Cost of Living Calculator: Compare Cities and Equivalent Salary 2026

A cost of living calculator lets you compare two cities and answer: “If I earn X in city A, what would I need to earn in city B to have the same standard of living?” Rent, groceries, transport, and dining out don’t cost the same everywhere—so the same salary can mean very different lifestyles. A good cost of living calculator puts a number on that difference.

What our cost of living calculator does

Our free cost of living calculator lets you pick two cities (from the US, UK, and Germany) and enter your current salary. It then shows you the equivalent salary in the other city: the amount you’d need there to maintain a similar purchasing power. We use relative cost-of-living indices for housing, groceries, transport, and general expenses. You can also see how much more or less expensive one city is than the other in percentage terms. Try New York vs London or Berlin vs Munich for ready-made comparisons.

When to use a cost of living calculator

Use a cost of living calculator when you’re moving cities, weighing a job offer in another location, or negotiating a relocation package. “I need €X in Munich to match my current lifestyle in Berlin” is the kind of number a cost of living calculator gives you. It’s also useful when you have two job offers in different cities: combine it with take-home pay (our paycheck calculator) and you get a full picture. For side-by-side offer comparison, use our job offer compare calculator.

Cost of living calculator and tax

Our cost of living calculator focuses on relative prices between cities. It doesn’t replace a salary calculator or paycheck calculator—tax rates also vary by country and region, so your net pay depends on both tax and cost of living. For a full comparison of two offers (salary + city), the job offer compare calculator does both. For more, read Cost of living: New York vs London and Berlin vs Munich. All figures are estimates.