Also doesn't seem to take into account income and capgains tax rates; for a single person making >120k that is a substantial cost savings on its own.
back
2 comments
It doesn't actually seem to take the salary you put in into account at all: it gives the same 24% cheaper for $30,000 salary and $120,000 salary, even though the ratios of expenses shouldn't be the same for those two cases. At the very least, the weightings should change: someone who makes $20,000 is probably spending more than 12% on groceries, while someone who makes $10m is probably not spending 12% on groceries (or 10% on utilities). And the ratio of housing prices isn't constant across all types of housing, either.
No, I'm pretty sure that means it's being stupid.
It gives exactly 24% less regardless of what salaries you put in and not changing the "% of total" or anything. That means that it's figuring out the difference in average cost of living first, and then just reduces the salary you gave by 24% to get the equivalent.
Yeah, not sure which you were referring to, but it should both factor in the different tax rates in the different states/cities and the fact that when you're at that lower equivalent salary (the 90k instead of the 120k), you're paying a lower effective tax rate because a higher % of your income is in the lower brackets.