How much salary do you actually keep after rent and costs?

Single household, no children: compare net salary, rent, groceries and remaining income in one decision view.

What does daily life leave from your net salary? Compare eight countries after tax, rent, groceries and separately paid health insurance. The remainder after these selected costs is not a complete household budget.

The big picture

  • Higher prices can coexist with a higher remainder: income and costs need to be considered together.
  • The table starts with national median salaries. Your own offer and different cost assumptions can change the result.
  • Rent and grocery sources cover different households and periods. These scenarios do not form a uniform international cost-of-living index.

Local median salaries, different net outcomes

Each country uses its local median gross salary. The comparison separates net after tax, rent, groceries, external health insurance and the amount after modelled costs.

Starting model · Annual amounts in EUR · Tax year 2026
CountryGross/yearNet after tax/yearRent/yearGroceries/yearExternal health/yearAfter housing/yearAfter modelled costs/year
Germany€54,066€34,305€14,256€2,748€0€20,049€17,302
Austria€55,678€38,981€19,314€3,312€0€19,667€16,355
Switzerland€91,957€73,093€15,108€6,546€6,267€57,985€45,172
USA€56,005€43,999€17,175€6,512€5,367€26,824€14,945
United Kingdom€46,833€36,368€21,594€2,581€0€14,774€12,194
Ireland€38,006€32,121€24,000€2,801€1,500€8,121€3,820
Canada€43,935€33,530€10,753€2,949€0€22,777€19,828
Australia€56,558€44,214€22,123€4,061€0€22,091€18,031

What the results actually tell us

From gross pay to the remainder

Payroll net is the starting point

Tax and employee contributions are already deducted. Selected rent, groceries and external health insurance are taken off afterwards. Income after rent therefore answers a different question from income after all selected model costs.

Higher prices and a higher remainder

Read amounts and shares separately

A country can have more expensive groceries or rent and still leave a higher modelled amount. The matrix adds shares of net income to the absolute remainder. Its weighted score describes this model only.

For a move to Switzerland, check an actual housing offer alongside the disclosed rent profile.

Find rental apartments in Switzerland → Comparis

From the median to your own offer

A national salary is not your employment contract

National salary medians cover different statistical populations. They establish neither a personal starting offer nor a city salary. Use your actual gross pay and costs that match your situation.

What the remainder still has to cover

After model costs does not mean savings

Transport, electricity and heating where not included in rent, childcare, leisure, debts and other personal expenses are not fully covered. Add the costs relevant to you in a personal comparison.

Why cost-of-living comparisons can mislead

Rent definitions differ

Berlin uses cold asking rent; the Vienna source example includes operating costs and VAT. Swiss stock rents are not a home available to a newcomer today. Floor area, location, period and included charges need to match.

Find rental apartments in Germany → ImmoScout24

Groceries are not one uniform basket

Expenditure surveys, budget guidelines and editorial examples measure different things. Weekly shopping and individual lunch, cappuccino or Big Mac prices are illustrative daily-life anchors, not a standardized consumer price index.

Avoid deducting health costs twice

Contributions deducted through payroll are already reflected in net pay. Only separately paid premiums are additional. The Swiss model uses the selected deductible and premium year; cost sharing and individual cover are not fully included.

Currency conversion is not purchasing power

The display uses the disclosed FX snapshot. A shared currency does not make housing and benefits equivalent. A PPP adjustment is a separate modelling assumption and must not be confused with the nominal remainder.

Compare your personal situation

Check actual salaries and your own costs rather than relying only on national medians.

Compare your own living costs and salaryExplore housing costs: Rent vs Income

Methodology, sources and frequently asked questions

Sources and methodology

Tax year 2026, single, age 35, no children, and the country-default tax region. Each country uses its local median gross. Net pay comes from TaxCompare; rent, groceries and external health insurance follow the disclosed benchmark profile. This page uses the latest available official national median gross earnings for each country (2024–2025 source periods). Switching currency refreshes the same local median values. Ireland is the documented methodological exception: the latest CSO series covers employments active in October without an hours-worked split. The entered gross salary applies to all countries in the selected input currency. Switching currency keeps the numeric amount and recalculates the salary comparison; it does not convert the original salary.

How is this different from a simple cost-of-living index?

A simple cost index only tells you what things cost. It does not tell you how much salary survives after tax, payroll deductions, rent and groceries. This page is built around that remaining-income question.

Are rent and grocery costs already included in the remaining-income view?

Yes. The page subtracts rent, grocery cost and, where relevant, health costs paid outside payroll from net income. The point is to show what is actually left to live on or save each month.

Can I switch between local median gross and my own salary here?

Yes. You can first read the local market through the median gross benchmark and then switch to your own salary to see how much would remain after rent and costs in the same countries.