How to Use the Cost of Living / City Move Calculator

The free Cost of Living / City Move Calculator helps you compare the everyday housing and travel costs of two locations before you relocate. Enter rent, council tax, commute, utilities and take-home pay for your current city and your destination to see the monthly gap, leftover income, an interactive cost chart, a year-by-year breakdown and how long a cheaper city takes to repay your moving costs.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Set the shared assumptions

These apply to both cities:

Currency: Defaults to GBP for UK moves; other currencies are available if you are modelling an overseas relocation with your own figures.
Comparison horizon: How many years of rent, tax, commute and bills to total (default 5).
Rent inflation: Optional annual increase applied to rent only in the multi-year view.
Commute pattern: Days per week and working weeks per year (46 weeks leaves room for holiday).
Council tax band: Used when a city preset supplies a Band D starting figure. Change the annual bill directly if you already know it.
Single-person discount: Applies the standard 25% discount to both cities.
One-off moving cost: Deposit top-up, van, agency or overlap rent. Used only for the payback estimate.

2. Enter each city — or start from a UK preset

Starting figures: Choose a UK city to load illustrative rent, council tax / rates, commute and bills. Then overwrite any field with your actual quote.
Custom: Select “Custom — type your own figures” and fill every box yourself.
Monthly take-home pay: Net pay after tax and National Insurance in each city. The leftover figure is take-home minus the costs modelled here.
Commute mode: Monthly pass, pay-as-you-go, car, mixed, or walk / cycle / WFH. Car mode uses round-trip miles, MPG, fuel price, parking and congestion / ULEZ.
Saved inputs: values are stored in this browser and restored on your next visit. Use Clear saved inputs to return to defaults, or Swap cities to reverse the comparison.

3. Read the results

Results update as soon as you change an input. Year-1 monthly cost is:

Rent + (Council tax ÷ 12) + Commute + Utilities + Internet

Monthly difference: Destination cost minus current cost. Negative means the new city is cheaper.
Leftover take-home: What remains after the costs in this calculator. It is not a full budget — groceries, childcare and leisure are excluded.
Annual and horizon gaps: The same comparison over 12 months and over your chosen number of years, with rent inflated each year.
Move payback: If the destination is cheaper, how many months of saving recoup the one-off moving cost. If it is dearer, the extra take-home you would need each month to break even.

4. Use the chart and tables

Chart: Cumulative cost in each city, including the one-off moving cost on the destination line at year 0.
Monthly breakdown: Rent, council tax, commute, utilities and internet side by side.
Year-by-year cost: Annual totals and the running gap after rent inflation.

Common Scenarios & Examples

Scenario: Leaving inner London for Manchester

Goal: See whether a lower rent and cheaper commute outweigh a similar council tax bill and the cost of moving.

Leave Currency on GBP.
Set horizon to 5 years and rent inflation to 3%.
Choose Inner London as the current city preset and Manchester as the destination.
Keep take-home the same in both cities if the job is remote, or lower the destination figure if the offer is smaller.
Add a one-off moving cost of £2,500.

Sample starting figures (illustrative):

Inner London: rent £2,200 · council tax £1,870/yr · travelcard £186 · bills £217
Manchester: rent £950 · council tax £1,750/yr · pass £80 · bills £188

Approximate year-1 result: destination about £1,380/month cheaper. A £2,500 move recoups in roughly 2 months if take-home is unchanged.

Scenario: Moving into a dearer city

Goal: Check whether a higher salary still leaves more money after rent, tax and the commute.

Set current city to Manchester and destination to Inner London (or use Swap cities).
Raise destination take-home to reflect the new offer.
Switch destination commute to Car if you would drive and pay ULEZ / parking.
Compare leftover take-home, not just the headline salary.

What to look at:

If leftover take-home falls even though gross pay rises, the move is more expensive in real terms. The payback box then shows the extra monthly net pay needed to break even on housing, tax, commute and bills.

Disclaimer & Limitations

Not Professional Advice: This calculator is an estimation and educational tool and does not constitute financial, tax or housing advice. Council tax, rents and fares change by local authority and by contract. Check your bill, tenancy and ticket prices before you commit to a move.

Assumptions: City presets are illustrative starting points, not live ONS, VOA or TfL feeds. Council tax uses a Band D seed and standard band ratios unless you type the actual annual bill. The 25% single-person discount is optional. Rent inflation applies to rent only; council tax, commute and bills stay flat in the multi-year view. Fuel uses UK gallons (4.546 litres). Take-home leftover subtracts only the costs on this page — not groceries, childcare, leisure or debt.

Estimation Purposes Only: Northern Ireland uses a domestic-rates style annual figure rather than council tax. Scottish and Welsh bands and reliefs can differ. Income tax and National Insurance are not modelled here; use a take-home pay calculator for net salary. Stamp duty, solicitor fees and van hire beyond the one-off box belong in the suite’s moving-cost / stamp-duty tools.

Bug Reports and Suggested Improvements

Please email all suggestions for improvements and any bug reports to: citymovecalc@personalfinances.me, thank you.

Cost of Living / City Move Calculator – Compare Before You Relocate

🏠 Your Move

Current cityNow

Destination cityNew

📊 Results

📅 Monthly breakdown

📈 Year-by-year cost