Cost Life Calculator
Cost of life calculator works out Total monthly living costs and Total annual living costs from Housing (rent or mortgage), Utilities and Food at home. The default figures on this page give total monthly living costs of 6,200.00; change any entry and the result, the working and the sources update together.
Your figures
Updates as you typeHow this is worked out
3 steps
- Monthly living costs = 1800 + 450 + 550 + 350 + 900 + 500 + 700 + 150 + 250 + 350 + 200 = 6200.
- Annual living costs = 6200 x 12 = 74400.
- Left over = 7000 - 6200 = 800 a month.
Where the money goestable
| category | monthly | annual | sharePercent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing (rent or mortgage) | 1,800 | 21,600 | 29.03 |
| Utilities | 450 | 5,400 | 7.26 |
| Food at home | 550 | 6,600 | 8.87 |
| Food away from home | 350 | 4,200 | 5.65 |
| Transportation | 900 | 10,800 | 14.52 |
| Healthcare | 500 | 6,000 | 8.06 |
| Insurance and pensions | 700 | 8,400 | 11.29 |
| Childcare and education | 150 | 1,800 | 2.42 |
| Debt payments | 250 | 3,000 | 4.03 |
| Personal care and entertainment | 350 | 4,200 | 5.65 |
| Everything else | 200 | 2,400 | 3.23 |
Its 4 worked examples are re-run on every release, last on 15 September 2026. What changed
Sources and references
3 sources
What the cost of life calculator calculates
Totals a household's monthly living expenses against income to give a surplus and savings rate, converts a salary between two locations using their cost-of-living indexes, and escalates any amount by an index ratio.
How to use this cost of life calculator
Enter Housing (rent or mortgage), Utilities, Food at home and Food away from home. Total monthly living costs updates as you type, and “Use a worked example” loads checked figures you can adjust. Change one figure at a time to see what drives the result.
How the result is worked out
Open “How this is worked out” beside the result for the step-by-step calculation behind Total monthly living costs, Total annual living costs and Left over each month.
The method follows U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys - the household expenditure categories used for the budget lines, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Using the Consumer Price Index for escalation" - an amount is escalated by the ratio of the index in the two periods and C2ER (Council for Community and Economic Research) Cost of Living Index - the index-ratio method for comparing living costs between places; the index values themselves are licensed and must be supplied by the user.
A monthly household budget against take-home pay example
With What do you want to work out?: budget, Housing (rent or mortgage): 1800, Utilities: 250, Food at home: 600, the calculator returns Total monthly living costs: 4200, Total annual living costs: 50400, Left over each month: 1800. This example is checked against an independent source in the test suite.
What you can compare
Change one input at a time to see how it affects Total monthly living costs, Total annual living costs and Left over each month. The inputs you can vary are Housing (rent or mortgage), Utilities, Food at home, Food away from home, Transportation and Healthcare.
Results are general information, not financial, tax, legal, medical or engineering advice. Check any decision that matters with a qualified professional.
See something wrong? Report a problem with this calculator
Frequently asked questions
What is the most accurate cost of living calculator?
The cost of life calculator follows the stated method, but the result is only as reliable as What do you want to work out?, Housing (rent or mortgage), Utilities, Food at home and Food away from home and the assumptions shown. Check the working and sources before relying on it for an important decision.
How much is a 3% cost of living raise?
On the figures this page opens with — housing (rent or mortgage) 1,800 per month, utilities 250 per month, food at home 600 per month and food away from home 0 per month — the total monthly living costs is 6,200. No single number fits everyone: change any figure above and the answer updates as you type, with each step of the arithmetic beside it.
What information do I need for the cost of life calculator?
You need Housing (rent or mortgage), Utilities, Food at home, Food away from home, Transportation, Healthcare, Insurance and pensions and Childcare and education. The page opens with default figures that give total monthly living costs of 6,200.00, so you can see the scale before entering your own.
What does this cost of life calculator show?
It shows Total monthly living costs, Total annual living costs, Left over each month, Savings rate, Spending as a share of take-home pay, Largest category, Where the money goes and Index ratio, with the working and any warnings for your entries.
Can I check how the cost of life calculator result was calculated?
Yes. The “How this is worked out” section shows the calculation steps, and the sources section identifies the references used for the method.