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Comment followup: Numbeo is another (better) cost of living calculator
Cost of living calculations are really tricky. They require a ton of data, and the data keeps shifting and changing. So, when you're trying to figure out the relative difference in cost of living between two places, it's best to have more than one source.
Some time ago, I wrote about Expatistan, and commenter Jack recommended Numbeo in reply. He says that it "seems to be a bit better," and I tend to agree.
Both sites suffer from a pretty abysmal UI and visual design, but Numbeo's data feels a bit more solid. One key thing that's missing is the use of dates. For example, the site claims that a meal at a cheap restaurant in Toronto goes for 9.39 USD. When was this data point added to the site? These things tend to change; if it's a year old, it's probably a lot less reliable than if it's a month old.
That said, the site can give you a general sense of what it costs to live somewhere and what the median pay is there.
Thanks for the tip, Jack! If anyone knows of a better, more reliable tool, please share in the comments!
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsMattAug 10th 2010 4:13PM
If you want to know your transportation costs, you can try abogo.cnt.org.
Mladen AdamovicAug 10th 2010 6:05PM
I'm the owner of Numbeo.com. First, thank you for your review. At the bottom of each page there is a last update (of data). I understand that you might want to see for each particular stuff when data are updated. I'm thinking to automatically discard data which are more than 2 years old so that data are always stable. Will see how it develops.
Personal ISAAug 14th 2010 12:54AM
cost of living calculations are really tricky. They require a ton of data, and the data keeps shifting and changing. So, when you're trying to figure out the relative difference in cost of living between two places, it's best to have more than one source.
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Finance Software
Personal ISAAug 14th 2010 12:56AM
cost of living calculations are really tricky. They require a ton of data, and the data keeps shifting and changing. So, when you're trying to figure out the relative difference in cost of living between two places, it's best to have more than one source.
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Finance Software