What salary would you need in the new city?
Enter your take-home pay where you live now, pick a city to compare against, abroad included, and see the monthly salary you would need there to keep the same life. Every figure comes straight from our city guides, sourced and checked city by city. See the full China cost-of-living overview these figures build →
These are all the cities we have sourced so far. Pick any two.
How the break-even is built
How the break-even is built
Your costs here leave your pay; the new city's costs are added back. That gap is the break-even.
- All-in month for one person: rent, food, transport and utilities. We price every city twice, outside the centre and in it, and the tool uses the midpoint of the two.
- Your surplus: your take-home now, minus what it costs to live where you are now. This is the part that spends the same anywhere.
Add them and you have the break-even: the monthly take-home you need in the new city to be neither better nor worse off. Anything above it is real money. Anything below it is a pay cut.
In a handful of cities here, the median local take-home is below what we price as an all-in month. Honolulu runs about $575 short, Miami about $550, Victoria about $495, Shenzhen about $210. A city-wide median wage and this basket of costs measure different things, and where they cross, the break-even can fall to almost nothing.
Five real moves, priced out
What the break-even lands on
Every row starts from the median take-home in the first city, so these are what a typical local earner would face. Put your own number into the tool and the gaps usually widen.
| Route | All-in, home → there | Break-even | Naïve multiplier | Median pay there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chengdu → Austin | $735 → $3,196 | $3,511 | $4,566 | $4,982 |
| San Francisco → Chengdu | $5,050 → $735 | $2,585 | $1,004 | $1,050 |
| Shanghai → Hangzhou | $1,331 → $965 | $1,025 | $1,009 | $1,291 |
| Xi'an → Rome | $681 → $2,570 | $2,978 | $4,110 | $2,166 |
| Victoria → Qingdao | $2,755 → $753 | $258 | $618 | $1,000 |
The default pair, and a 30% gap
A Chengdu median of $1,050 against $735 of costs leaves $315 of slack. Austin costs $3,196, so the break-even is $3,511. Multiply by the cost ratio instead and you get $4,566, which is $1,055 a month too much. Austin's median take-home is $4,982, so an ordinary local job clears the bar with room to spare. See the full Chengdu vs Austin comparison and the Chengdu guide.
Where the multiplier flatters you most
On a San Francisco median of $6,900 against $5,050 of costs you have $1,850 of slack, and Chengdu costs $735, so the break-even is $2,585. The cost-ratio shortcut says $1,004, which is 61% too low and reads like you could live in Chengdu on about a seventh of a San Francisco salary. Chengdu's median take-home is $1,050; the break-even is roughly two and a half times it.
175 kilometres, and a quarter less income needed
Shanghai's median take-home ($1,391) clears Shanghai's $1,331 all-in month by $60, so a median Shanghainese has almost no slack to carry. Moving to Hangzhou puts the break-even at $1,025, about $266 below Hangzhou's own median of $1,291. Here the naïve multiplier says $1,009 and lands within $20 of the real answer: when two cities sit this close in cost, the shortcut works. The same life needs 23% less income 175 kilometres down the track. Compare Shanghai and Hangzhou.
When the naïve multiplier over-charges by 38%
A Xi'an median of $1,089 against $681 of costs leaves $408. Rome costs $2,570, so the break-even is $2,978. Times the cost ratio it would be $4,110, which is $1,132 a month more than you need. Rome's median take-home of $2,166 sits below the break-even, so a local salary there does not cover the move on its own. See Xi'an and the Xi'an vs Rome breakdown.
The mover who gains most isn't the high earner
A Victoria median of $2,260 sits $495 below what Victoria costs, so there is almost no slack to carry. Qingdao costs $753, and the break-even collapses to $258, about a quarter of Qingdao's own median take-home of $1,000. The people who gain most from moving somewhere cheap are the ones already spending nearly everything where they are. Qingdao · Qingdao vs Victoria.
