Salary needed to live in a city
Pick a city and a flat size, and add what you spend on everything else. The calculator finds the gross salary whose take-home pay covers the city's rent and bills and that spending, after income tax and employee contributions.
To pay rent for a 60 m² flat and the everyday bills in Berlin, plus €1,500 of other spending, you need €4,852 a month before tax (€58,224 a year), for a household of single, no children.
| Each month | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | €4,852 |
| Income tax and employee contributionsOECD tax model, after cash benefits | − €1,803 |
| Take-home pay | €3,049 |
| Rent60 m², advertised, per m² | − €1,020 |
| Public transport pass | − €113 |
| Utilities, 85 m² | − €355 |
| Internet | − €44 |
| Mobile plan | − €17 |
| Other spendingwhat you entered | − €1,500 |
| Left over | €0 |
How it is worked out, and the sources
Rent is the city's own published figure — per m² times the flat size, or the rent of a whole dwelling where the city publishes only that — and the bills are the public transport pass, utilities, internet and a mobile plan, as on the city's page. The calculator then searches the country's tax model for the gross salary whose take-home pay equals rent, bills and your other spending, within the range the model publishes (50% to 250% of the average wage). Take-home pay: Taxing Wages — decomposition of taxes and benefits. Every rent and bill line has its source and date on the city's page: Berlin. Methodology.