Same life, lower number: the salary you'd actually need to move abroad
By Skyler Bissell · June 27, 2026 · 6 min read
$150,000 in New York is a good salary. Here's the part that trips people up: you'd match it in Berlin on about €88,000. Not because Berlin is cheap. Because the number on the offer and the money you keep are two different things, and the gap gets wider when you cross a border.
That gap is the whole game. So let's name the number that actually decides a move.
TL;DR
- An equivalent salary is the gross you'd need in another city to keep the same net cash you have now, after taxes and the costs that change when you move.
- It is not a currency conversion and it is not a cost-of-living index. Both ignore the things that move the answer: progressive taxes, childcare after subsidies, healthcare, and the cash value of time off.
- On our engine, $150,000 in New York comes out to about €88,000 in Berlin, €102,000 in Lisbon, or €117,000 in Amsterdam. Same life, three different numbers.
- A lower gross can leave you better off when the safety net pays for things you'd otherwise buy yourself. Run your own pair in the calculator to see where the line lands for you.
What "equivalent salary" actually means
An equivalent salary is the gross pay in City B that leaves you with the same net cash you have in City A, once you subtract real taxes and the cost lines that change when you move.
That last part is where every other tool quits. A currency conversion tells you $150,000 is roughly €138,000 today. Useless: it says nothing about what you keep. A cost-of-living index tells you groceries are 12% cheaper in Lisbon. Almost as useless: groceries are a rounding error next to taxes, rent, and daycare. The question you're actually asking is simpler and harder. What would I need to earn over there to live the way I live now?
That is one number, in money, and it's the headline on every comparison we run.
Why one salary maps to three different numbers
Take $150,000 in New York and solve for the same net cash in three European cities:
| Move | Equivalent salary | Why it lands there |
|---|---|---|
| New York → Berlin | ≈ €88,000 | High income tax, but cheap childcare, near-zero healthcare out-of-pocket, and lower rent. The safety net does the heavy lifting. |
| New York → Lisbon | ≈ €102,000 | Low cost base and a flat-tax expat regime for some, offset by weaker wages and pricier imports. |
| New York → Amsterdam | ≈ €117,000 | Strong services, but expensive housing and less family subsidy for a single filer push the number up. |
Same standard of living, three numbers about €30,000 apart. A currency converter would have given you one wrong answer for all three. The spread is the safety net talking.
Berlin reads as the bargain, and for a family it often is, but notice what's happening: Berlin's income tax is brutal. The number is low anyway because the things you'd pay for in New York (daycare, a real health plan, a chunk of rent) are smaller or gone. You're trading a fat gross for a thin one, and coming out even, because the costs came down faster than the pay did.
What the usual calculators get wrong
The classic cost-of-living index (Numbeo, Expatistan, the one your relocation packet links to) compares a basket of prices. Rent, a cappuccino, a transit pass. It is blind to four things that decide the actual answer:
- Real taxes. Progressive brackets plus payroll, computed on your number, not a national average rate.
- Childcare net of subsidy. US daycare for two kids can run $40,000+. Much of Europe knocks that down to a fraction. That single line can swing the equivalent salary by tens of thousands.
- Healthcare you actually pay. A US premium-plus-deductible-plus-out-of-pocket-max line versus a flat or near-zero one.
- The cash value of time. Five weeks of statutory vacation and months of paid parental leave are pay you'd otherwise buy back with unpaid days.
Leave those out and your "Oslo is 8% more expensive" verdict is just wrong. Put them in and the comparison often flips.
The method, in one paragraph
We take your City A gross, subtract the real income tax and the cost lines that move (housing, childcare net of subsidy, healthcare, transit, food, travel home), and land on your net cash. Then we solve for the City B gross whose net cash matches it, running B's own taxes and costs. That solved number is the equivalent salary. No price index, no purchasing-power hand-wave, just take-home matched on both sides. It's also why the answer changes the moment you add a kid or switch from renting to buying: the costs that move are different for your situation than for anyone else's.
One lever worth knowing: an expat tax regime can move this number a lot. If you'd qualify for something like the Dutch 30% ruling, your Amsterdam figure drops. We broke down which expat tax breaks are real and which are mirages if you want that piece.
FAQ
What is an equivalent salary?
The gross pay in another city that leaves you the same net cash you have now, after taxes and the living costs that change when you move. It's a take-home match, not a currency conversion or a price index.
Why is the Berlin number so much lower than the Amsterdam one?
Both are net-cash matches to the same New York salary, but the cost structures differ. Berlin has cheaper housing and stronger family subsidies, so you need less gross to net the same. Amsterdam's housing and lower single-filer support push its number up.
Isn't this just a cost-of-living adjustment?
No. A cost-of-living adjustment scales your salary by a price index. This solves for take-home after each country's actual taxes, childcare, and healthcare, the lines a price index can't see, and usually what decides the move.
Can a lower salary really leave me better off?
Often, yes. When the lower-paying city covers childcare, healthcare, and time off that you'd pay for yourself in the higher-paying one, a smaller gross can net the same or more. The only way to know your number is to run your own.
Run your salary and your family through the calculator →
Equivalent-salary figures come from cityparity's per-city engine and were current at publication; currency rates and tax rules move, so treat them as a strong estimate and run your own inputs. See the methodology.