Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos → Charleston-North Charleston

Moving from Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos to Charleston-North Charleston shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 98.1 to 101.0 (100 = US average), so a Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos salary needs to be multiplied by 1.03 to hold the same purchasing power in Charleston-North Charleston. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,852/month in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos to $1,787/month in Charleston-North Charleston - a lower monthly bill of $65, or $780/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $71,789 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos versus $67,686 in Charleston-North Charleston - a raw gap of $4,103 lower. The Charleston-North Charleston labor market has 381,130 tracked jobs against 1,265,270 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos and Charleston-North Charleston are 395 and 439 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.7:1 at origin versus 14.3:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $7,566/year in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos versus $7,732/year in Charleston-North Charleston. Our composite verdict - Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.