St. Louis vs Austin: where does a social worker save more?

Best for saving: St. Louis โ€” about $1,124/mo after taxes and living costs.

St. Louis
US
โ˜… Best for saving
Austin
US
Median salary$55,717$47,740
Take-home / mo$3,614$3,335
Income tax~22%~16%
Living costs / mo$2,490$2,910
Savings / mo$1,124$425
Savings rate31%13%
VerdictComfortableOkay

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 social worker, adjusted per city.

โ€ข Tax: each country's single-filer effective rate (e.g. US ~22%, US ~16%).

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

Estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026.