Numbeo cost of living comparisons

What it is

Numbeo is a cost-of-living and quality-of-life database. In October 2026 its cost of living page reported 9,910,250 prices in 12,877 cities from 888,536 contributors. You can pick any two cities and see side-by-side prices for rent, groceries, transport, utilities and eating out, plus a rough "you would need X to keep the same standard of living" figure.

Who it is for

Anyone weighing a job offer abroad. If you earn a certain salary in Karachi, Bengaluru, Dhaka or Lagos and have an offer in Dublin, Berlin or Manchester, Numbeo gives you a fast first sense of whether the offer is enough.

How the data works (be honest about it)

Numbeo's methodology page says its data is a mix of user-submitted prices and figures it collects by hand from sources such as supermarket and taxi websites and government institutions. Manually collected data is entered twice a year and weighted more heavily, filters remove spam and outliers, and data older than 12 months is usually dropped (sooner in popular cities). Its Cost of Living Index is based on estimated spending for a family of four.

That means:

• Big cities are reliable-ish; small towns are thin. Few contributors means noisy numbers.
• Rent is the weak spot for newcomers. Listed rents are averages; a newcomer without a local credit history often pays more, and deposits are not shown.
• Your lifestyle is not the average. Adjust for whether you cook, how you commute and whether you share a flat.

How to use it well

1. Compare your current city with your target city, then change the line items to match how you actually live.
2. Cross-check rent on real listing sites in the target city, filtered for what you would accept.
3. Cross-check with official data: national statistics offices publish consumer prices, and visa rules publish salary thresholds (see the official pages below). Your offer must meet the visa threshold whatever Numbeo says.
4. Work in net pay, after tax and social contributions, not gross salary.
5. Add one-off costs: deposits, flights, visa fees and health surcharges.

Common mistakes

• Treating the "equivalent salary" figure as a fact. It is an estimate built on averages.
• Comparing gross salary abroad with take-home pay at home.
• Trusting anyone who sells a "relocation package" with a job attached. Never pay for a job or a visa.

Where to go next on Sefism

• Plan the move step by step with the Tech jobs abroad roadmap and keep its cheat sheet open while you apply.
• Check visa salary thresholds for Germany, the UK and Ireland.
• Read How to get a software job abroad from Pakistan.