The metro area of San Francisco has the highest cost of living in the United States and requires a post-tax salary of $84,000 to live comfortably - compared to a low of $57,000 in St Louis.
A study of the country's 25 largest metro areas shows the top ten priciest places to live are on the east or west coast.
The area with the lowest cost of living is Greater St. Louis, which spans across Missouri and Illinois. That's closely followed by the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area in Michigan, where a salary of $58,358 is needed for a comfortable life.
At the other end of the scale, New York was unsurprisingly inside the top five, along with the metro area that includes Boston and Cambridge in the wealthy state of Massachusetts.
Researchers at SmartAsset, which carried out the study, based the figures on the 50/30/20 rule that allocates 50% of a salary to essential expenses, 30% to 'wants' and 20% for savings. They used the MIT living wage calculator to work out the basic cost of living for a single person with no children.
Researchers at SmartAsset calculated the salary needed to live comfortably in America's 25 largest metro areas. St Louis is most affordable, while the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area is the priciest
The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area is the priciest in the US
The area with the lowest cost of living is Greater St. Louis, which spans Missouri and Illinois
Financial planner Susannah Snider said: 'A budget is the bedrock of many people's financial plans. And it's especially essential to understand and track your spending when the cost of everyday items is rising.
'Being able to stick to a 50/30/20 budget means you have enough to fund short- and long-term goals while paying for essential living expenses.'
The California metro area of San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad was second with a post-tax annual salary of $79,324 needed to live comfortably. That allows for $39,662 towards 'needs', $23,797 for 'wants' and $15,865 for savings and debt payments.
Third was the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area across Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where someone needs a salary of $78,752.
Fourth is the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area ($78,524) and the top five was completed by Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue in Washington state, where the post-tax annual salary for comfortable living was $77,634.
New York, Massachusetts, California and Washington are the top four richest states in America respectively, when judged on gross domestic product per capita.
SmartAsset worked out what salary is needed to live comfortably in each of America's 25 largest metro areas
The study follows another by SmartAsset which calculated the spending power of a $100,000 paycheck in different US states after taxes and cost of living adjustments.
The salary goes the furthest in Memphis, Tennessee, while New York City is the worst city in the United States to live on the sum, that study found.
In Memphis, the take-away value of the six-figure salary coupled with local cost of living equates to about $86,000, while in New York City it is equal to only about $35,000.
The startling data was compiled by looking at state and local taxes, local living costs, and the effects of recent inflation, to determine which cities were the cheapest and most expensive to live in.
Seven out of the ten cheapest cities - where $100,000 went the furthest – were in Texas, while six of the most expensive cities were in California and on the west coast.
The data showed state and local taxes in Memphis cut a $100,000 paycheck down to $74,515 in take-home cash. Adjusted by local living costs - which were a full 14 percent lower than the national average - $100,000 went the furthest out of any city in the country.
The metro area of Detroit, Michigan, has the second lowest cost of living in America, according to a study
In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area, which spans Massachusetts and New Hampshire, someone needs a salary of $78,752. Pictured: Boylston Street, near Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts
A separate study by SmartAsset found towns in the center of the country offer the best value for money, in terms of cost of living and tax, whereas coastal cities are the priciest
The next best city to live on a $100,00 paycheck in was El Paso, Texas, where the data showed cost of living was 87.7 percent of the national average. There, taxes cut the cash take-home from $100,000 to $74,515, but adjusted for living costs that became equivalent to $84,966.
Oklahoma City was the third best, with a take-home of $70,302 factoring out to $84,498 with costs of living.
Next was Corpus Cristi, Texas, where costs of living were 10.7 percent lower than national averages. There, $100,000 was worth about $83,443.
Taxes in Lubock, Texas, cut $100,000 down to $74,515. The city's cost of living was 89.4 percent the national average, turning that take-home value into $83,350.
In Houston, Texas, cost of living was 91.8 percent of the national average. $100,000 dropped to $74,515 from taxes, which resulted in a $81,350 value adjusted for living costs.
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