How this calculator estimates your budget
Each city has a set of researched price points: one-bedroom rent in and outside the center, three-bedroom rent, utilities, home internet, a monthly transit pass, a basket of groceries for one person, an inexpensive restaurant meal, a gym membership and a coworking desk. The calculator scales them to your household.
- Rent: a one-bedroom for one person, a two-bedroom for a couple (between our one- and three-bed figures) and a three-bedroom for a family, in or outside the center.
- Groceries and eating out scale with household size and your lifestyle choice: frugal assumes more cooking at home, premium more restaurants and better produce.
- Transport and gym are counted per adult; we assume children travel at reduced or free fares, which is common in Europe.
- Everything else — phone, clothes, leisure, household items — is added as a share of the total.
It doesn’t include health insurance, which many visas require (see our expat health insurance guide), international school fees, a car, or taxes on your income. For a fixed headline number per city, see the city comparison table or the cost of living in Europe guide.