About Chasing Greener Grass
Chasing Greener Grass is a free set of tools for comparing U.S. states before you decide to move. It started from a simple frustration: most relocation calculators either leave out taxes entirely, rely on opaque private indexes nobody can verify, or bury the actual numbers under lifestyle content optimized for clicks. None of them made it easy to just see the real financial picture side by side.
What it does
The core tool calculates your real take-home pay in any two states — after federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA — and then adjusts those numbers for cost of living using BEA Regional Price Parities, the federal government’s own measure of price differences across states. The result is a single, comparable number: what your salary actually buys, not just what it says on paper.
Beyond the paycheck math, the site surfaces climate data (NOAA 30-year normals), natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index), and real migration patterns (U.S. Census Bureau) so you can see where people are actually going and what the tradeoffs look like — not just in dollars, but in weather, risk, and lifestyle.
The data philosophy
Every number here traces to a named, public, government source. We use IRS tax brackets, BEA price data, Census migration figures, NOAA climate records, and FEMA risk scores — not proprietary indexes that charge for access and don’t publish their methodology. When we don’t have something (local city taxes, school data) we say so plainly rather than pretending it’s covered. Full source details are on the Methodology page.
What this site isn’t
It’s not financial advice, tax advice, or a recommendation to move anywhere. The numbers are estimates based on standard assumptions and publicly available data — they’re a starting point for your own research, not a substitute for talking to a tax professional or financial advisor about your specific situation. The full disclaimer is in the Terms of Use.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or feedback: info@chasinggreenergrass.com.