I want to know the cost of living comparison between Portland, Oregon
and Oakland, California. If I'm making $109k in Portland, what is the
equivalent salary in Oakland?

Hi hokey,

Here is an excellent source for comparing the cost of living between U.S. cities:

Bankrate
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc.asp

"Use this calculator to compare the cost of living between U.S.
cities. Select the city you're in and the city you're moving to. Enter
your present income and click "Calculate." The income required to
maintain your current standard of living will appear in the box below,
along with the percentage difference between the two cities. The
calculation takes into account dozens of items in six broad categories
-- groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and
miscellaneous goods and services. It does not include the effects of
state and local taxes. The information is updated quarterly."

The equivalent income in Oakland is approximately $150,000. 

"The equivalent income is $149,877.71. It will take a 37.50% increase
to maintain your standard of living."

Below are comparisons of some of the major expenses:

Product             Portland OR      Oakland CA      Difference 

HOME PRICE          $290,969.00      $660,459.20     $369,490.20 
PAYMENT+ INTEREST     $1,260.00        $2,891.00       $1,631.00 
APT#(RENT)              $754.88        $1,501.11         $746.24 
TOTAL ENERGY            $178.90          $133.23          $45.67 
DENTIST VISIT           $131.20          $101.60          $29.60 
DOCTOR VISIT            $101.00          $101.10           $0.10 
OPTOMETRIST              $80.80           $99.40          $18.60 
PHONE                    $25.00           $22.84           $2.16 
GASOLINE                  $2.08            $2.45           $0.37 
Mortgage (%)              5.65%            5.75%            -0.1 

Data soure: ACCRA www.costofliving.org

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc.asp?a=0&d1=109000&d2=112.755239083376&d3=155.041258239978


Search criteria:
"cost of living" comparisons


I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions regarding my answer
please don?t hesitate to ask before rating it.

Best regards,
Rainbow

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Request for Answer Clarification by hokey-ga on 09 May 2005 12:15 PDT

Rainbow,

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried using the calculator you
mentioned, but I'm unable to get it to compute anything. It just
"refreshes" the page. Anyway, I have a quick follow-up question. If I
were to rent rather than buy, would the cost of living difference
between Portland and Oakland come out with a different percentage
outcome?

Thanks

---

Clarification of Answer by rainbow-ga on 09 May 2005 13:20 PDT

Hi hokey,

It's strange you were not able to access the page. I tried it again
and was still able to.

Regarding your followup question, the percentage difference between
buying a home versus renting is higher, therefore the overall
different percentage should be lower than 37.50%. However, since I'm
not a mathmetician, I am not in a position to be able to calculate how
much lower.

I hope that helps.

Best regards,
Rainbow

According to http://www.cityrating.com/costofliving.asp:

For a salary of $109,000 it Portland, OR (pretty nice, by the way),
you will have to make $137,379 in Oakland, California, an extra $28K.
(That's California for you).

I wonder, does this estimation include income taxes and local property
and sales taxes?  I don't see any references to this.  I know North
Carolina, for example, has a 6% income tax and some municipalities
have sales taxes as high as 6% there, so someone moving from Seattle
to Charlotte might have considerable additional expenses that might
not be reflected (don't appear to be) in the BankRate estimates.  Or
is this factored in and just not reported?