There are many factors to consider when finding the right location to call home. One of the many important factors is financial well-being. Between generous pay, North Dakota having among the lowest state tax rates in the nation, and a lower than average cost of living, Grand Forks and other locations throughout Altru's region can be a financially lucrative place to call home.
This table displays the financial advantages of choosing to call Grand Forks, North Dakota, home over Minneapolis, Minnesota, another popular midwestern city. The calculation is rather simple. You take your after-tax income, subtract your non-mortgage debt and desired savings as these are not a factor in your cost of living, and that remaining amount is adjusted by the cost of living index. The example below shows a person making $60,000 in each location with the same spending lifestyle, but due to taxes and a lower cost of living, he/she could have approximately $7,000 more to use as desired, such as living in a nicer residence, going on vacation or paying off debt.
To compare your unique situation between a variety of different cities, please open the following Calculator Tool and complete the following steps:
You will only need to use the Calculator tab of the spreadsheet. For the best experience, please use the desktop version of Excel to open this file.
Step 1: Select the two locations you would like to compare from the green drop-down menus.
Step 2: Enter your household pre-tax income.
Step 3: Go to SmartAsset and enter each of the cities you’d like to compare, as well as the filing status (married or single).
Step 4: Once at SmartAsset, enter your household income, location and filing status (married or single). Then use the tax rate percentage that is highlighted below. Do the same for the second location.
Your results should look like the example below.
Enter the tax rates from SmartAsset into the appropriate boxes in the spreadsheet.
Source: SmartAsset
Step 5: Enter what you plan to spend on non-mortgage debt and desired savings per year in the appropriate boxes.
Step 6: Compare your spending lifestyle for the two locations.
Disclaimer: Please note that these are all estimations and in no way guarantees any amount of pay, tax rate, or cost of living. Cost of living is based on median costs in the city and may not reflect your unique situation.
For more information on Altru careers, or a custom city comparison, please contact careers@altru.org.
