{{ summaryPrimary }}
{{ summaryLine }}
Disabled {{ winnerBadge }} {{ selectedPeriodLabel }} {{ sourceBadge }} {{ validationBadge }}
Set the symbol for exchange-normalized results, such as $, RM, S$, £, or €.
Monthly is the fastest way to compare everyday spendable income.

Scenario A

{{ presetHelp(scenarioA.preset) }}
Enter the offer in Country A local currency.
{{ scenarioA.preset.currency }} / year
Enter how many comparison-currency units equal 1 local-currency unit.
1 {{ scenarioA.preset.currency }} {{ baseCurrencyLabel }}
Use 100 for the baseline place, or enter your own city/country index.
index

Scenario B

{{ presetHelp(scenarioB.preset) }}
Enter the offer in Country B local currency.
{{ scenarioB.preset.currency }} / year
Update this with your own FX source before relying on the comparison.
1 {{ scenarioB.preset.currency }} {{ baseCurrencyLabel }}
Use the same external cost-index source for both scenarios.
index
Leave blank to use the selected country preset label.
Leave blank to use the selected country preset label.
Use for verified pension relief, personal relief, credits converted to deductions, or other taxable-income reductions.
{{ scenarioA.preset.currency }} / year
Use for verified CPF, EPF, pension, or personal relief amounts where applicable.
{{ scenarioB.preset.currency }} / year
This reduces take-home pay but does not change taxable income.
{{ scenarioA.preset.currency }} / year
Keep this at 0 unless you need to model a payroll-side deduction.
{{ scenarioB.preset.currency }} / year
Flat effective tax rate for Custom manual rates.
%
Flat employee payroll, pension, or social contribution rate for Custom manual rates.
%
Flat effective tax rate for Custom manual rates.
%
Flat employee payroll, pension, or social contribution rate for Custom manual rates.
%
Scenario Gross Income tax Employee contribution Net {{ selectedPeriodLabel }} net Comparison net Cost-adjusted Take-home rate Copy
{{ row.scenario }} {{ row.gross }} {{ row.incomeTax }} {{ row.employeeContribution }} {{ row.netLocal }} {{ row.periodNetLocal }} {{ row.netBase }} {{ row.costAdjusted }} {{ row.takeHomeRate }}
Scenario Component Local amount Comparison amount Rate / basis Source or assumption Copy
{{ row.scenario }} {{ row.component }} {{ row.localAmount }} {{ row.baseAmount }} {{ row.rate }} {{ row.source }}
Rank Scenario Cost index Cost-adjusted net Difference from other Planning note Copy
{{ row.rank }} {{ row.scenario }} {{ row.costIndex }} {{ row.costAdjusted }} {{ row.delta }} {{ row.note }}
Preset Source Last reviewed Model scope Copy
{{ row.preset }} {{ row.source }} {{ row.reviewed }} {{ row.scope }} 
{{ jsonPayload }}
Tags: Finance, Productivity
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Advanced
:

Cross-country salary comparisons are only useful when gross pay, employee deductions, currency, and local prices are separated. A larger headline offer can leave less spendable income after tax, payroll contributions, exchange conversion, and day-to-day living costs.

Take-home pay is the salary left after estimated income tax, employee payroll or social contributions, and any other post-tax payroll deductions. Cost-adjusted take-home pay goes one step further by dividing the converted net amount by a cost index, so two offers can be compared in the same currency and spending baseline.

Flow from gross local salary through tax, employee contributions, exchange rate, and cost index to cost-adjusted take-home pay

That adjustment is a planning estimate, not a complete relocation decision. Housing, healthcare, visas, employer benefits, local taxes, family deductions, and one-time moving costs can change the final answer even when the salary math is clean.

A useful first pass compares the same pay period, a recent exchange rate, and a cost index from the same external source for both countries. Mixing sources can make one place look better because of the data choice rather than the offer itself.

