Salary vs Cost of Living by City
Does your salary go further in Manchester or London? Compare the equivalent purchasing power across 20 UK cities.
Your Details
Category Comparison
In London
£50,000
Cost index: 100
Equivalent in Manchester
£32,000
Cost index: 64
Moving to Manchester is like getting a £18,000 pay rise — your money goes further.
Your £50,000 across all UK cities
Estimates based on ONS Relative Regional Consumer Price Levels (2016, latest available) and Numbeo UK city data. London = 100 baseline.
How this works
Each city has a cost-of-living index relative to London (100). If Manchester scores 64, things cost 36% less on average than London. Your equivalent salary is calculated as: salary × (target city index ÷ your city index). Rent carries the most weight (40%) as it's the biggest cost difference between cities.
Not inflation-adjusted
These indices show relative price differences between cities at a fixed point in time (2016 ONS survey) — they do not track how prices have changed since. The ONS explicitly states spatial price indices “do not provide information on price change over time.” Relative city differences may have shifted since 2016, particularly following the 2022–23 cost-of-living crisis.
City indices are estimates based on ONS Relative Regional Consumer Price Levels (2016, latest available) and Numbeo UK city comparisons. London = 100 baseline. ONS publishes this survey approximately every 6 years; the next update (covering ~2022) has been signalled but not yet released.