How to Compare Cost of Living Between Two Cities

Last updated: 11 October 2026

When you are deciding between two cities, a single “cost of living score” rarely tells you what you need. You want to know three things: how much a home will cost, how expensive everything else is, and how that compares with what people there earn. This guide shows a simple, honest way to compare two cities, using real figures from our city profiles.

Step 1: Compare rent on the same basis

Rent is usually the biggest single cost of moving. The most common mistake is comparing two rent figures that measure different things. One source may give the average rent of all homes (including large family houses), another may give the rent of a small flat in the city centre, and a third may be asking prices from a listings site.

Before comparing, check three things for each figure:

What kind of home? A 1-bedroom flat, any flat, or all homes?
Where? The whole city, the region, or selected central neighbourhoods?
When and in which currency? A 2023 figure and a 2025 figure are not directly comparable in a period of rising rents.

On Placeivo the main rent figure for every city is the Eurostat average rent for a good-quality 1-bedroom flat, collected the same way in every city. For example, a 1-bedroom flat costs €1,250 a month in both Prague and Vienna on this measure, while Stockholm is €2,100. These are rents for well-located flats, so cheaper options usually exist, but they are measured on the same basis, which is what matters for a comparison.

Step 2: Compare overall prices, not just rent

Two cities can have the same rent and still be very different to live in. Food, transport, eating out and services can cost far more in one than the other.

The best official measure we have for this is Eurostat’s price level index, which sets Brussels at 100. It covers a full basket of goods and services, including housing, for a professional household. To compare two cities, divide one index by the other:

Price difference = (index of city A ÷ index of city B − 1) × 100

Prague scores 91.2 and Vienna 106.7, so overall prices in Vienna are about 17% higher (106.7 ÷ 91.2 = 1.17), even though the 1-bedroom rent is the same. Dublin (130.7) is about 41% more expensive than Lisbon (92.4).

You can use the same ratio to estimate how much more you would need to earn to keep a similar standard of living. If you would spend €3,000 a month in Prague, a similar lifestyle in Vienna would cost roughly €3,000 × 106.7 ÷ 91.2 ≈ €3,510. Treat this as a rough guide: your own spending pattern may differ from the basket the index uses.

Step 3: Look at what local people earn

A city can look cheap to someone arriving with a foreign salary and still be hard for local earners. Local incomes also tell you roughly what you can expect to earn if you work there.

We show household disposable income per person for the region around each city. This is income after taxes and social contributions, averaged over everyone who lives there, including children and retired people. It is therefore lower than a typical full-time salary, but it is measured the same way across the EU, so it works well for comparing places.

For example, disposable income per person is about €28,200 a year around Vienna and €21,000 around Prague. Note the year next to each figure: official income data is usually one or two years behind rent and price data.

Step 4: Put rent and income together (rent burden)

Rent burden combines the two: one year of rent divided by annual income per person. It shows how heavy housing is relative to local incomes.

Rent burden = (monthly rent × 12) ÷ annual disposable income per person × 100

Some real examples from our data:

Helsinki: €1,150 × 12 ÷ €28,900 = about 48%, one of the lowest among the cities we cover, even though overall prices there are above Brussels.
Vienna: about 53%.
Lisbon: €1,400 × 12 ÷ €18,600 = about 90%. Rents are high compared with local incomes.

Rent burden does not mean residents spend that share of their income on rent: many share a home, have two incomes or rent cheaper homes. It is a comparison tool. A higher number means rent puts more pressure on local budgets, which usually also means more competition for flats and more difficulty for newcomers on local salaries.

Step 5: Apply your own situation

City averages are a starting point. Adjust them for your situation:

Your income. If you will earn a local salary, compare rent with local incomes. If you will keep a foreign or remote salary, rent and prices matter more than local incomes.
Your household. A couple sharing a 1-bedroom flat halves the rent per person. A family needs a larger home, so look at 2- or 3-bedroom rents.
Neighbourhood. Rents within one city can vary widely between central and outer districts, so a city average is only a guide to what you will pay.
Taxes and contributions. The same gross salary can give very different take-home pay in different countries.
Visa rules. Some countries set a minimum income for residence permits. Check the official requirement for your passport.

Common mistakes to avoid

Mixing sources. Comparing a listings-site rent in one city with an official average in another.
Ignoring the date. Comparing a 2021 figure with a 2025 figure.
Ignoring currency. Comparing pounds with euros without converting at a current rate.
Trusting a single score. An overall “liveability” score hides the trade-offs you care about, such as lower rent but lower wages.
Treating national data as city data. Country averages for safety, health or internet use say little about one city.

Try it

Our comparison pages put these measures side by side with sources and dates, for example Prague vs Vienna, Lisbon vs Madrid, London vs Paris and Copenhagen vs Stockholm. For pay after tax, see average salary after tax in Europe; for how people rate their own city, see European capitals ranked by their residents. For how each figure is collected, see our methodology.

This guide is general information based on official statistics. It is not financial, tax or immigration advice.