Tool · Cost of Living

Compare any two cities.

Indices benchmarked to New York (= 100). Higher means more expensive; higher purchasing power means your salary buys more.

City A

or search any city in the world

New York

United States · Local currency USD

The global financial benchmark.

View New York detail →

City B

or search any city in the world

London

United Kingdom · Local currency GBP

Europe's pre-eminent financial city.

View London detail →

Send the same New York vs London snapshot to a partner or roommate — no account, no signup.

Overall cost of living

-12.6%London vs New York

London is 12.6% cheaper than New York.

Average net salary (USD)

-22.6%London vs New York

London is 22.6% lower-paying than New York.

Index breakdown

New York = 100 baseline. Numbers compare London relative to New York.

How the City Comparison tool works

The City Comparison tool normalises cost-of-living across cities using a basket of 50+ price points drawn from public sources — Numbeo-style crowd averages, World Bank PPP indicators, and editorial corrections for cities where crowd data is sparse. The headline index is weighted 35 % housing, 20 % groceries, 15 % transport, 10 % utilities, 10 % dining, and 10 % leisure.

Currency conversions use mid-market rates from a daily refresh. PPP figures lag by 12-18 months (that's the IMF/World Bank publication cadence) and are used only for the long-run purchasing-power index, not the day-to-day comparison figures.

The "required salary" figure uses the destination city's index as the numerator and your origin city's index as the denominator, applied to your reported current salary. It's a floor estimate — most relocations also involve one-off moving costs and lifestyle inflation that the tool deliberately excludes.

Takeaways

What experienced relocators pay attention to

Rent is the signal, not the index. In 85 % of cross-border moves, the gap between origin and destination rent alone explains more than half of the total cost-of-living delta. Compare rent indices first; everything else is secondary.

PPP ≠ what you'll actually pay. Purchasing-power parity is useful for comparing national averages. For a specific city move, the local index is almost always a better signal because it captures neighbourhood effects, tax regime, and local supply dynamics that national PPP smooths over.

The hidden tax drag. Marginal rates can swing a comparison by 10-15 % in either direction. Spain, France, and much of Scandinavia look affordable on the index but net 20-30 % less of your gross. Dubai, Singapore, and parts of the US South look expensive on the index but keep more of your gross.

Questions we hear

Frequently asked questions

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How often is the cost-of-living data updated?

Headline indices refresh quarterly; FX rates refresh daily. Rent indices for the 100 most-queried cities are reviewed monthly against local listing portals so the housing weight stays current.

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Why does my city show a different index on other sites?

Different providers weight the basket differently. Numbeo weights heavily toward groceries + utilities; Mercer weights heavily toward housing + expat lifestyle. We weight for a typical household (35 % housing / 20 % groceries) so most families' real experience lines up with ours.

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Can I compare three cities at once?

Yes — the tool supports up to three destinations side-by-side. If you add a fourth, the oldest column rotates out.