$75,000 in New York maps to roughly $41,310 of equivalent purchasing power in Phoenix on consumer prices alone. The composite index gap is -44.9%, with housing carrying -52.6% of that move. Source: C2ER ACCRA quarterly cost-of-living index, BLS CPI 2024 weights.
Multiply your New York salary by 0.551 (the index ratio 103/187) to get the Phoenix number that preserves your real-terms spending. The three anchor rows below — $50k, $75k, $150k — are the most common comparison points for relocation offers.
| New York salary | Equivalent in Phoenix | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $27,540 | -$22,460 |
| $75,000 | $41,310 | -$33,690 |
| $150,000 | $82,620 | -$67,380 |
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 New York and Phoenix stack up category by category against the national-average baseline of 100.
| Category | New York | Phoenix | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Rent + median home price | 232 | 110 | -52.6% |
| Groceries Supermarket basket | 117 | 99 | -15.4% |
| Transportation Fuel, transit, parking | 134 | 99 | -26.1% |
| Healthcare Doctor visits, prescriptions | 107 | 96 | -10.3% |
| Utilities Electric, gas, internet | 165 | 105 | -36.4% |
| Composite | 187 | 103 | -44.9% |
The composite index gap between New York, NY and Phoenix, AZ is real: roughly 45 index points separate the two metros on C2ER ACCRA's published quarterly cost-of-living survey. Translated to a household budget, that gap shows up most loudly in housing (53% lower in Phoenix), with secondary effects on utilities and groceries. Healthcare and transportation move less between the two cities — those line items track regional patterns more than metro-specific ones.
What this means for a relocation decision: every dollar of New York salary stretches further in Phoenix, but the stretch is not uniform across categories. A family-of-four budget heavy on housing and groceries sees a bigger improvement than a single renter who already keeps rent low and spends mostly on dining and travel. Sketch your actual category mix before deciding what a "fair" pay adjustment looks like — most remote-pay zone formulas under-credit the housing-heavy household and over-credit the dining-heavy one.
The cost-of-living index is a pre-tax measure. Add state tax to get the after-tax picture: New York at 6.85% versus Arizona at 2.50%. The $75,000 anchor shows $5,138 owed in New York versus $1,875 in Arizona, a $3,263 swing on top of the consumer-price gap.
Run your actual salary and filing status through the take-home pay calculator for a precise after-tax number. The federal layer is the same in either metro; only the state piece shifts. See the take-home pay calculator or the state-by-state take-home pay article for the precise after-tax number.
Short answer: no. Phoenix runs 45% below New York on C2ER ACCRA (103 vs 187). Housing accounts for most of the gap; groceries, transportation, and utilities chip in smaller pieces.
To maintain the same standard of living you have in New York, NY on $75,000, you would need to earn approximately $41,310 in Phoenix, AZ. The formula is straightforward: multiply your current salary by the ratio of the two cost-of-living indexes (103 ÷ 187 = 0.55). The result covers consumer prices but not state income tax differences — see the state-tax sidebar for that adjustment.
The housing sub-index does the heavy lifting here: 232 in New York versus 110 in Phoenix. Groceries, transport, healthcare, and utilities all show smaller deltas (groceries 117/99; transport 134/99; utilities 165/105). When two metros disagree on cost of living, housing is almost always the reason.
State tax is a separate adjustment. The composite cost-of-living index is a pre-tax, consumer-prices-only measure. New York and Arizona state-tax rates differ; the sidebar quantifies that gap at common salary anchors so you can add it to the consumer-price equivalent and get an after-tax number.