Las Vegas vs Providence
Metro-area medians — Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metro Area vs Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Providence comes out ahead, winning 6 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Las Vegas and Providence cost about the same to live in, but Providence households earn about 4% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Las Vegas leaves you about $3,298/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Providence for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Las Vegas vs Providence — frequently asked
- Is Las Vegas cheaper than Providence?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Las Vegas and Providence metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Las Vegas or Providence?
- Providence has the higher median household income — $82,870 versus $80,028 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 4% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Las Vegas or Providence?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($79,856 versus $81,426).
- Which has cheaper rent, Las Vegas or Providence?
- Providence has cheaper rent — a median of $1,396/mo versus $1,739/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).