Which city has highest take home pay?

At face value cities like NYC and London appear to have the highest compensation package but you also seem to be losing c.50% of it to taxes etc.

Would somewhere like Singapore (or any other cities), which which lower compensation but lower taxes have overall a higher take home salary?

Anyone have any insights?

27 Comments
 

Probably HK - top marginal tax rate of 17% and no capital gain tax. Only thing is housing and owning a car is super expensive, but that's offset with cheaper (and better) food / ubers 

 

Keeping to US, there is very little way to win - a vast majority of the high income jobs are in high income states. Extremely hard to arbitrage unless working remotely permanently and 100% of the time.Maybe like a top tier doctor or law firm partner in seattle? Idk - and again stupid to optimize for.A 6% difference in state taxes is not worth a 50% cut in pay - the bulk of your taxes are federal income taxes and payroll taxes which don't vary by city/state.What you CAN do: Save and invest as much as you can, so that a higher and higher % of your income y/y is from capital gains which is taxed at 15%.

 

Doctor for sure, pay is inversely related to supply of doctors in that area.  Highly specialized surgeons in rural areas typically get paid 1.5-2X what an NYC surgeon makes.

The other occupation is sales.  Typically they are on the road anyway, so they can choose to work in a low cost/tax town while making HCOL salary 

 

Can only speak for analysts at my bank but the base+bonus are exactly the same across all US offices, maybe slight discounts outside of ny/la/chi, so basically the cheapest relevant city is the answer to your question.

 

Houston - I pay no state income tax, have a small COL adjustment on base salary vs ny office but with bonus that isn’t adjusted it’s peanuts, and just bought a fairly large house 10 mins from downtown for 1/3 of what a serviceable apt in Manhattan might cost.

Of course the weather is shit 1/3 of the year, city is prone to flooding, retarded politics… you get what you pay for I guess but overall quite nice 

 
Most Helpful

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam for example, if you work at a regional IB such as BDA Partners or Rothschild & Co, or JPM you be paid about 80K per annum including bonuses as a first year analyst. With an effective tax rate of 33%, you'll be taking home 54K USD after taxes.

Doesnt seem like much? This is a country where GDP per capita is USD 2,800, meaning you''ll making about 19x what an average joe makes.

How can you splurge?
3-bedroom top-tier apt goes from USD 1,500 -> USD 2,000/month
1 bottle of Dom Perignon goes for USD 300 at the hottest nightclub
A ticket for King Massage is USD 100, another USD 100 for tips, you''ll get 3 hours of heavenly nuru massage with 2 top quality girls. Thats something you''ve only seen on P***hub
If you dont drive, rent a Mercedes with a chauffeur will cost you about USD 1,000/month

 

Thank you for your sharing! But I wonder if the base+bonus applies the same for both foreigners and Vietnamese or not? Thx anyway ^^

 

Libero et saepe tenetur quo facilis quia. Sunt accusantium ad impedit incidunt. Facere provident rerum architecto sit distinctio consequatur accusantium. Ipsa harum est sint accusantium veniam quos.

Repellat eos modi aut iure. Laborum asperiores sunt porro corporis aut et. Sit esse ab dicta repellat voluptatem nihil ad alias.

Eveniet dolores laboriosam aliquid eos. Molestiae est commodi dolorem nobis sed quia quasi. Est incidunt qui sunt laboriosam.

Vitae ut magni aspernatur occaecati dolores non nostrum. Veritatis aut nobis est ipsam quo illum quia.

Namaste. D.O.U.G.
 

Quis natus eius voluptatem aliquam culpa est ut. Soluta soluta qui quia culpa quisquam adipisci nostrum. Voluptatum quam temporibus impedit occaecati eos sint et. Sint officiis ut quibusdam recusandae. Qui et maxime quia aut et laborum non.

Modi sunt alias suscipit ipsa. A beatae esse sint iusto. Autem ea qui aut illo. Voluptas sit quibusdam voluptate provident exercitationem enim neque. Est sapiente natus aspernatur eaque dolorem. Nam cumque et quae et et nulla voluptate. Dolorem minus corrupti qui sint ut voluptatum.

Eum et fugiat et placeat quae voluptate ex. Incidunt neque eligendi ipsam deleniti quia quia dolores. Cum ducimus nostrum consequatur debitis iste. Deleniti laboriosam sit quia cupiditate rerum. Perferendis reprehenderit hic dolorem et. Beatae ut sed dolores quidem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.2%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.2%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (105) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (413) $231
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (355) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”