Skip to content
Cost & Benefits

Compare / Bakersfield to Colorado Springs

Bakersfield, CA vs Colorado Springs, CO

Simple answer

You'd likely save $35 a month in Colorado Springs.

This is the HUD 2-bedroom fair-market rent for October 2026 through September 2027. It is not your lease.

The largest cost gap in this pair is housing prices. The BEA housing price parity differs by 25.9 points (Bakersfield 90.3, Colorado Springs 116.2).

California taxes wages at rates up to 13.30%. Colorado taxes wages at a flat 4.40%. Combined sales tax differs by 1.1 percentage points, higher in California. The effective property tax gap is 0.21 percentage points, higher in California.

After a move from California to Colorado, those two example households keep the same benefit status labels. A different income can still split Medicaid and marketplace credits.

A $75,000 salary in Bakersfield lines up with about $74,867 in Colorado Springs on the 2024 all-items price parity. Census median gross rent and the commute figures are 2024. Fair Market Rents are fiscal year 2027.

Bakersfield

Bakersfield-Delano, CA

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,656
HUD area
Bakersfield-Delano, CA MSA
Census median gross rent
$1,479
All-items price parity
100.9
Goods price parity
105.2
Utilities price parity
158.3
Mean commute
24.8 min
Median household income
$71,596

Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs, CO

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,621
HUD area
Colorado Springs, CO HUD Metro FMR Area
Census median gross rent
$1,761
All-items price parity
100.7
Goods price parity
96.1
Utilities price parity
83.2
Mean commute
24.8 min
Median household income
$90,760

Equivalent salary

The first number keeps the same place in the national price level. The second also runs 2026 federal income tax, employee Social Security and Medicare, and a simplified state income tax. Groceries use the BEA goods price parity, not a grocery receipt.

Same buying power

$74,867

Salary in Colorado Springs that matches the 2024 all-items regional price parity.

After state and federal tax

$74,544

Gross salary in Colorado Springs whose after-tax pay buys the same basket, using price parities.

Rent only

$73,415

Scales the salary by the ratio of HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rents. Rent is not the whole budget.

Taxes on the two sides of the move

TaxCaliforniaColorado
State income tax on wagesup to 13.30%4.40% flat
Combined sales tax, Jan 1, 20269.0%7.9%
Effective property tax, ACS 2024 median / median0.71%0.49%

On a $400,000 home, the state median effective rate implies about $2,828 a year in California and $1,969 in Colorado. That illustration is not a local bill. Childcare prices are not in the verified dataset for these metros.

Benefits if you land in Colorado

Same household, $40,000 a year, scored once in California and once in Colorado. This is an illustration, not your application.

  • Food stamps (SNAP)

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • Medicaid and CHIP

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • WIC

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • School meals

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • LIHEAP

    BakersfieldMaybe

    Colorado SpringsMaybe

  • Earned Income Tax Credit

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • Child Tax Credit

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • Marketplace premium tax credits

    BakersfieldUnlikely

    Colorado SpringsUnlikely

  • Lifeline phone and internet

    BakersfieldLikely eligible

    Colorado SpringsLikely eligible

  • SSI

    BakersfieldUnlikely

    Colorado SpringsUnlikely

At $40,000 the status labels match. A single adult around $18,000 is where Medicaid expansion and the marketplace coverage gap usually split.

Medicaid guide for Colorado · SNAP guide

Related comparisons

How the salary and tax math works · The reverse city order redirects to this address.