Tools · Budget calculator

Can you afford it?

Tell us what lands in your account each month. We will set it against the four costs our city guides can actually source, rent, a desk, weekday lunches and getting around, and show you what is left for everything else.

The basics, a month, in GBP

Cheapest first. Add your pay to see what is left.

  1. Da Nang£287 to £601
  2. TaipeiIncomplete£415 to £529
  3. Chiang Mai£388 to £596
  4. Kuala LumpurIncomplete£349 to £773
  5. BanskoIncomplete£387 to £766
  6. Penang£330 to £968
  7. BangkokIncomplete£400 to £987
  8. IstanbulIncomplete£434 to £964
  9. Oaxaca£485 to £969
  10. Playa del CarmenIncomplete£490 to £973
  11. Cape TownIncomplete£714 to £767
  12. SofiaIncomplete£657 to £839
  13. PhuketIncomplete£445 to £1,100
  14. Athens£688 to £883
  15. TiranaIncomplete£567 to £1,030
  16. Seoul£704 to £897
  17. UbudIncomplete£675 to £1,000
  18. MarrakechIncomplete£664 to £1,020
  19. Ho Chi Minh City£472 to £1,220
  20. Budapest£770 to £940
  21. Las PalmasIncomplete£810 to £901
  22. Florianopolis£820 to £918
  23. BogotaIncomplete£578 to £1,190
  24. Mexico City£701 to £1,100
  25. PragueIncomplete£891 to £975
  26. Tbilisi£538 to £1,330
  27. LimassolIncomplete£917 to £1,000
  28. Tokyo£889 to £1,050
  29. Lima£797 to £1,190
  30. Porto£812 to £1,230
  31. Valencia£1,000 to £1,180
  32. Rio de Janeiro£703 to £1,500
  33. Buenos Aires£659 to £1,600
  34. VallettaIncomplete£822 to £1,500
  35. Panama CityIncomplete£687 to £1,680
  36. Medellin£810 to £1,580
  37. Rome£934 to £1,500
  38. Tallinn£771 to £1,670
  39. Split£1,190 to £1,360
  40. Malaga£1,210 to £1,350
  41. Madrid£1,250 to £1,450
  42. BerlinIncomplete£1,080 to £1,670
  43. Barcelona£1,380 to £1,390
  44. Madeira (Funchal)£898 to £1,950
  45. Lisbon£1,120 to £1,890
  46. London£1,950 to £2,560
  47. Singapore£2,390 to £3,270
  48. Dubai£2,370 to £4,190

Not costed yet: Bali (Canggu), no checked rent figure yet; Santa Teresa, no checked rent, desk or lunch figure yet. "Incomplete" means one of the four costs has no checked figure, so the real total is higher. Open a city to see which.

What is counted. Four costs, and only four, because they are the ones every guide can source: rent, a desk, a lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around. Food shopping, bills, a phone, insurance, tax and evenings out are not in it, which is why the answer is what is left for everything else, not what is left to save.

Where the figures come from. Each city's guide, checked against official statistics, the operators' own price pages and dated listings. Each line says what it is. Where a guide only publishes rent per square metre, the line says what size flat it assumes. Last copied from the guides on 3 October 2026.

The exchange rates. The same daily feed as the visa checker, from ExchangeRate-API, last updated 20 October 2026. Pesos are converted at the official rate.