Las Vegas vs Tampa
Metro-area medians — Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metro Area vs Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Tampa comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 6 clearly-decided measures.
Las Vegas and Tampa are closely matched on both cost of living and household income. 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 $409/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 Tampa for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Las Vegas vs Tampa — frequently asked
- Is Las Vegas cheaper than Tampa?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Las Vegas and Tampa metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Las Vegas or Tampa?
- Household incomes are similar — $80,028 in the Las Vegas metro versus $78,275 in Tampa (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
- Does a paycheck go further in Las Vegas or Tampa?
- 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 $77,584).
- Which has cheaper rent, Las Vegas or Tampa?
- Rents are close — $1,739/mo in the Las Vegas metro versus $1,776/mo in Tampa (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).