How to Use This Tool:

Start with the comparison currency and period, then enter each salary offer as a separate scenario. The fastest reliable workflow is to keep the preset assumptions visible, update exchange and cost-index values from your own sources, and inspect the source notes before treating the result as more than a planning number.

  1. Set Comparison currency symbol to the currency you want for normalized outputs. This is only a label and conversion target; each salary is still entered in its own local currency.
  2. Choose Result period. Annual, monthly, and weekly change the display period, while the calculation still begins from annual gross salary.
  3. Select a Country preset for Scenario A and Scenario B. The built-in options cover U.S. federal 2026 single, U.K. 2026/27 England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, Malaysia resident YA 2025, Singapore tax resident YA 2026, and Custom manual rates.
  4. Enter each annual gross amount in the local currency shown next to the field. Use the offer amount before employee income tax, payroll tax, CPF, EPF, National Insurance, FICA, or similar deductions.
  5. Enter each exchange rate as one local-currency unit converted into the comparison currency. The page does not fetch live foreign-exchange data, so update these values before relying on the comparison.
  6. Enter each cost index using the same index source. A value of 100 is the baseline, values above 100 reduce spending power, and values below 100 increase the cost-adjusted figure.
  7. Use Advanced only for verified additions: scenario labels, tax reliefs, other post-tax deductions, or flat custom tax and employee contribution rates. If the summary changes to Check inputs, fix negative amounts, zero exchange rates, cost indexes below 1, or custom rates outside 0% to 100% before reading the tables.
  8. Read Take-Home Ledger and Power Rank first, then use Deduction Lines, Deduction Stack, Cost-Adjusted Rank, Source Notes, and JSON when you need an audit trail or export.

Interpreting Results:

Cost-adjusted delta in the summary is the main comparison number. It shows Scenario B minus Scenario A after both salaries have been converted to the comparison currency and adjusted for the entered cost indexes. A positive value favors Scenario B. A negative value favors Scenario A.

Comparison net is raw take-home pay after exchange conversion. Cost-adjusted is the same net pay divided by the cost index relative to 100. When a lower-cost location has a smaller raw net but a much lower cost index, Cost-Adjusted Rank can favor it over the higher raw salary.

Deduction Lines separates taxable-income reductions, income tax, employee contributions, and other post-tax deductions. This matters because a tax relief reduces taxable income before the rate table, while a post-tax deduction reduces the final paycheck without changing income tax.

Take-home rate is net local pay divided by gross local salary. It is useful for reading the burden of employee-side deductions in one country, but it is not enough for relocation planning because it ignores exchange rates and prices.

Source Notes should be read with the numeric result. The preset scope notes list what is included and what is excluded, such as state taxes, local payroll rules, relief eligibility, employer benefits, visas, healthcare, and non-standard filing cases.

Technical Details:

Cross-country net-pay comparison combines three different calculations. The first is jurisdiction-specific employee deduction math, usually a progressive income-tax table plus a payroll or social contribution rule. The second converts each local net amount into a shared currency. The third adjusts that converted amount by a cost index so the result represents estimated buying power rather than only exchange value.

Progressive tax applies the bracket rate only to the income slice inside that bracket. A person reaching a 40% or 24% bracket does not pay that rate on all income. Payroll and social contribution rules are different: some are flat planning assumptions, some use ceilings, and some use banded wage formulas.

Stage Formula or rule Result fields affected
Taxable income Gross local salary minus the preset automatic allowance and verified manual reliefs, floored at zero. Income tax, Deduction Lines
Income tax Progressive bracket tax for built-in country presets, or a flat effective income-tax rate for Custom manual rates. Income tax, Take-home rate
Employee contribution Preset payroll or social contribution rule, capped where the preset rule includes a cap. Custom mode uses a flat percentage of gross salary. Employee contribution, Deduction Stack
Net local pay Gross local salary minus income tax, employee contribution, and other post-tax deductions, floored at zero. Net, Monthly net, Weekly net
Currency conversion Net local pay multiplied by the user-entered exchange rate to the comparison currency. Comparison net
Cost adjustment Converted net divided by cost index / 100. Cost-adjusted, Power Rank

Let G be annual gross local salary, A the automatic allowance, R verified manual reliefs, D other post-tax deductions, X the exchange rate to the comparison currency, and C the cost index. Let Li, Ui, and ri be the lower edge, upper edge, and rate for progressive tax bracket i.

