Methodology & data sources
We build relocation decisions on public, authority-sourced data — not crowd-guessed prices. This page documents each source and, importantly, its resolution: whether a figure is specific to a place, a metro, or a whole state.
Resolution: place vs metro vs state
Not every number varies at the same geographic level. On our place (city/suburb) pages we tag every row:
- local — specific to that place, from Census ACS (income, home value, rent, property-tax rate, unemployment, growth, commute, school score).
- metro-area — measured at the metro (CBSA) level and inherited by its places (cost-of-living index, Zillow housing, air quality, climate, recreation).
- state — a statewide average applied to every place in the state (most taxes, insurance, utilities, healthcare/childcare, and — currently — crime).
We show this because false precision erodes trust. Where a figure is a state average, we say so rather than dressing it up as local.
Sources by dimension
| Dimension | Source | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living & grocery index | BEA Regional Price Parities | Metro |
| Home price, rent, inventory, days-on-market, appreciation | Zillow | Metro |
| Household income, earnings, home value, property tax, unemployment, population growth, commute | US Census ACS 5-year | Metro & place |
| School score (1–10) | NCES EDFacts district proficiency | Place (district) |
| Electricity price | US EIA | State |
| Natural gas, water/sewer, home internet | EIA + published rate surveys | State |
| Air quality (median AQI) | EPA AirData | Metro (CBSA) |
| Climate: degree-days, temps, precipitation, snow, sunshine, hardiness, frost | NOAA Climate Normals + USDA | Metro / place-city |
| Sales, income, capital-gains & vehicle property tax; tax burden | Tax Foundation + state DORs | State |
| Home, auto, flood & earthquake insurance; healthcare; childcare | Published state surveys | State |
| Crime (violent & property) | FBI UCR | State average (metro detail planned) |
| Recreation, grocery, park, golf, DMV & lake counts | Google Maps public listings | Metro |
Salary equivalence
The headline "you'd need about $X" figure scales your income by the ratio of the two metros' overall cost of living (BEA RPP-anchored). The category breakdown then estimates housing, groceries, transportation, utilities, insurance and taxes at your income. These are planning estimates, not a personalized financial projection.
Coverage & limitations
- 200 US metros and ~3,200 places (Census places ≥10,000 population inside those metros).
- Crime is currently a state average — every metro in a state shares a rate. Metro/agency-level crime is on our roadmap.
- Local income tax (e.g. NYC, Philadelphia, some Ohio cities) and fully progressive state brackets are simplified today; refinements are planned.
- Place home values are ACS owner-reported estimates, distinct from Zillow sale prices shown on metro pages.
We update the underlying datasets periodically; each record carries an "as of" date in its data.
International data (world pages)
Our world city pages and US-metro-vs-world-city comparisons follow the same sourcing philosophy: official government, regulator or agency data where it exists, and a portal-report source (e.g. Numbeo, Expatistan) only where no official figure is published. Every international figure is cited with its source and its as-of date directly on the page that uses it — we don't average or smooth across sources.
- Currency & conversion. Figures are stored in local currency as reported, then converted to USD at a dated European Central Bank reference rate. The conversion date is shown alongside each converted figure, since exchange-rate movement — not a data error — explains most of the swing you'd see if you checked back later.
- Freshness gate. Every international figure carries an "as of" date, and the build enforces an 18-month freshness ceiling: a figure older than that is treated as stale and blocked from publishing rather than silently shown out of date.
- Tax model. Take-home pay assumes a single filer with employment income (no dependents, no itemized deductions beyond the standard treatment). US-side tax stacks federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. Foreign-side tax applies the destination country's national income-tax brackets plus a flat social-contribution/payroll rate — a simplification of systems that are sometimes bracketed or capped differently. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), where shown, is a simplified estimate: it ignores bilateral tax treaties and the FEIE "stacking rule" that taxes remaining income at the bracket it would have occupied without the exclusion. For Canada specifically, we combine the federal schedule with Ontario's provincial schedule and document the approximations we made where the two don't compose cleanly.
- Restaurant-meal pricing. Unlike our sourced cost-of-living figures, there is no official government source for a "cheap restaurant meal" price in most countries. That figure is a crowdsourced estimate, and we disclose that in-line wherever it's shown rather than presenting it as authoritative.
These are estimates for planning and exploration, not tax or financial advice — consult a qualified professional before making a relocation or filing decision.
Questions or a correction? See About.