Jake Duell - Realtor KW Northern Michigan

10/09/2026

Five airlines. Three tax comparisons. One more factor in the basing decision. ✈️

To wrap up this series, I put American, Delta, United, Southwest, and JetBlue on one graphic, showing the lowest and highest rates among the residential locations we compared.

The red boxes highlight the highest rate in each category, including ties.

A few things stood out:
• Every airline has a location in this comparison with no state income tax on wages.
• California has the highest state marginal rate across all five airlines.
• Newark’s Essex County has the highest effective property-tax benchmark in this comparison at 2.10%.
• New York City has the highest local income-tax rate shown at 3.876%.

But these percentages tell different stories. Property taxes apply to home value, while income taxes apply to taxable income. They shouldn’t be added together.

And California’s 13.3% is its highest marginal rate, including the surtax on taxable income above $1 million. It isn’t the rate a typical pilot pays on their entire paycheck.

Your home address matters. Where you’re based and where you live aren’t always the same.

Income rates reflect 2026 rules. Property figures are county-level benchmarks using 2024 data published in 2026. Actual bills vary.

Federal taxes, payroll contributions, and occupational taxes are excluded.

If schedule and seniority were equal, which domicile would you choose after considering housing costs and taxes?

10/07/2026

Same pay scale. Different tax bill. ✈️

JetBlue’s pilot domiciles make for an interesting tax comparison.

Fort Lauderdale and Orlando have no state income tax. Boston, Los Angeles, and New York have different state income-tax structures, with NYC residents also paying city income tax.

FLL has the highest effective property tax rate, LAX has potentially the highest property tax, and JFK has the highest (and only) local income tax.

Property taxes add another piece to the picture. Even the two Florida locations have different county-level benchmarks.

This chart compares those three measurements for someone living in the listed location. Being based at an airport alone doesn’t determine a pilot’s income taxes.

Income rates reflect 2026 rules. Property benchmarks use 2024 data published in 2026. Income ranges are marginal brackets, actual property bills vary, and federal taxes and payroll contributions are excluded.

JetBlue pilots: did taxes play a role in where you chose to live, or were family, schedule, and commuting the deciding factors?

10/05/2026

Same pay scale. Different tax bill. ✈️

Southwest’s domicile map includes several places with no state income tax: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Orlando.

MDW has the highest effective property tax rate, LAX and OAK tie for potentially the highest state income tax, BWI has the highest (and only) local income tax.

But a zero in the income-tax column doesn’t mean a zero tax bill.

This chart puts three measurements side by side: effective property taxes, state income taxes, and local income taxes. The goal is to add another layer to the housing and cost-of-living comparison.

The residential location matters, too. For BWI, this chart uses Anne Arundel County, not Baltimore city.

Income rates reflect 2026 rules. Property benchmarks use 2024 data published in 2026. Property figures are county-level benchmarks, income ranges are marginal brackets, and federal taxes and payroll contributions are excluded.

Southwest pilots: when choosing where to live, how do you balance taxes, housing costs, and the commute?

10/02/2026

Same pay scale. Different tax bill. ✈️

United’s mainland pilot domiciles offer very different tax pictures.

Houston, Las Vegas, and Orlando have no state income tax. But that’s only one column in the comparison. Property taxes still belong in the housing budget.

EWR has the highest effective property tax rate, SFO and LAX tie for potentially the highest state income tax, IAD (Montgomery Country, MD) has the highest local income tax.

Washington illustrates another important point: the same base can mean different taxes depending on whether you live in Virginia, Maryland, or D.C.

This chart compares effective property-tax benchmarks, state income-tax rates, and local income-tax rates for the listed residential locations. Guam is excluded because its tax system isn’t directly comparable.

Income rates reflect 2026 rules. Property benchmarks use 2024 data published in 2026.

Bracket ranges are marginal rates, actual property bills vary, and federal taxes and payroll contributions are excluded.

United pilots: did the tax picture affect your choice of home address, or did schedule and commuting carry more weight?

09/30/2026

Same pay scale. Different tax bill. ✈️

What does the tax picture look like across Delta’s pilot domiciles?

This chart compares three pieces of the equation: effective property taxes, state income taxes, and local income taxes.

Seattle stands out with no state income tax on wages in 2026. New York City adds a local income tax, while Detroit’s city income tax applies to city residents, not everyone living near DTW.

DTW has the highest effective property tax rate, LAX has potentially the highest state income tax, and LGA/JFK has potentially the highest local income tax.

That distinction matters. A pilot’s assigned base and home address aren’t always in the same tax jurisdiction.

Property figures are county-level benchmarks, not a quote for a specific home. Income rates reflect 2026 rules. Property benchmarks use 2024 data published in 2026. Bracket ranges are marginal rates, and federal taxes and payroll contributions are excluded.

Delta pilots: how much did taxes influence where you live compared with schedule, seniority, and commuting?

09/28/2026

Same pay scale. Different tax bill. ✈️

In my earlier posts, I compared pilot domiciles by cost of living and median home prices. This time, I’m adding taxes to the picture, starting with American Airlines.

This chart compares three measurements:
• Effective property-tax rates using county benchmarks
• State income-tax rates
• Local income and wage-tax rates

Dallas and Miami stand out with no state income tax. Philadelphia and New York City add local taxes. For Washington-based pilots, living in Virginia, Maryland, or D.C. can change the comparison considerably. ORD has the highest effective property tax rate, LAX looks like it could potentially have the highest state income tax, and JFK/LGA have possibly the highest local income tax rate.

The key distinction: where you’re based and where you live aren’t always the same. These figures reflect residency in the listed location.

