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Cost of living comparison: the salary you need in another city

Enter what you earn in one city. The calculator finds the gross salary that leaves you the same money in another city after income tax, employee contributions, rent and everyday bills.

Pre-filled with the Germany national median gross salary (2024).
Not offered: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Romania, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (the OECD tax model does not cover them); Lithuania (fewer than two of their cities publish a rent).

You earn €4,013 a month before tax in Berlin. To keep the same money after tax, rent and everyday bills in Amsterdam, you need €5,010 a month before tax.

Each monthBerlinAmsterdamDifference, EUR
Gross salary€4,013€5,010+€997
Take-home pay€2,609€3,758+€1,149
Rent− €1,02060 m², advertised, per m²− €2,23660 m², advertised, per m²+€1,216
Public transport pass− €113− €129+€16
Utilities, 85 m²− €355− €272−€83
Internet− €44− €42−€2
Mobile plan− €17− €20+€3
Left each month€1,060€1,060€0

Both cities use the euro.

How it is worked out, and the sources

Take-home pay in each city comes from its country's tax model for a single person without children, so it is the same in every city of a country. Rent is the city's own figure: per m² times the flat size, or the rent of a whole dwelling where the city publishes only that; bills are the public transport pass, utilities, internet and a mobile plan, and a bill already included in the rent is not counted twice. What is left in the first city is the take-home pay minus these costs. The calculator then searches the second country's tax model for the gross salary that leaves the same amount there, within the range the model publishes (50% to 250% of the average wage).

Take-home pay: Taxing Wages — decomposition of taxes and benefits. Exchange rates: ECB euro reference rates, monthly average. Rent and bills: every line's source and date is on the city's page — Berlin, Amsterdam. Methodology.