What would moving to Israel actually mean for your money?
Plug in your state, your income, and your kids. Get a straight-dollars answer — not a pitch, not a guilt trip, not a vibe.
A plain-English aliyah calculator built by Americans for Americans. USD→ILS rate live at 3.000.
Line by line
What comes out of your paycheck, both sides.
| Item | U.S. / year | Israel / year | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
Income tax + payroll U.S. column combines federal + state + FICA. Israel column combines income tax (with 25% oleh discount, first 3.5 years) + Bituach Leumi. As a U.S. citizen you still file with the IRS, but the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and Foreign Tax Credit usually eliminate U.S. tax owed. | $65,252 | $84,204 | −$18,952 |
Health insurance (out of your paycheck) Israel's universal healthcare (Kupat Holim) is funded by Bituach Leumi above. You pay nothing extra out of pocket for basic coverage. | $6,500 | — | +$6,500 |
Property tax / Arnona | — | — | — |
Private Jewish day school Israeli public schools are Jewish by default — calendar, Hebrew, Torah. No tuition required to raise Jewish kids. | $56,000 | — | +$56,000 |
College savings (needed per year) U.S. private 4-year college all-in is roughly $250K per kid in today's dollars; funding it from birth requires ~$10,000/yr/kid. Israeli public university costs ~$3K/yr in tuition and takes 3–4 years; a modest ~$800/yr/kid covers it. | $20,000 | $1,600 | +$18,400 |
| Total coming out of your paycheck / year | $147,752 | $85,804 | +$61,948 |
| Net cash in your pocket (after everything above) — matches the big number at top | $102,248 | $164,196 | +$61,948 |
The paycheck is half the case.
You're safer. You're healthier. You're happier. Your kids grow up bilingual and Jewish by default. And you stop explaining Hanukkah to your coworkers in December.
Israel ranks 8th on the 2026 World Happiness Index. The U.S. ranks 24th — its lowest ever. Among under-25s, Israel is 3rd; the U.S. is 60th.
Universal Kupat Holim from day one. Quit your job, start a company, take a sabbatical — your family stays covered. The closest U.S. equivalent costs ~$25K/year.
U.S. homicide rate is ~3.5× Israel's. Despite headlines, daily-life violence runs meaningfully lower.
Kids raised in Israel grow up functionally bilingual in English and Hebrew with no intervention. A life skill American parents pay thousands per year to simulate.
First Jewish sovereignty in 2,000 years. Your kids don't grow up explaining Hanukkah or scanning a crowd at a family bar mitzvah. They grow up as the norm.
Customs exemption on one household shipment, 500 hours of subsidized Hebrew ulpan, year-one arnona discount, free health coverage, and the absorption cash in the box above.
• U.S. federal + Israel 2026 tax year, last reviewed 2026-04-20.
• Live USD→ILS conversion at 3.000 (Stooq, cached 1 hour).
• Married-filing-jointly U.S. household assumed. Single / dual-earner numbers vary but land in a similar neighborhood.
• Israel income tax column reflects the 3.5-year deep-discount phase of the oleh benefit; the 10-year total ramp brings it to the full rate over time.
Questions people ask
Is this an aliyah calculator?+
Yes. We call it 'moving to Israel' because it's simpler.
Do I still pay U.S. taxes after moving?+
Yes. If you're a U.S. citizen you file a U.S. tax return every year regardless of where you live — same as if you moved to France, Japan, or anywhere else. But you typically don't end up owing U.S. tax: the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion lets you exclude roughly $130,000 of wages per person (so ~$260,000 for a married couple), and the Foreign Tax Credit takes care of most of the rest by crediting taxes you already paid to Israel. Example: a couple earning $250K with both earning roughly equal wages in Israel will usually owe $0 in U.S. federal tax after FEIE + FTC. A cross-border CPA can confirm your specific situation.
What about healthcare?+
Kupat Holim (Israel's public health system) covers you as soon as you register on arrival. You pick one of four funds (Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, Leumit). Israel ranks ahead of the U.S. on most global health metrics — life expectancy, infant mortality, preventive care.
Are Israeli public schools any good for my kids?+
Depends on neighborhood, like anywhere. Public schools are Jewish by default — calendar, Hebrew, Torah. Religious families use 'mamlachti dati' (state religious) or haredi-track schools, all free. Jewish day school tuition — about $28,000 per kid per year in the U.S. — simply isn't a line item in Israel.
How is this calculator kept up to date?+
We refresh the tax tables, Sal Klita amounts, and healthcare cost averages every January once published sources release the new year's numbers. The current data is for 2026, last reviewed 2026-04-20. Next scheduled refresh: 2027-01-15. The methodology section below links to every source. All data is open source; propose a refresh at any time via a GitHub PR.
Who built this?+
Quiet Notion LTD, a small software company based in Israel. We built it because existing tools didn't do the job — either they were one-variable calculators or marketing funnels for a consulting pitch. This is just here for information.