Income-tax rates reflect 2026 rules. Property benchmarks use 2024 data published in 2026.

Income ranges are marginal brackets, actual property bills vary, and federal taxes and payroll contributions are excluded.

American Airlines pilots: how much do taxes influence where you live compared with housing costs, seniority, schedule, and commuting?

09/16/2026

The final comparison post of the series!

Over the last few weeks I pulled median home price and cost of living for the pilot domiciles at American, Delta, United, Southwest, and JetBlue. Here's all five networks side by side, sorted by network average cost of living.

Three things jumped out.

Delta has the most affordable single domicile in the entire comparison - Detroit, with a $275K median home price - and still finishes fourth of five on network average. One cheap base doesn't make a cheap network.

Southwest finishes first (119.0 average cost of living, $539K average home price) while also owning the single most expensive domicile on the board, Oakland at 195.5. Twelve domiciles means twelve chances at something affordable, even with an outlier at the top.

And JetBlue's problem isn't the ceiling, it's the floor. Its most affordable domicile, Orlando at 106, is still pricier than the cheapest base at any of the other four carriers. Across five domiciles, there's nowhere cheap to land.

Which gets at the thing the table can't show you: the cheapest base in the system only helps if your seniority can actually hold it. A network where the average base is livable may be worth more than a network with one bargain you're years away from bidding.

Curious what the pilots here think - when you were picking which airline to apply to, did where you'd end up living factor in at all? Or was that a bridge you figured you'd cross once you were on property?

-Sources: Median home price - FRED Housing Inventory (realtor.com), metro area, Jul-Sep 2026. Cost of living index, US average = 100 - American/Delta/United from a composite consumer index (Aug 2026), Southwest/JetBlue from BestPlaces.net (Sep 2026); because those are two different indexes, small gaps between networks aren't meaningful. Averages are unweighted across each network's mainland domiciles. Not affiliated with or endorsed by American, Delta, United, Southwest, or JetBlue.

09/14/2026

Same paycheck. Very different housing math. JetBlue Edition.

JetBlue pilots bid into 5 domiciles nationwide, down from 7 after the carrier closed its Newark and LaGuardia crew bases earlier this year to double down on Boston, JFK, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Orlando. Where you live still changes two things that matter more than almost anything else in this job: what a house costs, and how far your paycheck actually stretches once you're living there.

Pulled median home price and cost-of-living index (US average = 100) for all 5 remaining JetBlue bases - sorted low to high cost of living in the graphic below.

Two things stand out. Boston actually has a higher median home price than the New York metro area ($799,950 vs. $772,250) - but a JFK-based pilot still faces a meaningfully higher overall cost of living (172.5 vs. 150.8) than a Boston-based pilot, on the cheaper-on-paper home. And Orlando anchors the low end on both measures by a wide margin, meaning a JFK-based pilot pays over 60% more than an Orlando-based pilot for the same everyday expenses on the same paycheck.

Same seniority list, same pay scale, same aircraft - a very different financial picture depending on the three-letter code you call your base.

If you're a pilot who's weighed this - curious to hear it, especially with JetBlue's footprint shrinking to five bases this year: did cost of living or home prices factor into your basing decision, or did equipment/schedule/seniority win out regardless?

-Sources: Median home price - FRED Housing Inventory (realtor.com), metro area, Jul-Aug 2026 (Fort Lauderdale/Miami metro: Aug 2026). Cost of living index - BestPlaces.net composite cost-of-living index, US average = 100, Sep 2026. Not affiliated with or endorsed by JetBlue Airways.

09/12/2026

Same paycheck. Very different housing math. Southwest Airlines Edition.

Southwest pilots bid into 12 domiciles nationwide - from Baltimore to Oakland. Where you live changes two things that matter more than almost anything else in this job: what a house costs, and how far your paycheck actually stretches once you're living there.

Pulled median home price and cost-of-living index (US average = 100) for all 12 Southwest bases - sorted low to high cost of living in the graphic below.

Two things stand out. Houston has the cheapest homes on the list at $360K, but a Baltimore-based pilot actually has a lower overall cost of living (92.6 vs. 96.9) despite a slightly higher home price - proof again that home price and day-to-day cost of living don't move together.

And the spread is enormous on the other end: Los Angeles has by far the priciest homes ($1.097M), but an Oakland-based pilot faces an even higher cost-of-living index (195.5) on homes that cost $186K less - nearly double the national average, and more than double what a Baltimore-based pilot pays for the same everyday goods.

Same seniority list, same pay scale, same aircraft - a very different financial picture depending on the three-letter code on your bid.

If you're a pilot who's weighed this - curious to hear it: did cost of living or home prices factor into your basing decision, or did equipment/schedule/seniority win out regardless?

-Sources: Median home price - FRED Housing Inventory (realtor.com), metro area, Jul-Aug 2026. Cost of living index - BestPlaces.net composite cost-of-living index, US average = 100, Sep 2026. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Southwest Airlines.

09/11/2026

One of the many factors to consider when deciding where to live. Many pilots face the decision; to commute or to not commute? When your job offers you so much flexibility you can live anywhere and work in a base, how do you decide where to live?

Whether you're living in base or not, have you considered the cost of your commute?

We analyzed data to estimate the annual cost of commuting for the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S., and these are the 10 most expensive cities that topped the list.

San Francisco got the no. 1 spot thanks to a combo of $5.65/gallon gas and a 62-minute round-trip commute. San Jose, D.C., New York, and Seattle round out the top five — all north of $10,000.

See the full ranking and methodology: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/annual-cost-to-commute-by-metro.html