$100k salary, packing up from Pittsburgh
changea dispatch from
boise
ID
43.62°N
116.20°W
Boise is basically Denver before Denver got Denver-y: walkable downtown, foothills you can run into on your lunch break, and a river slicing right through the middle of town. The Basque Block downtown anchors the biggest Basque community in the U.S., which nobody sees coming. The vibe is 'we close our laptops and go outside,' and the trails make that very easy to do. Locals would prefer you didn't tell anyone.
in our guides
the verdict
the monthly cost of moving past Pittsburgh
Boise costs meaningfully more. Whether it earns that back in the day-to-day is the actual question.
a quick ledger.
$1,794/mo
22% more expensive than Pittsburgh(vs $1,473/mo)
5.8%
$228/mo more in state tax than Pittsburgh
vs 3.07% in Pittsburgh
$6,056/mo
$549 less than Pittsburgh
gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.
$490k
120% more expensive than Pittsburgh
vs $223k in Pittsburgh
827k
vs 2.4M in Pittsburgh
field notes, weather & such.
166
pleasant days a year, in boise.
Pittsburgh only manages 161 of those. Warm, not extreme: 27 days clear 95°, vs 0 back in Pittsburgh.
But the calendar thins out: Pittsburgh stays 2.0× busier.
82/100
19% higher than Pittsburgh
vs 69/100 in Pittsburgh
Closest outdoor draw: Sawtooth National Forest, 48.9 mi.
96/100
3% lower than Pittsburgh
vs 99/100 in Pittsburgh
16
57% fewer than Pittsburgh
vs 37 nonstops in Pittsburgh
neighbors of boise on the map of tradeoffs:
compare boise with:
