Relocation planning
Compare living costs between two cities and estimate simplified take-home pay before you relocate.
The headline figure is a simple index ratio. Every city has an indicative cost index on a New York = 100 baseline, so dividing the destination's index by your current city's index gives a multiplier. Applying that multiplier to your income estimates what you would need to maintain a broadly similar standard of living. Rent-weighted mode leans more heavily on housing, which often dominates a relocation budget.
The indices are indicative, rounded averages tagged "as of 2026-06", and the tax bands are widely-known approximations tagged "as of 2026-06". We deliberately keep both broad and clearly labelled rather than implying false precision. Treat every number as a starting point and verify against local listings and an official tax tool before you commit to a move.
Start with your current gross salary: enter it with your current city as the base and the offer city as the destination. The equivalent-income figure the calculator returns is your benchmark — the rough gross you would need in the new city to stand still. An offer below it suggests a lifestyle cut on paper; an offer above it suggests headroom. If rent will be your biggest line — for most renters it is — toggle rent-weighted mode and check whether the benchmark shifts much. Then put both salaries through the take-home estimator so you are comparing rough net against rough net, not gross against gross; two countries can tax the same salary very differently. Finally, sanity-check the winner against real local prices before you sign anything.
Housing is the number that usually decides whether a move works: for most city dwellers, rent or a mortgage typically takes 30-50% of spending, and rents often diverge between cities more sharply than day-to-day costs like groceries. That is what rent-weighted mode is for — if you rent, the plain overall index can understate the real gap. After housing, the big swings come from things a headline index barely captures: childcare (which in some cities rivals rent), healthcare and insurance (a major line in the US, often covered through taxes or payroll contributions elsewhere), and income tax. Groceries, utilities, and eating out differ too, but rarely enough on their own to change a relocation decision.
A city-wide index is a starting point, not a budget. Before you accept an offer or sign a lease, pin down the handful of numbers that will actually shape your month: current asking rents on local listing sites for your specific neighbourhood and apartment size, not the city average; the commute you would really do, priced in both money and time; health insurance or healthcare contributions for your situation; and school or childcare fees if you have kids, since these vary widely and rarely show up in headline indices. Add the one-off costs — deposits, agent fees, furniture, flights — which can easily eat one to three months' rent. The take-home estimator here is deliberately simplified, so get your exact tax position from the destination's own tax authority.
Each city carries an indicative cost-of-living index on a New York = 100 baseline. We take the ratio of the destination index to your current city's index and multiply your income by it. If your city sits at 100 and the destination at 70, you would need roughly 70% of your income to keep a similar lifestyle.
No — they are indicative, rounded, city-wide averages for planning only. They ignore neighbourhood, lifestyle, exchange-rate moves, and your personal spending mix. Always check current local prices before relocating.
No. It is a simplified estimate, not tax advice. It applies a few widely-known progressive tax bands plus a single social-contribution rate, and ignores filing status, dependants, regional or local taxes, allowances, credits, and caps. Use an official tax calculator or an adviser for a real figure.
The comparison is a ratio, so it is currency-neutral: it tells you how much of the same currency you would need, not a converted amount. We deliberately do not apply a live exchange rate, because rates move daily and would imply false precision.
Convert both to the same basis before judging them. Enter your current salary with your current city as the base and the other city as the destination — the result is the gross amount you would need there for a broadly similar lifestyle. Compare the actual offer against that figure, then run both through the take-home estimator so tax differences show up too. A bigger gross that leaves you with less after tax than you keep today is not a raise.
As a rough rule, scale your salary by the ratio of the two cost indices. Moving from a city indexed at 100 to one indexed at 130 suggests you would need about 30% more gross income to keep a similar standard of living; moving to a city at 80 suggests you could take roughly 20% less. Treat these as indicative planning figures — if rent dominates your budget, check the rent-weighted result, and remember taxes shift the answer further.
Verify the big four locally: housing (real asking rents for your neighbourhood and apartment size, typically the largest single cost), healthcare and insurance for your situation, childcare or school fees if they apply, and your actual tax position via an official calculator. Then budget for one-off moving costs — deposits, agent fees, flights, furniture — which often add up to a few months of rent. City-wide indices smooth all of this out, so local quotes beat any average.
Indicative estimate only — not financial or tax advice. Cost indices as of 2026-06; simplified tax bands as of 2026-06. Verify current local prices and your real tax position before relocating or relying on any figure.