UK City vs City Cost-of-Living Comparison

Compare any two UK cities side-by-side - take-home pay at the same gross salary, average 2-bed rent, Council Tax Band D, "net of essentials" disposable income. Built from ONS Price Index of Private Rents + official Council Tax data.

2026/27 tax year

Personal Finance
UK-wide

Your scenario

Gross annual salary

City A

City B

Side-by-side breakdown

How the comparison works

Take-home pay uses the canonical salary engine - same engine as the main salary calculator. Scotland uses Scottish Income Tax bands (Starter / Basic / Intermediate / Higher / Advanced / Top); England, Wales and Northern Ireland share the UK-wide bands.
Typical 2-bed rent = ONS Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) 2-bed average for the local authority (or closest comparable area). Approximate - actual rent varies materially by postcode within a city.
Council Tax Band D = latest published Band D rate by local authority, per gov.uk Council Tax statistics. The calculator uses the annual figure throughout.
Net of essentials = take-home minus 12 months of rent minus Council Tax Band D. This excludes utilities, food, transport, savings - it's a pure "after the non-discretionary regional costs" figure for cross-city comparison.
Not modelled: utility costs, transport (some Tube/Metro / car costs are much higher in London + Edinburgh / Glasgow + Manchester), childcare costs (London childcare can add £1,200-£2,000/month), state school catchment quality.

Source data

Rent: ONS Private rent and house prices, UK
Council Tax Band D 2026/27: gov.uk Council Tax statistics + local-authority published rates
Salary engine: salarytax.uk methodology - HMRC + gov.scot verified rates
Estimates. For specific postcode + property type use a live letting agent and your local council's Council Tax band lookup.