Terms of Use

By using this site you agree to these terms. If you do not, stop using it — that is the entire remedy on both sides, and nothing here obliges you to do anything else.

A model. It takes published statistics and public sources, applies simplified tax and cost calculations, and produces comparable figures for 70 cities. Every figure carries a label saying whether it was measured (taken directly from a published source), derived (anchored to a source and then adjusted, with the adjustment stated) or estimated (modelled, with nothing measured behind it).

Those labels are the product. A figure marked estimated is our honest guess and nothing more, and the methodology page explains how the guess was made.

Nothing here is financial, tax, legal, immigration or relocation advice, and no relationship of adviser and client arises from reading it. Tax figures come from simplified single-filer models that ignore most of what actually determines a tax bill: allowances, credits, residence tests, double-taxation treaties, regional rates, social security ceilings and your personal circumstances.

Before you move, sign a lease, accept an offer or file anything, check the figure with the authority that issues it. See the full disclaimer.

Facts are not ours to own, and we do not pretend otherwise. You may quote, cite and republish figures from this site, including for commercial purposes, on three conditions:

• credit “Cost of Life” and link to the page the figure came from, so a reader can check it;
• carry the quality label with the figure. Republishing an estimated number as a measured fact is the one use we object to, because it launders a guess into a statistic;
• do not present the material in a way that implies we endorse you, your product or your conclusion.

Bulk reuse of the dataset as a dataset — re-hosting it as a competing product — is a different thing from citing it, and needs written permission. The public API exists for automated access and is subject to the same terms plus its own rate limits.

The written text, the page designs, the code, the scoring models and the arrangement of the dataset belong to HealthPulse LLC. Photographs belong to their photographers and are used under the licences listed on the credits page; those licences travel with the photographs and not with this site’s terms. Video thumbnails and embeds belong to their channels.

If you submit a price, a correction or a video, you confirm it is yours to submit and you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use it on the site. We may check it, adjust it, publish it or discard it. Do not submit anything confidential, anything you are under an obligation not to disclose, or anything containing another person’s personal data.

You agree not to:

• scrape the site at a rate that degrades it for other people — the API is there precisely so you do not have to;
• submit figures you know to be false, or submit in bulk to move a published number;
• interfere with the advertising on the site, generate clicks or impressions artificially, or encourage anyone else to;
• attempt to gain access to any non-public part of the site or its infrastructure.

The site is provided as it is, when it is available. There is no uptime commitment, no guarantee that any page or API route will continue to exist, and no obligation to maintain backwards compatibility. It may be changed or withdrawn at any time.

The figures are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including as to accuracy, completeness, currency or fitness for any purpose. We do not warrant that any number on this site is correct, and the quality labels exist precisely because many of them are estimates.

To the fullest extent the law allows, HealthPulse LLC is not liable for any loss arising from reliance on anything published here — including financial loss, a move that turned out to cost more than the model suggested, a tax position taken on the basis of a simplified model, or a decision not taken.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. If you are a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.

We link to operators, statistical agencies, merchants and video channels. We do not control any of them and are not responsible for their content, their prices or their privacy practices.

These terms, and any dispute arising out of them, are governed by the law of California, and the courts of California have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory law of your own country.

We may revise these terms. The date at the top is the date they last changed. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the revised version.