top rate is 4.95%; Colorado's is 4.40%. On a $75,000 salary the two states pull $3,713 and $3,300 respectively — a gap of $413 that compounds with the consumer-price difference.
The take-home pay calculator gives you the after-tax delta at your real salary and filing status. Federal tax is invariant under the move; the state rate is the only piece that flips. See the take-home pay calculator or the state-by-state take-home pay article for the precise after-tax number.
On the headline composite, yes: Denver sits at 128 versus Chicago at 116 on C2ER ACCRA, a gap of about 10%. Housing carries most of that gap; non-housing categories add smaller, same-direction contributions.
The equivalent salary in Denver is about $82,759. You get there by multiplying $75,000 by the index ratio (1.10, derived from 128 and 116). This is a consumer-price comparison; layer state tax separately for after-tax parity.
Look at housing first. Chicago sits at 132 on the housing sub-index; Denver sits at 166. The other four categories (groceries 100 vs 102, transport 108 vs 105, utilities 112 vs 96) all move smaller absolute distances and rarely dominate the composite.
State tax is separate from the cost-of-living index. The C2ER ACCRA composite covers consumer prices only; the sidebar on this page shows the Illinois vs Colorado state-tax delta at three salary anchors. Add the two effects for the full after-tax comparison — they don't double-count.