T = max ( 0 , G - A - R ) tax = ∑ i=1 n ( max ( 0 , min ( T , Ui ) - Li ) × ri ) net local = max ( 0 , G - tax - employee contribution - D ) cost adjusted = net local×X C/100

The formulas show why the same tax rule can produce different comparison outcomes. Exchange rates affect both raw comparison net and cost-adjusted net. Cost indexes affect only the cost-adjusted result, so a change from 100 to 80 increases the buying-power estimate by 25% for the same converted net amount.

Preset Modeled rule Important exclusions or simplifications
United States federal 2026 - Single Federal ordinary income brackets after a $16,100 standard deduction, plus employee FICA: 6.2% Social Security to the $184,500 wage base, 1.45% Medicare on all wages, and 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000. State and local tax, itemized deductions, credits, AMT, filing-status changes, benefits, and employer costs are not inferred.
United Kingdom 2026/27 - England, Wales, Northern Ireland rUK non-savings income tax bands of 20%, 40%, and 45%, with a £12,570 Personal Allowance that tapers by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. Employee National Insurance category A uses 8% from £12,570 to £50,270 and 2% above. Scotland, pensions, student loans, benefits, savings or dividend rules, and special income cases are outside this preset.
Malaysia resident individual YA 2025 Resident progressive chargeable-income rates from 0% to 30%, with manual reliefs accepted as entered. Employee EPF is modeled as an editable 11% planning assumption. PCB or MTD reconciliation, SOCSO, EIS, zakat, rebates, relief eligibility, age-based EPF handling, wage-range EPF tables, and payroll rounding require separate review.
Singapore tax resident YA 2026 Resident rates from YA 2024 onward, from 0% to 24%. CPF uses the 2026 ordinary-wage employee share for Singapore citizen or permanent resident third year onward, below age 55: no employee share up to S$500 monthly wages, 60% of wages above S$500 up to S$750, and 20% up to the S$8,000 ordinary-wage ceiling above S$750. Additional wages, relief caps, rebates, donations, non-resident rules, exact CPF rounding, and age or residency-year variations are not inferred.
Custom manual rates Flat income-tax and employee contribution percentages entered in Advanced. Manual reliefs reduce taxable income before the flat tax rate is applied. All source validity, jurisdiction rules, tax year, currency, and eligibility checks are user-supplied.
Boundary Behavior User check
Negative salary, relief, or post-tax deduction The alert list reports the invalid field and the summary changes to Check inputs. Enter zero or a positive annual amount.
Exchange rate is zero or below The comparison-currency fields cannot be trusted, so validation blocks normal interpretation. Enter the value of 1 local-currency unit in the chosen comparison currency.
Cost index below 1 The cost-adjusted denominator would be invalid or unrealistically tiny. Use 100 for the baseline or a positive index from the same source used for the other scenario.
Manual relief exceeds gross income Taxable income is floored at zero. Confirm the relief is allowed for the selected tax year and taxpayer profile.
Other post-tax deductions exceed gross income The deduction used in the calculation is capped at gross salary. Check whether the amount belongs as a payroll deduction, a living cost, or an external budget item.

Accuracy Notes:

Treat the numbers as an auditable planning estimate, not tax, payroll, immigration, relocation, or financial advice.

  • The built-in source notes show the preset review date as 2026-05-16. Tax authorities and payroll agencies can update rates, thresholds, forms, and guidance after that date.
  • Exchange rates and cost indexes are entered by the user. A stale FX rate or a mismatched cost-index source can change the winner.
  • Preset rules intentionally omit many personal facts, including filing status beyond the selected preset, residency tests, relief eligibility, local taxes, benefits, healthcare, visa costs, housing differences, employer contributions, and withholding reconciliation.
  • Use official calculators, current authority guidance, payroll support, or a qualified adviser before accepting an offer, changing withholding, filing a return, or advising someone else.

