San Francisco vs Austin: where does a firefighter save more?

Best for saving: Austin โ€” about $1,507/mo after taxes and living costs.

San Francisco
US
Austin
US
โ˜… Best for saving
Median salary$82,778$65,183
Take-home / mo$4,861$4,417
Income tax~30%~19%
Living costs / mo$4,400$2,910
Savings / mo$461$1,507
Savings rate9%34%
VerdictOkayComfortable

Single professional, after-tax. "Savings" = take-home โˆ’ a baseline cost of living. A planning estimate, not financial advice.

How we calculated this

โ€ข Salary: BLS/OECD median for a firefighter, adjusted per city.

โ€ข Tax: each country's single-filer effective rate (e.g. US ~30%, US ~19%).

โ€ข Living costs: a single professional's baseline monthly budget per city.

Estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026.