Our Methodology
Livifi estimates your real cost of living by combining cost data with personalized inputs to calculate disposable income across cities — so you can see, at a glance, how much you'd actually have left after the essentials.
Last updated: March 2026 Data is refreshed periodically (typically 1–2 times per year).
The goal isn't to show how much things cost — but how much you actually have left.
What Makes Livifi Different
Unlike traditional cost-of-living tools, Livifi estimates realistic housing costs and calculates disposable income based on your income, household type, and location. This allows for more meaningful, apples-to-apples comparisons between cities.
- Rent interpolation: we model housing costs across unit sizes (studio, 1-bed, 2-bed) so the rent you see actually matches your household — not a generic city average.
- Disposable income calculation: we go beyond gross expenses and show what's left after taxes, social contributions, and core living costs.
- Household normalization: we adjust expenses based on household size and composition, so a single person and a family of four don't get the same misleading number.
Data Sources
To estimate your monthly expenses, Livifi uses aggregated cost-of-living data from publicly available sources, including Numbeo, combined with our own normalization and modeling layer.
Net Income Calculation
For each supported country, Livifi maintains a dedicated tax engine that models income tax brackets, social security contributions, and standard deductions. This gives you a realistic net income figure rather than a generic flat-rate estimate.
Lifestyle Adjustments
To better reflect how you actually spend, Livifi weights expense categories — rent, food, transport, utilities, leisure — based on the lifestyle profile you choose (minimal, moderate, comfortable, luxury) and the number of dependents in your household.
Imputation for Missing Data
When direct price data isn't available for a city, Livifi uses a regional imputation model that draws on neighboring cities, country-level averages, and price-index relationships to produce reasonable estimates — clearly flagged as imputed.
Limitations
Cost of living is dynamic. Livifi's results are informational and should be paired with your own research before making major life decisions such as relocation or job changes.