City figures use each place's median take-home and all-in cost from our methodology; exchange rates are fixed at ¥7.2, €0.877 and C$1.37 per $1.
When not to trust this number
What the break-even leaves out
- It prices one person. A partner, a child, or a school fee changes the answer entirely. International school fees in Shanghai and Beijing can exceed a full year of the median local take-home.
- The median is city-wide, not by profession. A teacher, an engineer and a hotel manager in the same city live on different numbers.
- Tax, pension, insurance and equity are not modelled. Two offers with identical take-home can leave you with different money. For a foreign employee in China, estimate the income tax on your own package with our expat income tax calculator.
- It is a floor for pay, not total compensation. One-time moving costs, visas, bonuses, and the commute and healthcare differences that decide whether a city is liveable for you are all outside it, and the FAQ below lists them.
Conversion is fixed at ¥7.2 = $1. For overseas cities we use €0.877 and C$1.37 per $1. Treat the local figure as a planning anchor, not a bank quote.
Is this a COLA calculator? Not quite, and the difference matters
If you arrived looking for a cost-of-living adjustment calculator, this is close but not the same. A COLA adjusts a salary across time, for inflation, so a dollar next year buys what a dollar buys now. This tool adjusts a salary across space, for the rent and routine costs of a different city. For a move, location matters more than timing: the gap between Chengdu and San Francisco comes from two entirely different price levels. Use a COLA when your employer reviews pay annually; use this when you are the one crossing the border.
Using the break-even in a salary negotiation
Treat the break-even as your walk-away floor. Negotiate up from it. If the role brings faster promotion, equity, or skills you cannot get where you are, weigh that above pure cost parity. Only accept below break-even if you value the move for reasons the math cannot price: a partner's career, family nearby, a language you want to learn. Walk into the conversation with the number from the tool, then weigh what the offer does not cover.
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Questions people actually ask
Quick answers
What does 'equivalent salary' mean?
It is the monthly take-home you would need in the new city to keep the same money left over after costs as you have now. We pull your current city's all-in cost out of your pay, then add the new city's all-in cost back. It reuses your own surplus, carried city to city, instead of a generic cost ranking.
Why isn't it just my salary times the cost ratio?
Multiplying your pay by the cost-of-living ratio scales your whole income, savings and all. That lowballs what you need, because it assumes your savings should shrink too in the pricier city. The break-even here holds your leftover steady, which is what 'same standard of living' means.
Can I compare two cities outside China?
Yes. Unlike the move calculator, this one handles any pair: China to China, China to a city abroad, or two cities abroad like Austin versus Seattle. Pick any two from the cards.
What if a city has no typical wage?
A few cities have solid cost data but no verifiable individual take-home. You can still use the tool. Just enter your own current pay. The equivalent number comes from costs either way. We only skip the 'typical local pay' comparison for that city.
Where do the numbers come from?
Every figure comes from this site's city guides, which we build from public data (Wise, Numbeo, Livingcost.org, government statistics, local news) and cross-check against each other on each city page. The calculator does no estimating of its own. It lines up numbers already verified there. If a figure cannot be traced to a named source, we do not show it. The full method is on our methodology page.
How should I use this number when negotiating?
Treat the break-even as your walk-away floor. Negotiate up from it. If the role brings faster promotion, equity, or skills you cannot get where you are, weigh that above pure cost parity. Only accept below break-even if you value the move for reasons the math cannot price.
What does break-even leave out?
Rent and everyday cost only. It leaves out income tax, bonuses and equity, one-time moving costs, visas and paperwork, and quality-of-life factors like commute and healthcare. Add a buffer for those. The number is a cost-of-living floor for pay, not total compensation.
Is this a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) calculator?
No. A COLA adjusts pay across time, for inflation. This tool adjusts across space, for the rent and routine costs of a different city. For a move, location matters more than timing, so this is the number to use when you are the one relocating.