How the numbers are made
Everything on HowMuchToLive comes from prices that visitors report, checked automatically and combined with a statistical model. This page explains each step, so you can judge how much to trust a number.
1. People report prices
Anyone can add a price without an account. You pick a city and the currency you paid in, and type what you paid. Before anything is saved, Cloudflare Turnstile runs an invisible check to stop bots. A hidden form field catches simple scripts too.
2. Each price is checked
- Impossible amounts are turned down. Every item has limits in US dollars that no city in the world goes outside (a cappuccino between $0.30 and $15, for example).
- Likely typos, such as a price that is almost exactly 10 or 100 times the city's typical price, are flagged while you type so you can fix them. If you keep them, they wait for confirmation.
- Wrong currency: if a number matches the typical price in US dollars but was entered in local currency (or the reverse), we ask.
- Distance from the city's typical price is measured with a robust spread (the median absolute deviation), so a few wild reports can't widen it. Reports more than about three spreads away wait until a different person on a different network reports something within 20%.
- Limits per person: each device and network can report the same item in the same city twice a month at most, and only so many prices a day. A sudden burst from one network is held for review.
3. How a typical price is calculated
For each item in each city we take reports from the last two years and give each one a weight:
- Age: a report loses half its weight every 180 days.
- Track record: devices whose reports keep being confirmed gain weight; ones that keep being turned down lose it.
- Location: reports sent from outside the country count a little less (travellers often see tourist prices).
- One voice each: the total weight from any single device, and from any single network, is capped at one report's worth.
The typical price is the weighted median. The ranges you see are the weighted 25th–75th and 10th–90th percentiles.
4. Filling the gaps
New cities and rarely reported items need a starting point. Every city starts with an estimate of its overall price level and rent. As people report prices, we re-estimate that level from every item they've reported, which in turn improves the estimate for items with few reports. Some prices follow the local price level closely (a restaurant meal), others barely move between countries (a pair of jeans), and the model accounts for that.
A price is marked Estimated until it has enough weight from recent reports (roughly eight people reporting this year) from at least three different people. Monthly totals say how much of them is estimated.
5. The monthly basket
Monthly costs add up typical prices times the quantities below. Grocery staples are scaled up to cover the rest of a normal shop. Childcare is included for the family of four (one child in private preschool). Couples rent a 2-bedroom flat, estimated halfway between 1- and 3-bedroom rents.
| Category | Single person | Couple | Family of four |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 1-bedroom flat | 2-bedroom flat (estimated) | 3-bedroom flat |
| Groceries | Staples below × 2.2 | Staples below × 4.07 | Staples below × 7.26 |
| Eating out | 8 × cheap meal, 0.5 × dinner for two, 3 × fast-food meal, 12 × cappuccino, 4 × draft beer, 4 × soft drink | 14 × cheap meal, 1.5 × dinner for two, 5 × fast-food meal, 22 × cappuccino, 7 × draft beer, 6 × soft drink | 16 × cheap meal, 1 × dinner for two, 8 × fast-food meal, 20 × cappuccino, 4 × draft beer, 12 × soft drink |
| Getting around | 1 × transit pass, 2 × taxi start, 10 × taxi per km | 2 × transit pass, 3 × taxi start, 15 × taxi per km | 2 × transit pass, 3 × taxi start, 15 × taxi per km |
| Bills | 0.65 × utilities, 1 × mobile plan, 1 × home internet | 0.85 × utilities, 2 × mobile plan, 1 × home internet | 1.15 × utilities, 2 × mobile plan, 1 × home internet |
| Going out | 1 × gym membership, 2 × cinema ticket | 2 × gym membership, 4 × cinema ticket | 2 × gym membership, 6 × cinema ticket |
| Clothes | 0.1 × jeans, 0.1 × summer dress, 0.12 × running shoes | 0.2 × jeans, 0.2 × summer dress, 0.24 × running shoes | 0.34 × jeans, 0.34 × summer dress, 0.4 × running shoes |
| Childcare | – | – | 1 × preschool |
Grocery staples per month for one person: 8 × milk, 5 × bread, 2 × rice, 2.5 × eggs, 0.6 × cheese, 2.5 × chicken, 1 × beef, 2.5 × apples, 2 × bananas, 2 × oranges, 2 × tomatoes, 3 × potatoes, 1.5 × onions, 3 × lettuce, 8 × bottled water.
6. Currencies
Prices are stored as entered, together with the exchange rate on the day. Comparisons use US dollars at the rate on the day each price was reported, then convert to the currency you're viewing at today's rate. Rates update daily. Rates By Exchange Rate API.
7. What we don't do
We don't buy or copy price data from other websites, and we don't show anyone's individual report. See the privacy notice for what we store.