$75,000 in San Diego maps to roughly $60,103 of equivalent purchasing power in Austin on consumer prices alone. The composite index gap is -19.9%, with housing carrying -25.4% of that move. Source: C2ER ACCRA quarterly cost-of-living index, BLS CPI 2024 weights.
The equivalent-salary calculation scales your San Diego salary by the ratio of the two composite indexes (117 ÷ 146 = 0.801). It answers "how much do I need to earn in Austin to maintain the same consumer-spending power I have today in San Diego?"
| San Diego salary | Equivalent in Austin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $40,068 | -$9,932 |
| $75,000 | $60,103 | -$14,897 |
| $150,000 | $120,205 | -$29,795 |
The breakdown below decomposes the San Diego-vs-Austin cost-of-living gap into its five constituent sub-indexes. National average for each is 100; the delta column shows how each line item changes between the two metros. Housing routinely shows the largest swing.
| Category | San Diego | Austin | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Rent + median home price | 185 | 138 | -25.4% |
| Groceries Supermarket basket | 107 | 95 | -11.2% |
| Transportation Fuel, transit, parking | 127 | 102 | -19.7% |
| Healthcare Doctor visits, prescriptions | 102 | 98 | -3.9% |
| Utilities Electric, gas, internet | 113 | 104 | -8.0% |
| Composite | 146 | 117 | -19.9% |
The composite index gap between San Diego, CA and Austin, TX is real: roughly 20 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 (25% lower in Austin), 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 San Diego salary stretches further in Austin, 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.
Tax is the silent leg of any cross-state move. California runs a 9.30% top-marginal or flat state income tax; Texas runs 0.00%. That maps to $6,975 versus $0 at the $75,000 anchor income — a $6,975 difference layered on top of the consumer-price comparison above.
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.
Per C2ER ACCRA's composite, no — Austin runs at 117 against San Diego at 146, putting Austin about 20% cheaper. Housing is the largest single contributor; groceries, transport, and utilities follow at smaller magnitudes.
Approximately $60,103. The math: $75,000 times the index ratio 0.80 (which is 117/146) equals the salary in Austin that preserves your real-terms spending power. State tax sits on top — handled separately in the sidebar above.
Look at housing first. San Diego sits at 185 on the housing sub-index; Austin sits at 138. The other four categories (groceries 107 vs 95, transport 127 vs 102, utilities 113 vs 104) 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 California vs Texas state-tax delta at three salary anchors. Add the two effects for the full after-tax comparison — they don't double-count.