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What it calculates: Salary Needed in New City, Difference vs Current, Cost Difference.
Updated 5 June 2026 · Transparent assumptions
Multiply your salary by the ratio of the two indices
Cost-of-living indices are built so that the numbers are comparable to each other, not so that they mean anything on their own. An index of 120 against 80 says the first city is 50% more expensive, and the equivalent salary follows directly: your pay multiplied by 120 over 80.
Because it is a pure ratio, the base the index uses is irrelevant as long as both cities are measured on the same one. Mixing indices from two different sources is the one mistake that breaks the arithmetic entirely, since their bases will not agree.
Every index is a basket, and the baskets disagree
An index is a weighted basket of goods, rents and services, and providers weight them differently. One may treat housing as a third of spending and another as half, which is enough to produce meaningfully different indices for the same pair of cities.
The sensible approach is to check two or three sources and treat the spread as the real uncertainty. A single index quoted to a decimal place implies a precision that the underlying survey methodology does not support.
Your own basket decides whether the index applies to you
The index describes an average household. If your spending is concentrated in the categories that differ most between the two cities — typically rent — the index will understate the change you personally face. If you own outright, or your employer provides housing, it will overstate it.
The more your life diverges from the average, the less the headline number applies. Someone who cycles to work, cooks at home and rents a small flat is having a different experience of an expensive city than the index reports.
The equivalent gross salary may not be an equivalent life
Indices measure prices, not taxation. Moving between states, provinces or countries changes income tax, local taxes and social contributions, and a gross salary that matches on the index can leave a very different amount in hand.
Non-price factors sit outside this too: healthcare access, schooling, commute length, the cost of moving itself, and how liquid the local job market is if the role does not work out. The ratio answers a narrow question precisely; it does not answer whether to move.
Sources & References
Figures on this page are checked against primary, authoritative sources. Links open in a new tab.
Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and standard formulas. Rates, fees, taxes, and lender terms vary and change over time, so confirm important numbers with your lender or a qualified professional. This is educational information, not financial advice.
Published the calculator with its formula, worked example, assumptions, limitations and a bespoke guide, and added an automated formula test suite covering it.
Tested the index-ratio conversion in both directions, including the case where the two cities share an index and the salary must be unchanged.
Tested that the percentage change and the absolute difference always agree with the required salary the ratio produces.
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