Boston, MA · Springfield, MA
Springfield is 40% cheaper than Boston overall.
Home Price
Boston: $680,000
Springfield: $275,000
Monthly Rent
Boston: $2,750/mo
Springfield: $1,150/mo
COL Index
Boston: 162
Springfield: 98
Median Income
Boston: $89,400
Springfield: $54,200
Median Home Price
Monthly Rent (Median)
Median Household Income
Property Tax Rate
Cost of Living Index
100 = national average
Avg. Commute
Unemployment Rate
Median Age
A $100,000 salary in Boston has the same purchasing power as $60,494 in Springfield — based on each city's cost of living index.
Homes in Springfield cost 60% more (-$405,000 extra). Expect a larger mortgage and down payment.
Renting in Springfield saves you $1,600/month — $19,200 per year. Median rent: $2,750/mo in Boston vs $1,150/mo in Springfield.
On a median-priced home, Boston owners pay roughly $7,208/year in property taxes vs $2,915/year in Springfield. Rates are comparable.
Median household income is $89,400 in Boston and $54,200 in Springfield. Springfield residents earn 39% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 32 minutes in Boston vs 24 minutes in Springfield. Over a year, that's 4000 extra minutes (67 hours) of commuting in Boston.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Boston to Springfield, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Boston | Equivalent in Springfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $30,247 | -$19,753 |
| $75,000 | $45,370 | -$29,630 |
| $100,000 | $60,494 | -$39,506 |
| $150,000 | $90,741 | -$59,259 |
| $200,000 | $120,988 | -$79,012 |
* Calculated using cost of living indices (national average = 100). Does not account for state income tax differences.
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Cost of Living
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Based on cost of living indices, Springfield is cheaper overall. Boston has a COL index of 162 while Springfield scores 98 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Boston is $680,000 vs $275,000 in Springfield — a difference of $405,000 (60%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Boston is equivalent to $60,494 in Springfield in terms of purchasing power.
Springfield has a lower property tax rate (1.06% vs 1.06%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $2,915/year vs $7,208/year.
Median monthly rent: $2,750 in Boston vs $1,150 in Springfield. Annualized: $33,000 vs $13,800.
Boston: $89,400/yr. Springfield: $54,200/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost Springfield typically lets remote-workers keeping a coastal salary stretch further. Higher-cost cities usually win on amenities and labor-market depth.
Numbers are pulled from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI (home values, rent), the U.S. Census Bureau ACS (income), and BEA RPP (cost-of-living index). Each value is timestamped on the page.
Source feeds refresh on their native cadence — hourly for mortgage rates, monthly for ZHVI/ZORI, annually for ACS. Page caches revalidate every 24 hours via Next.js ISR.
No. This page is educational reference using public data and standard formulas. It is not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional for material decisions.
City-level metrics (median home price, median rent, median household income, property tax rate, COL index, commute, unemployment, median age) are sourced from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI[1], Census ACS 5-year estimates[2], BEA Regional Price Parities[3], Tax Foundation[4], and BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics[5].
The Cost of Living Index uses 100 = national average (C2ER methodology[6]): values above 100 indicate a city is more expensive than the national average, below 100 less expensive.
Salary equivalence uses the ratio adjustedSalary = salary × (colDestination / colOrigin). This accounts for cost-of-living differences but does not model state income tax variation, which can be significant.
Annual property tax is computed as medianHomePrice × propertyTaxRate. Actual assessed value may differ from sale price. Effective rates vary within a metro; these are metro-wide medians.
Commute-hours calculations assume 250 working days/year and a round-trip commute. "Tied" in the comparison table means values within ±1% of each other.
Last reviewed reflects the maximum retrievedAt timestamp across every sourced dataset feeding this page. When any source refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (every 24 hours) picks the new date.
Cost of living data sourced from [6] C2ER, [2] U.S. Census Bureau, and [1] Zillow Research. Tax rates from [4] Tax Foundation. Last reviewed .