Los Angeles to Las Vegas on the C2ER ACCRA composite: -33.1% on the headline, -41.9% on housing alone. A $75,000 Los Angeles salary lines up with roughly $50,151 in Las Vegas after the consumer-price adjustment. State tax stacks on top — sidebar below.
Salary-equivalence math is the same across every cost-of-living comparison: scale by index ratio. For Los Angeles (166) to Las Vegas (111) that ratio is 0.669. The table below applies it to the three anchor incomes most relocators use as decision points.
| Los Angeles salary | Equivalent in Las Vegas | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $33,434 | -$16,566 |
| $75,000 | $50,151 | -$24,849 |
| $150,000 | $100,301 | -$49,699 |
Five sub-indexes feed the composite cost-of-living number. Housing dominates, but the other four — groceries, transport, healthcare, utilities — each carry weight in any real household budget. Here is how Los Angeles and Las Vegas stack up category by category against the national-average baseline of 100.
| Category | Los Angeles | Las Vegas | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Rent + median home price | 215 | 125 | -41.9% |
| Groceries Supermarket basket | 110 | 104 | -5.5% |
| Transportation Fuel, transit, parking | 132 | 110 | -16.7% |
| Healthcare Doctor visits, prescriptions | 103 | 98 | -4.9% |
| Utilities Electric, gas, internet | 121 | 98 | -19.0% |
| Composite | 166 | 111 | -33.1% |
For someone weighing a move from Los Angeles, CA to Las Vegas, NV, the cost-of-living comparison is the cleanest part of the analysis. Las Vegas runs about 33% under Los Angeles on the composite C2ER ACCRA index, and that translates directly into salary-equivalence numbers you can use to evaluate offers: $75,000 of Los Angeles purchasing power equals roughly $50,151 in Las Vegas terms.
What the index does not capture: lifestyle adjustments, neighborhood-level price variance within each metro, and tax differences between the two states. California and Nevada can have meaningfully different state income tax burdens at the same salary level, and that gap is layered on top of the consumer-price gap rather than embedded in it. The sidebar on this page shows the state-tax delta at three salary anchors so you can stack the two effects and see the combined picture.
State income tax is not part of the cost-of-living composite, but it is part of your real take-home math. California's effective top rate is 9.30%; Nevada's is 0.00%. On a $75,000 salary the two states pull $6,975 and $0 respectively — a gap of $6,975 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.
The data says no. Composite indexes: Los Angeles 166, Las Vegas 111. Las Vegas is roughly 33% less expensive overall, with the housing sub-index doing most of the work and other categories contributing smaller deltas.
To maintain the same standard of living you have in Los Angeles, CA on $75,000, you would need to earn approximately $50,151 in Las Vegas, NV. The formula is straightforward: multiply your current salary by the ratio of the two cost-of-living indexes (111 ÷ 166 = 0.67). The result covers consumer prices but not state income tax differences — see the state-tax sidebar for that adjustment.
Housing — and it isn't close. Los Angeles's housing index is 215; Las Vegas's is 125. The remaining sub-indexes (groceries 110/104, transport 132/110, utilities 121/98) contribute, but the housing line is what produces the noticeable real-world budget difference.
They are tracked separately. The cost-of-living composite measures consumer prices; state income tax is a different axis. California and Nevada can disagree on tax by several thousand dollars per year at typical salaries, and that delta stacks with — not into — the consumer-price gap above.