Methodology & data.

MovingCal exists to make relocation math honest. Every page on this site is generated from one shared dataset and one shared calculation engine, so a rent figure on a cost-of-living page is the same rent figure the rent-vs-buy model uses. This page documents where the numbers come from and how the formulas work.

Cost of living data

City prices (rent by apartment type and zone, groceries, utilities, transit passes, restaurant prices, purchase prices per m²) are 2026 estimates aggregated from rental listing platforms, national statistical offices, and large crowd-sourced price databases, then normalised to USD at mid-2026 exchange rates. The composite index weights centre rent most heavily – because housing is both the largest and the most geographically variable budget line – and is benchmarked to New York City = 100. Budgets shown for “single”, “couple”, and “family of four” apply transparent multipliers documented on each page and include a 15–20% lifestyle margin, because real budgets always do.

Tax engines

US federal: 2026 IRS inflation-adjusted brackets, standard deductions ($16,100 single / $32,200 married filing jointly), Social Security at 6.2% to the $184,500 wage base, Medicare 1.45% plus the 0.9% additional tax over $200,000. States: 2026 schedules – progressive brackets for California, New York (plus NYC local tax), Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Connecticut; legislated flat rates elsewhere (including 2026 phase-downs such as North Carolina 3.99%, Indiana 2.95%, Ohio 2.75%); and the no-tax states as themselves. International: full progressive models for the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Italy including employee social charges; other countries use a documented effective-rate curve anchored to a $100k reference and are labeled as estimates. Expat regimes (Beckham Law, 30% ruling, IFICI, impatriati, nomad-permit treatments) follow their 2026 published parameters.

Rent vs buy model

A monthly-resolution simulation: amortised mortgage at your rate, property tax, maintenance (1% of value default), insurance, HOA, ~3% buying costs and a selling-cost percentage at exit; against a renter who invests the down payment, buying costs, and every month's owner-vs-rent difference at your chosen return, with rent growing 3%/year by default. The output compares net worth paths and reports the breakeven year. Defaults are deliberately conservative; every input is editable.

Relocation budgets

Shipping bands come from 2026 carrier and marketplace pricing for shared containers, dedicated 20ft/40ft containers, air freight, and domestic DIY/container/full-service tiers, scaled by household size. Landing costs use destination rents from the same city dataset (deposits, first month, furnishing tiers) plus documented visa and paperwork fee schedules. These are planning bands, not quotes – we say so on every page.

Indexes and limitations

Safety and quality-of-life scores are 0–100 composites of public statistics and large expat surveys; they are screens, not verdicts. All figures on this site are estimates for planning, not financial, tax, legal, or immigration advice. Tax outcomes depend on personal circumstances; prices vary by neighborhood; visa rules change. Verify decisions with official sources or a qualified adviser. Found something off? The dataset is versioned and corrections ship in the next refresh.

Update cadence

Tax parameters update when jurisdictions publish them (annually for most). Cost data refreshes on a rolling basis with a full revision at least twice a year. Every page shows its data vintage in the header.