Home Affordability
#1
of 124 cities
≈1.6 yrs to buy 80m²
Current value
#20 of 124
North America
Saint Louis
MO, United States
Salary & Cost of Living
How do salaries and expenses in Saint Louis compare to Tbilisi?
Purchasing Power Comparison
An engineer in Saint Louis is 8% worse off vs in Tbilisi
This shows how far a software engineer's salary goes in Saint Louis compared to Tbilisi, taking into account both salary differences and cost of living.
Net Salary
$83,662
+$36K (+76%) vs Tbilisi
Tax Rate: 29%
Community Insights
NewSt. Louis offers a compelling arbitrage opportunity for software engineers: earning a near-national-average salary ($118k) while living in one of the country's most affordable housing markets (#3 rank). The tech scene is corporate-heavy but stable, anchored by defense, agtech, and fintech giants rather than volatile VC-backed unicorns.
Daily life is characterized by easy logistics (little traffic) and high-quality leisure (food, parks), but marred by a persistent backdrop of safety concerns and urban fragmentation. It is a city of "pockets"—finding the right neighborhood is critical to the experience.
Resident Sentiment
Current residents, especially transplants, often describe a "defensive love" for the city. They admit the crime and segregation issues are real but frequently argue that the quality of life per dollar is unbeatable.
There is a strong sentiment that the city is "what you make of it"—those who actively engage with their neighborhood (e.g., Tower Grove South) and the transplant community tend to love it, while those expecting a turnkey glossy metropolis often leave frustrated.
Rankings
Top 1%
Purchasing Power
#20
of 124 cities
Net Income
#34
of 124 cities
$83,662/yr
Current value
Housing Affordability
How affordable is housing for a software engineer in Saint Louis compared to Tbilisi?
Salary Converter
Enter your annual gross salary (before taxes) to see what you would need to earn in Saint Louis to maintain the same standard of living.
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