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Expatistan helps you make quick cost of living comparisons
Expatistan is a simple website that lets you pit two cities (only two at a time) against each other and compare the relative cost of living in each.
Using the site, I was able to discover that the cost of living in NYC is 67 percent higher than the cost of living in Tel Aviv. Now, I've been to New York, and I beg to differ. The cost of living may be more expensive, but I'm really not convinced that it's 67 percent greater. The site does provide a disclaimer about the comparison, however: "This comparison has some inconsistent or sparse data. It already provides a reliable comparison but it is not bullet-proof. "
The site seems to get its data from users. When I tried to check a random city, it did recognize the city, but it had too little data about it. So, it asked me to feed some sample prices, and I was presented with a form that made clear what the most important metrics were.
According to the "How does it work" page, the site uses Prague as a "reference city," and it orients all other prices around it. You don't feel it when you're using the site (you are simply comparing two cities), but that's how the algorithm works.
I thought that Wolfram Alpha might provide me with some more reliable data, but when trying to compare Tel Aviv to New York City, I got no financial data whatsoever. If you know of a more reliable way to compare the cost of living between two cities, please do share in the comments.
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentskaslingsAug 6th 2010 4:50PM
neat idea, completely worthless for me.
Doesn't have my current city listed, and the next closest was 400 miles away, and had limited data on (most of the costs were ---)
annoyingposter3Aug 6th 2010 4:58PM
horrible website, unfinished, unpolished, and features literally only 10 cities in the entire US.
AppleZillaAug 6th 2010 9:34PM
Inaccurate. The site claims that heathcare is 140% higher in Paris than in Atlanta. France has universal healthcare.
JackAug 6th 2010 11:59PM
Numbeo.com seems to be bit better. It says that New York is 17% more expensive. It relies on user submitted data and allows you to submit any city. It even has my little village in the Northern Mariana Islands listed.