Estimate and compare monthly living costs between cities using your own housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare, and lifestyle inputs. Includes methodology notes, city links, and source transparency.
Last updated
2026-05-16
Data year
2025
What this is
Planning estimator from your inputs
What this is not
An official cost-of-living measurement
A budget-first comparison, not a leaderboard
Cost-of-living calculators on the internet usually multiply your budget by a city-specific index and present the output as a precise number. Those indices vary widely between providers and are rarely backed by source attribution at the line-item level. This calculator avoids that path entirely: it adds the numbers you enter, subtracts the totals, and shows the difference.
That keeps the result honest. The output reflects your assumptions about housing, food, transport, utilities, internet, healthcare, and lifestyle in each city — not synthesized rent prices or guessed salary multipliers.
When to use this
· Bracketing a relocation conversation
· Planning a longer stay in another city
· Stress-testing a remote-work budget against new housing
· Comparing two budgets you already maintain
When not to use this
· Tax planning or financial advice
· Salary negotiation with no other inputs
· Official cost-of-living reporting
Compare your monthly budget
Planning estimate based on the numbers you enter. Not an official cost-of-living measurement.
Current city
Target city
Adjust the target column to test how a different budget would change your monthly total.
Planning estimate
Household size 1. Directional comparison — not an official cost-of-living measurement.
Current monthly (Abu Dhabi)
$2,780
Target monthly (Accra)
$2,780
Monthly difference
$0
Annualised difference: $0 — the two budgets match.
Category breakdown of your entered budget for current and target city
An illustrative two-city breakdown showing how the calculation lines up. The values below are example inputs only — they are not verified rent, food, or transport prices for any specific city.
Illustrative monthly budget breakdown for two cities. Values are example inputs, not verified cost-of-living measurements.
Category
Current city (example)
Target city (example)
Δ
Housing
1,500
1,800
+300
Food
450
500
+50
Transport
150
120
−30
Utilities
120
140
+20
Internet / mobile
60
70
+10
Healthcare / insurance
200
260
+60
Lifestyle / discretionary
300
300
0
Monthly total
2,780
3,190
+410
Example values shown for illustration only. They are not derived from an official cost-of-living dataset, and they do not represent any specific city.
How the calculator works
The calculator adds the seven monthly budget categories you enter for the current city and for the target city, subtracts the totals, and annualises the difference. Nothing else is happening behind the scenes — no city-specific multipliers, no synthesized rent prices, no guessed grocery or transport costs.
Current monthly total
sum of the seven current-city categories you entered
Target monthly total
sum of the seven target-city categories you entered
Monthly difference
target total − current total
Annualised difference
monthly difference × 12
What this calculator is not
· It is not an official cost-of-living measurement. The platform does not publish official rent, grocery, transport, salary, or purchasing-power values.
· It is not financial advice. Treat the output as a planning estimate that reflects the numbers you entered.
· It does not adjust your inputs for inflation, currency volatility, or local tax. Whatever you enter for each category is used as-is.
· It does not rank cities. The city dropdowns are selectors, not a leaderboard, and there is no “best” or “cheapest” city implied by this tool.
How to use the result honestly
Use the calculator to bracket a relocation conversation: try a realistic current monthly budget, then test what changing housing, transport, or healthcare lines does to the total. Pair the result with the linked city profiles and structured comparisons — those carry the source-attributed context that a single-number estimate can't.
The calculator does not stand alone. Pair the planning estimate with the platform's structured city and country intelligence so the number you see is anchored in context.
City profiles
Source-attributed metrics, sections, and module deep-dives for every supported city.
Planning a shorter trip? Use the travel budget calculator with your own accommodation, food, transport, activity, travel, and buffer inputs. Planning estimator only, not an official travel cost estimate.
This tool does not import a third-party cost-of-living index, and it does not call any external API at request time. Every number on the page either comes from your input or is clearly labelled as an illustrative example. The city dropdown is sourced from the platform's local city registry; no live pricing is fetched. If you spot a city you'd expect to see but don't, the registry hasn't yet onboarded it — please use a similar city in the same region as a planning proxy and treat the result accordingly.