Landing a job in a new city can be the experience of a lifetime and a step up the career ladder. But there's a common spoiler: The cost of living might be much higher in the new city than in the one you left behind.

Regional differences in prices are nothing new, but they've grown in recent years, primarily because of the huge increases in housing costs in some markets. As a result, some job transferees now feel they need a monstrous raise to maintain their lifestyle in a new city.

"There certainly has to be more willingness" to consider cost-of-living adjustments now, because in some cases "it's difficult for a lot of employees to become homeowners in some of the coastal areas," says H. Cris Collie, executive vice president of Worldwide ERC, a Washington-based association of corporate relocation managers and people in related industries, including real estate and financial services. "There's always been cost differentials from one part of the country to another, but it's been exacerbated in the past two to three years."

The result is that the usual 15% to 20% boost in salary that accompanies a promotion often isn't enough anymore, compensation consultants say. For example, an employee moving to Boston from Atlanta needs twice as much pay to compensate for steeper housing prices and other higher costs. Other moves -- say Topeka, Kan., to San Francisco -- require an even bigger boost in compensation.

Mark Hurd, named Hewlett-Packard Co.'s chief executive late last month, was given a generous $2.75 million relocation allowance and temporary housing for as much as a year -- in part reflecting the higher cost of living he will incur by moving to Northern California from the Dayton, Ohio, area.

But how do you wrangle the most generous deal during a relocation? Here are some tips to improve your odds.

Know What's Available

Start by finding out what your employer's policy is on cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for transferees.

Among employers in the U.S. that provide COLAs for employees moving to new cities, most have established guidelines on matters like who gets such adjustments under what circumstances and how big the adjustments are, according to Worldwide ERC. But about one-third offer help on an ad hoc basis. That may require more initiative on your part, but may also leave more room for negotiation.

Companies pay cost-of-living adjustments in different ways. Some simply offer bigger salary increases. But given that housing costs are usually the main problem for transferees, there's an increased emphasis on providing more-direct help for employees to pay for their new homes.

For example, some employers will pay several points on an employee's mortgage to lower the interest rate on the loan. Others will provide money for a down payment on a house.

It used to be fairly common for companies to offer bridge loans to employees changing locations. In a bridge loan, the company lends the employee the money for a down payment on a new home, to be repaid when the employee's old home is sold. But most companies have stopped this practice because the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2002 corporate-governance law, generally bans lending by companies to their executives.

Adjustments aren't limited to salary increases or help with housing costs, though. Some companies will help cover the costs of commuting to work if they're dramatically higher than before.

Gather the facts

If your company's relocation offer isn't generous enough and you want to fight for more, be sure to have the data to back up your argument.

Make a few trips to the new city before you start the job, says Brent Longnecker, a pay consultant in Houston. On these trips you can meet with real-estate agents and get a feel for housing prices, property taxes and daily living expenses. Figure out how you'd have to commute to work and what costs are involved.

Document the prices you see, so you can later present them to the hiring manager in an organized fashion. "You basically walk into your boss's office and say, 'The $300,000 home that I have here is a $1.2 million home there. What the heck am I going to do?' " Mr. Longnecker says.

Some Internet sites can also aid in comparing the cost of living in different cities. The National Association of Realtors offers a salary calculator at HomeFair.com, and Sperling's Best Places has a similar tool at BestPlaces.net. Both let you enter a salary in one city and figure out what the comparable salary would be in another city, based on the difference in the two cities' cost of living. The Realtors' association also lets you compare home prices online, at Realtor.com. Another approach is to find the going salary for your position in the new city. Web sites such as Salary.com can help with that.

One thing to keep in mind when making these comparisons: The higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more likely your pay is to be based on national standards, not local ones, says Roger Siske, a partner and compensation expert for the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in Chicago. Most senior executives get paid what their peers at other companies make, regardless of location.

While it's not pointless to ask for some assistance if you're in this category, it may be tougher to get a broad-based salary increase, Mr. Siske says. But you may be able to negotiate for some extra money, outside of your salary, to cover specific costs, he suggests.

For example, if your kids attend private school, find out how much comparable schools cost in the new city and ask if the company will make up the difference. A similar approach might work if you have a nanny or other household help; if you can argue that your standard of living will fall without some extra money to cover these kinds of expenses, you likely have a good case, Mr. Siske says.

Employers also may be willing to make allowances for special family circumstances. Mr. Longnecker once represented an executive with an autistic child. When the executive was transferred to New York from a less-expensive East Coast market, the board of directors agreed to give him an extra allowance of $20,000 yearly to ensure adequate care for the child.

Know Your Worth

Often, whether your company will give you a cost-of-living differential depends on how badly they want you for the job. So be realistic about how much leverage you have.

Senior managers and top executives can often negotiate customized relocation perks, while lower-rung employees might be stuck with the company's standard policy. Moreover, workers with highly specialized skills or those deemed "the only person for the job" can usually persuade the company to give them more cost-of-living assistance, says Brian Foley, a pay consultant in White Plains, N.Y.

Be careful, though: Pushing too hard for extra allowances can backfire, Mr. Foley warns. Job transfers are often viewed as a career steppingstone. It might reflect badly on you if you refuse to transfer, or risk losing the offer by hedging on a decision, because of higher living costs.

Deciding how persistent to be about getting an adjustment "really depends on supply and demand in the organization and what your history has been," Mr. Foley says. "Maybe you have more-specialized skills so they really need you -- only you -- for the job. On the other hand, you may be replaceable."

Also, with the growing emphasis on ethics in corporate governance in recent years, companies are getting more nervous about making too many exceptions to their compensation policies, says Kay Burd, director of business development for Runzheimer International, a relocation consulting firm in Rochester, Wis.

"The corporation needs to make sure they have internal equity," Ms. Burd says, "and the person isn't being paid significantly differently than other employees" in the same job, assuming his or her performance is comparable.

Value and Protection

In negotiations, keep in mind that an across-the-board salary increase is the most lucrative form of cost-of-living adjustment, since it's usually permanent. Salaries are rarely cut when employees transfer to a less pricey location, but nonsalary payments or benefits are often revoked.

There are also several ways to protect yourself against the unexpected. First, be sure the terms of any cost-of-living allowance are put in writing, so that they can't be changed once you move. Some top-level executives, Mr. Siske says, get stipulations added that if the new job doesn't work out, the company will help them buy another home in the original location. And some people get temporary housing in the new location covered by the company for several months before committing to buy a home.

"There are a lot of different ways this can all play out," Mr. Siske says.