Methodology and sources
How the OrbitLabX Cost of Living Index is built, where the data comes from, and how to cite it.
What the index measures
The index compares what the same monthly basket of everyday goods and services costs for one person in each place we track. It is a relative measure: 100 is the median place in our dataset. A place at 120 is about 20% more expensive than that typical place; one at 80 is about 20% cheaper.
We publish five indices per place: Cost of Living + Rent (everything), Cost of Living (excluding rent), and the Rent, Groceries and Restaurants components. Country figures are the median of the places we track in that country.
The monthly basket (one person)
| Groceries | Milk 8 L, bread 6 × 500 g, eggs 2.5 dozen, rice 2 kg, chicken 3 kg, cheese 1 kg, apples 3 kg, bananas 3 kg, supermarket beer 4 × 0.5 L, wine 1 bottle |
| Restaurants | 10 inexpensive meals, half of a three-course meal for two, 2 fast-food combos, 12 cappuccinos, 4 soft drinks, 4 draft beers |
| Transport | 1 monthly public-transport pass (or 40 single tickets), 2 taxi rides of 5 km |
| Leisure | 1 gym membership, 2 cinema tickets |
| Rent | 1-bedroom apartment, long-term, unfurnished, typical (outside the very centre) |
Where prices come from
Each item price is taken, in order of preference, from: reviewed submissions by people who live in or recently visited the place; official statistics and researched listings; and otherwise a model estimate based on the place's overall cost level and its country's price levels. A missing item is filled with the median for its country.
Every place carries a data confidence label: “Verified data” when at least half of its basket is priced from real observations, “Partly verified” from 20%, otherwise “Estimated”. As people add prices, places move up.
Updates and versions
The index is recalculated monthly and each month is kept as a dated snapshot (for example 2026-10), so published figures never change after the fact and trends over time can be tracked. The method version is shown with every snapshot (currently col-v1); if the method changes, the version changes.
How to cite
OrbitLabX (2026). OrbitLabX Cost of Living Index, [month], method col-v1. https://orbitlabx.com/cost-of-living
Sources and licences
| United States rents | U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Fair Market Rents; U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year |
| United Kingdom rents | ONS Price Index of Private Rents (Open Government Licence v3.0) |
| France rents | Carte des loyers, Ministère de la Transition écologique / ANIL (Licence Ouverte 2.0) |
| Ireland rents | Residential Tenancies Board Rent Index via CSO (CC BY 4.0) |
| Canada rents | Statistics Canada / CMHC Rental Market Survey (Statistics Canada Open Licence) |
| Spain rents | Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana, SERPAVI |
| New Zealand rents | MBIE Tenancy Services bond data (CC BY 4.0) |
| Price levels | World Bank International Comparison Program & World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) |
| Food prices | World Food Programme market prices (CC BY-IGO) |
| Transit fares | Published GTFS fare data from transit operators |
| Places | GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) |
| Local prices | OrbitLabX researched listings and reviewed submissions from people who live in or recently visited each place |
Limitations
Estimates are least reliable for small towns and for places where we have little observed data; rent varies most by neighbourhood. The index describes a typical basket, not any individual's spending. If a number looks wrong, add the price you actually paid on the city page — submissions are reviewed and feed the next update.