About MyLifeElsewhere
Helping millions of people make informed decisions about where to live, work, and travel since 2012.
Our Mission
Have you ever wondered how your life would be different if you lived in another country? MyLifeElsewhere was created to help answer that question.
We bring together figures from official statistics agencies and more than a million price reports to show the real differences between places around the world, from cost of living to quality of life.
- Countries and territories with official statistics
- 250+
- Cities with local prices
- 3,500+
- Price reports behind our cost of living data
- 1.2M+
- Official statistics for countries and US states
- 24,000+
Where our data comes from
Our statistics come straight from official publishers, and every comparison page lists its sources.
International organizations
US government and nonprofits
Prices, maps and travel
- Price reports from our visitors
- Open Exchange Rates
- © OpenStreetMap contributors
- Natural Earth
- Wikidata
- Henley Passport Index
And many more, including national statistics offices, tax authorities and city governments around the world.
How we calculate our comparisons
Quality of life
We always use the most recent figure available and show which year it's from.
Two places are only compared on a statistic when both values have the same units, were measured within four years of each other and differ by at least 10%. "50% more likely" compares the two values directly; once one value is more than double the other, we say "2.5 times".
Compare quality of lifeCost of living
Prices are crowd-sourced: more than 1.2 million reports submitted on this site by people who live in or visit each city. Every report goes through statistical outlier detection before it counts, and we only publish a city's prices once more than five people have contributed.
Each price is the average of the reports for 34 everyday items in 7 categories. To compare two places, we take the price ratio of every item priced in both, average the ratios within each category, then weight the categories by a typical household budget.
Indices score the United States, California and New York City at 100 for countries, states and cities. Salary equivalents apply the overall ratio to your income; taxes, savings and exchange fees are not included.
A place is only ranked when its prices cover most spending categories and enough individual reports; a city with too few reports is left out of the rankings rather than estimated.
Prices are shown in your currency at current exchange rates (updated November 2026).
Compare cost of livingSize and maps
Areas and populations come from official sources including the US Census Bureau and the World Bank, with Wikidata and OpenStreetMap for cities, parks and landmarks.
Our true size maps move each outline without the Mercator stretch, so places far from the equator appear at their real size next to each other.
Try a size comparisonMoving and rankings
Moving pages bring together cost of living, quality-of-life statistics, 30-year climate averages, visa requirements and migration data for the two places, each credited to its publisher.
Rankings use the same data as our comparisons. "Best country for" rankings score each measure from 0 to 100 across countries, combine the scores, and only include countries with data for every measure.
See all rankingsFor businesses and researchers
Use our data in your product
The data behind MyLifeElsewhere is available through an API or as a licensed dataset, for relocation and global mobility, compensation planning, travel apps, media and research.
Ask about API accessCost of living
Prices and indices for 3,500+ cities, plus countries and US states
Salary equivalents
What an income is worth in another city
Quality of life
Health, safety, economy and education for 250+ countries and US states
Size and geography
Areas, populations and outlines for countries, states and cities
Frequently asked questions
Questions, feedback or a dataset you'd like us to add? Contact us.
How often is the data updated?
We refresh our data frequently, as publishers release new figures, and each comparison page shows the years its figures describe.
I spotted an error. How do I report it?
Tell us which page and which number through our contact form. We check every report against the original publisher and fix the data when we're wrong.
Can I add prices for my city?
Yes. Add what things cost where you live from any cost of living page using "Add prices". Every report makes the comparisons more accurate for everyone.
What is the Mercator projection?
MyLifeElsewhere uses the Mercator projection to display maps, which is the most widespread projection used in cartography. This means that areas may appear distorted, especially near the poles. This distortion is because Mercator is a cylindrical projection that maps the curved surface of the Earth onto a flat surface, resulting in stretching and compression of certain areas. Specifically, it distorts the size and shape of land masses as they get farther from the equator, leading to an exaggeration of land areas near the poles. Learn more about the Mercator projection here.
Why is a figure several years old?
Official statistics take time to collect: many countries report a year or more after the fact, and some report only every few years. We always show the newest figure available with its year, and we don't compare two figures measured more than four years apart.
Why do your numbers differ from another site's?
Usually because of the year, the definition or the publisher. GDP per capita, for example, can be nominal or adjusted for purchasing power (we show nominal US dollars), and a city's area depends on where its boundary is drawn. Each page lists the sources and years behind its numbers so you can compare like with like.