Purchasing power parity calculator for two cities
Updated July 2026 · computed by the same engine that runs the interactive calculator
Purchasing power parity (PPP) compares what money is actually worth in two places by asking what it can buy, rather than what an exchange rate says it converts to. A purchasing power parity calculator applies that idea to a salary: it tells you how much you would need in one city to keep the same standard of living as a given amount in another. cityparity does this in net cash. It prices income tax, childcare after subsidy, healthcare, and the rest of the safety net alongside rent and daily costs, then solves for the salary in city B that leaves the same money in your pocket as city A. So when it says $150,000 in Seattle is worth NOK 1,439,902 in Oslo, that Oslo figure is the salary with matching purchasing power once both countries have taxed you and paid back their benefits.
Want the parity figure for your own cities? The calculator runs any pair.
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What purchasing power parity really measures
An exchange rate tells you what one currency swaps for on a given day. Purchasing power parity tells you what it is worth once you spend it where you live. Those two numbers can be far apart, because a dollar, a euro, and a krone each buy a different amount of rent, daycare, and healthcare depending on the country charging for them. Economists have measured this for decades: the OECD and the World Bank publish PPP conversion rates through the International Comparison Program, and The Economist has run its Big Mac Index since 1986 as a lighter version of the same idea.
Those indices compare prices. A salary is a harder question, because the number that reaches your account has already been through the tax code, and the life it has to cover has already been discounted by whatever the state pays for. A country that taxes 45% but hands back free childcare and universal healthcare leaves a family in a very different place than a headline rate suggests. That gap is the part a price basket cannot see, and it is the part cityparity is built to price.
What $150,000 is worth in five cities
Each figure below is the salary in the second city that leaves the same annual net cash as $150,000 in the first, for a single professional renting a two-bedroom home. They come from cityparity's engine (2026), which uses each country's real tax brackets and city-median costs. The last column converts the parity salary back to dollars at the market rate, so you can see how far parity sits from a plain currency swap.
| Move | Salary at home | Equivalent salary (same net cash) | Same figure in USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle → Oslo | $150,000 | NOK 1,439,902 | ~$149,213 |
| San Francisco → Amsterdam | $150,000 | €121,662 | ~$139,042 |
| New York City → London | $150,000 | £96,291 | ~$129,424 |
| San Francisco → Berlin | $150,000 | €107,646 | ~$123,024 |
| New York City → Singapore | $150,000 | SGD 162,899 | ~$126,279 |
The USD column lands below $150,000 in every row here, because each of these cities lets a household keep the same net cash on a smaller gross once its own taxes, benefits, and living costs are counted. That is the whole point of parity: converting $150,000 at the day's exchange rate would overstate what you need in most of these cities, because it skips the taxes and benefits that decide how far the salary actually goes.
Take Seattle to Oslo, the pair the tool was first built on. $150,000 in Seattle leaves about $52,549 in net cash after taxes and living costs. The Oslo salary that lands in the same place is NOK 1,439,902, worth roughly $149,213 at today's rate. Oslo taxes it harder, 32.1% against Seattle's 22.7%. But rent runs about 26% lower, healthcare is universal and replaces the $4,490 a year a Seattle household spends on premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and the job carries 10 more statutory vacation days. Those offsets are why a higher-tax city still clears parity at roughly the same salary.
New York to Singapore runs the other way. The parity salary is SGD 162,899, and Singapore taxes it at about 19.6% against New York's 30.5%, so a smaller gross clears the same net cash. Every pair has its own mix of tax, rent, and benefits, which is why the parity figure is worth solving for your exact salary and household instead of reading off an index.
How to calculate purchasing power parity between two cities
- Pick your two cities and enter your salary. The city you earn in now, the city you are comparing against, and your gross salary in your home currency.
- Add the household facts that move purchasing power. Kids' ages, your partner's income if they will work, rent or own. Childcare after subsidy and the second earner's tax treatment swing real purchasing power far more than sticker prices do.
- Let the calculator price both sides. It applies each country's real tax and payroll rules, subtracts city-median living costs, subtracts childcare net of government allowances, and adds child benefit and other cash support.
- Read the parity figure. The salary in the second city that leaves the same net cash as your salary at home. That is the purchasing power parity for your own situation.
cityparity's parity figure next to a price-basket PPP
A price-basket index and cityparity answer two different questions. One measures how far your money goes at the shops; the other measures what a salary is worth once a household has been taxed and the state has paid for what it covers. Here is how they line up.
| Classic price-basket PPP | cityparity net-cash parity | |
|---|---|---|
| What it compares | Price of a fixed basket of goods and services | The salary that leaves the same net cash after taxes and costs |
| What it counts | Retail prices, rent, groceries | Prices plus income tax, payroll, childcare after subsidy, healthcare, child benefit |
| What you get back | A conversion rate or index number | A salary in the target city's own currency |
| Best for | Comparing general price levels between countries | Sizing a specific salary or job offer for a move |
| Example sources | OECD and World Bank ICP; Economist Big Mac Index; Numbeo | cityparity engine, per-city official sources, 2026 |
For a family, the added lines are where the answer often turns over. US childcare runs about $1,200 a month per kid where Germany caps it at a fraction. A US family can spend more than $20,000 a year on healthcare where most of Europe sits near zero. Those numbers never touch a price basket, and they are large enough to flip a whole move. The methodology page walks through exactly how each line is solved.
Related reading
Common questions
What is a purchasing power parity calculator?
It tells you how much you would need in one city to afford the same standard of living as a given amount in another, based on what the money can buy. cityparity runs the comparison in net cash: it prices income tax, childcare after subsidy, healthcare, and the safety net alongside rent, then solves for the salary in the second city that leaves you the same money.
How do you calculate purchasing power parity between two cities?
Enter both cities, your salary, and your household facts. The calculator applies each country's real tax rules, subtracts city-median living costs and childcare net of subsidy, adds child benefit, then searches for the salary in the second city whose net cash matches your net cash at home. That matched salary is the parity figure.
How is this different from the Big Mac Index or a price-basket PPP?
A price basket compares the cost of a fixed set of goods. The Economist's Big Mac Index (1986) uses one burger; the OECD and World Bank publish broader PPP rates; Numbeo builds an index from crowd-sourced prices. cityparity keeps the price side and adds income tax, payroll, childcare after subsidy, healthcare, and cash benefits, so it answers a salary question.
What is $150,000 in Seattle worth in other cities?
At the default single-earner scenario, about NOK 1,439,902 in Oslo. At the same salary from other US metros: San Francisco to Amsterdam is about €121,662, New York to London about £96,291, San Francisco to Berlin about €107,646, and New York to Singapore about SGD 162,899. Each holds the same net cash after taxes and local costs.
Does it include taxes and childcare?
Yes. Income tax uses each country's real progressive brackets plus payroll contributions. Childcare uses city daycare costs minus per-child government allowances. Healthcare separates universal-coverage systems from US-style premium-plus-deductible plans. Those three lines usually move the parity figure the most.
Figures come from cityparity's per-city engine, computed from official sources with a per-value audit trail; currency conversions use rates that drift daily. Treat any single number as a strong estimate and run your own inputs. See the methodology.