Sam Daly American Dream

What actually moves leftover income

Occupation first, then whether pay covers the rent. Transport, food, and state tax are real money. They barely reorder the map. Every figure is a year. Single filer, no kids, paying a whole HUD 1-bedroom. Puerto Rico metros are left out.

Occupation

The job changes leftover income more than the map does

Housing

Rent is the geographic lever. Transport and food barely move.

Geography

Wages rise with rents. Leftover income does not automatically follow.

Income tax

No state income tax is not a winning strategy

The ranking

A city with high leftover income for one job is often a poor one for another

What if I changed something?

I live in this city, in this occupation. Rent, transport, and food are mine. Earnings are the ACS median for that occupation here, not my paycheck. Tax follows the metro. For the world’s HUD rent, use What if the world.

I live here

City, occupation, rent, getting around, food

What if I

What would raise leftover income?

What if the world were different?

Pick a city. Set a 1-bedroom. Leftover income and rank use that city’s occupation wages, tax, transport, and food — only housing changes. Other metros keep their own rents. This is not a forecast of wages if housing gets cheaper. For your rent and grocery bill, use What if I.

Why rent

Rent is the cost that reorders cities

The 1-bedroom

Change housing. Leave everything else.

What leftover income is counting

The American Dream is about much more than money, but it also has a long history of chasing money and wealth. This site simplifies it down to financial rationales.

People talk about take-home pay as if every cost of living belongs in one number. This page only subtracts the pieces that reorder cities, plus the ones everyone names. Every figure is a year. Single filer, no kids, one HUD 1-bedroom.

The formula

Earnings, then tax, then a bedroom, then getting around and food

Leftover income = median earnings − federal income tax − FICA − state income tax − HUD 1-bedroom − transportation − food. Everything is a year. Occupation groups, not job titles. Puerto Rico metros are left out.

Household spending

What the average US household spends, and what leftover income subtracts

BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024, all consumer units: $78,535 a year. Filled slices are in leftover income. Income tax is also subtracted; it is not a spending category on this pie.

    Housing on the pie is the full CEX bundle: shelter, utilities, furnishings. Leftover income uses a HUD 1-bedroom, not that whole bundle. Transport and food in leftover income are one-person CEX baskets, priced locally — not these household dollar amounts.

    In the number

    These are the big things, or the things people name

    1. Occupation. ACS median earnings for a job group. Switching occupation moves leftover income more than switching metros. That is the largest lever on the page.
    2. Housing. A whole HUD 1-bedroom. Rents run about 4–5× across metros. This is the geographic lever. Wages rise with rents; they do not rise evenly.
    3. Income tax. Federal brackets, FICA, and state tax for a single filer with the standard deduction. People talk about moving to a no-tax state. Those metros are in the file. Skipping state tax is not a winning strategy by itself.
    4. Transportation. A national getting-around basket ($6,953), priced with local goods prices. Transport runs about 1.3×. This is not a car/no-car model, and not a commute-time index. It is typical one-person transportation spending in a year — not the sticker price of a car. Most people did not buy a vehicle that year, so the average is a few thousand, not $40,000.
    5. Food. A national grocery-and-restaurants basket ($5,644), priced the same way as transport. Food runs about 1.3×. In because people talk about groceries. It barely reorders leftover income.

    Talked about, left out

    Kids, and the rest of “cost of living”

    1. Car vs no car. Dropping the car in New York is a lifestyle choice, not a metro average. This page does not toggle that. Getting around is in leftover income as one national basket, not as a modeled fleet.
    2. Kids, marriage, healthcare, childcare. Real money. Not in this leftover income. The filer is single, wage income only, no dependents.
    3. Local income tax. New York City and many Ohio and Pennsylvania cities tax wages. Left out. State tax is in; city tax is not.

    Data, so you can argue with it

    The map reads metros.json, occupations.json, and tax.json. Citations are in sources.json. Rebuild with python3 scripts/build.py. If leftover income looks wrong, file an issue.

      Every dollar on the page is a year. Earnings are ACS 2020–2024 medians for occupation groups. Rent is a 2026 HUD 1-bedroom, paid in full by one person. Transportation is CEX 2024 one-person spending ($6,953), scaled by BEA 2023 goods prices. Food is CEX 2024 one-person spending, scaled the same way. State tax uses 2026 brackets.