Terms of Use

The short version: this is a free tool that gives estimates. It is not financial advice, immigration advice, tax advice, or anything you should bet a major life decision on without other research. Use the numbers as a starting point, not a final answer.

Updated 2026-08-20: these terms now cover the optional Decision Pack before checkout opens. Everything that is free today stays free.

What this tool does

cityparity calculates approximate cost-of-living and quality-of-life comparisons between two cities, based on static data we research and update annually. Each numeric input cites a public source, visible per-row in the tool.

What it isn't

It is not a tax advisor. It is not a relocation consultant. It is not a real-time market data product. Tax brackets, median rents, childcare costs, and exchange rates change between updates. We round, simplify, and use averages. Your specific situation will differ, sometimes meaningfully.

Accuracy and updates

We aim for annual data refreshes. Some line items lag because their source data lags. US BLS employee benefits surveys publish annually; OECD tax data is sometimes a year behind. The data badge on the calculator shows the year range of the data backing your current comparison. If you see a date more than a year old, treat the result as directional.

Liability

We provide this as-is, without warranty of any kind. If you make a financial decision based on what the tool shows and it turns out the data was stale, the math had a bug, or your situation didn't match our assumptions, that's not on us. Validate with a tax professional, relocation specialist, or immigration attorney before signing anything that has real consequences.

What stays free

The calculator and every feature on the site today are free. There are no accounts: nothing here requires a signup, and a comparison saves into its own URL, so bookmarking the link is the save file. If we ever add optional paid extras, everything that is free today stays free. An account or a payment will never become the price of a feature you already have.

How we make money

Some outbound links to services we list (moving quotes, money transfer, health insurance) can be affiliate links: if you click one and sign up, the partner pays us a commission. The price you pay is unchanged, affiliate links are marked as such, and placement in our lists is never sold. The full policy is on the disclosure page.

The Decision Pack is an optional paid extra planned alongside the calculator. It does not move any existing calculator feature behind a payment. We don't sell your data. The privacy page explains what happens to purchase and delivery data.

Decision Pack purchase terms

A Decision Pack costs $49 for one destination or $79 for up to three destinations from the same home city. Each is a one-time purchase. Checkout uses Stripe Managed Payments, and Link is the merchant of record. Link issues the payment receipt, and the card statement reads LINK.COM* CITYPARITY.

This is digital content with immediate delivery. As soon as payment completes, we generate the report link and send it by email. By asking for delivery right away, buyers in places with a statutory withdrawal period accept that immediate delivery can end that withdrawal right. This does not reduce any rights that cannot legally be waived.

The report link works for three years from the purchase date. You may reopen it and edit the report during that period. Its numbers are rendered from the data available when you open it, so a source correction can change the report later.

Our refund promise is unconditional. Email support@cityparity.com from the payment address and we refund the whole purchase. There is no deadline, no form, and no questions. We do not issue partial refunds. A refund does not end access to the report, and your statutory rights stay intact.

If you lose the report link, email us from the payment address and include a fresh calculator share link. We do not retain the original scenario inputs after delivery. Once we verify the purchase, we help you replace the pack at no charge through a fresh checkout. If restoration is unavailable, the whole-purchase refund applies.

Changes

These terms might change as the project evolves. The date below is the version currently in force. Material changes will be called out at the top of this page for a while after they take effect.

Last updated: 2026-08-20