Worked Examples:

A default comparison sets Scenario A to US 2026 single with $120,000 annual gross, exchange rate 1.00, and cost index 100. Scenario B uses UK 2026/27 rUK with £95,000 annual gross, exchange rate 1.26, and cost index 92. The U.S. scenario produces $93,250.00 Net, $93,250.00 Comparison net, and $93,250.00 Cost-adjusted. The U.K. scenario produces £65,657.40 Net, $82,728.32 Comparison net, and $89,922.09 Cost-adjusted. The summary shows Scenario B is about -$277.33 cost-adjusted per month versus Scenario A.

A Malaysia-to-Singapore planning check can show the effect of both reliefs and local prices. With Malaysia at RM180,000 gross, RM9,000 verified reliefs, exchange rate 0.21, and cost index 72, the result is RM133,050.00 Net and $38,806.25 Cost-adjusted. With Singapore at S$132,000 gross, S$8,000 verified reliefs, S$2,400 post-tax deductions, exchange rate 0.74, and cost index 118, the result is S$101,850.00 Net and $63,872.03 Cost-adjusted. Singapore has a higher cost index, but the entered exchange and salary still produce the stronger cost-adjusted result.

Thresholds can change the marginal rate without changing every earlier income slice. The default U.K. example has £82,430 taxable income, so the highest slice reaches the 40% band and Deduction Lines shows a 40.0% marginal rate. The lower-rate slices are still taxed at their own rates, which is why Income tax is £25,432.00 rather than 40% of the gross salary.

A troubleshooting case is usually visible immediately. If Scenario B exchange rate is set to 0 or a cost index is set below 1, the summary changes to Check inputs and the alert list names the invalid field. Entering a positive exchange rate and a cost index of at least 1 restores Ready status and makes Take-Home Ledger usable again.

FAQ:

Can I use this as a tax filing result?

No. The page estimates selected employee-side taxes and contributions for planning. The Source Notes tab lists exclusions that can matter before filing, accepting payroll withholding, or making relocation decisions.

Why does the lower raw salary sometimes rank higher?

The Power Rank uses Cost-adjusted net pay, not gross salary. A country with lower converted net pay can rank higher when its cost index is much lower than the other scenario.

Does the calculator fetch exchange rates or cost indexes?

No. Exchange rates and cost indexes are user-entered. Use recent FX data and the same cost-index source for both scenarios before relying on the Cost-adjusted comparison.

Why am I seeing Check inputs?

The validation alert appears for negative salaries, negative reliefs or deductions, exchange rates of 0 or below, cost indexes below 1, or custom tax and contribution rates outside 0% to 100%. Fix the listed field before using the summary or exports.

Is my salary sent away for calculation?

No server-side tax calculation is used by this page. The salary fields, deductions, exchange rates, charts, and exports are calculated in the browser session you are using.

Glossary:

Gross local salary
The annual offer amount in the country currency before employee income tax and employee-side contributions.
Taxable income
Gross local salary after automatic allowances and verified manual reliefs are subtracted, floored at zero.
Employee contribution
The employee-side payroll, pension, social security, National Insurance, EPF, CPF, FICA, or manual contribution amount included in the estimate.
Net local pay
Gross local salary minus income tax, employee contribution, and other post-tax deductions.
Comparison net
Net local pay converted into the chosen comparison currency with the user-entered exchange rate.
Cost index
A price-level index where 100 is the baseline; higher values reduce cost-adjusted spending power.
Cost-adjusted net
Comparison net divided by the cost index relative to 100, used by Power Rank.
Marginal rate
The tax rate applied to the highest income slice reached by taxable income, not the average tax rate on all salary.

References: