What is Net Life Value (NLV)?

NLV is a score from 0 to 100 that measures how well you can live in a country at a specific salary. It's the geometric mean of Economic Power (your PPP-adjusted net income) and Quality of Life (safety, healthcare, climate, internet, cost of living). The formula: sqrt(Economic × Quality). Accessibility data is shown as context but doesn't affect the score.

How is NLV different from cost of living comparisons?

Cost of living only tells you how expensive a country is. NLV goes further: it calculates your actual take-home pay using real tax engines, adjusts for purchasing power (including rent trends from OECD data), then combines that with quality of life scores. Two pillars, one score.

Which countries are included in NLV rankings?

NLV rankings include 23 countries with complete data: tax calculations, quality of life metrics, prices, and accessibility scores. Countries span Europe, Asia, Americas, Oceania, and Africa.

What's Your Net Life Value?

One number that tells you where your salary goes furthest — combining real take-home pay, quality of life, and how easy it is to actually get there.

Geometric mean of 2 pillars, equal weight. Same principle as the UN's Human Development Index.

Annual Gross Salary (USD)

$$75K/year

#Country

🥇🇦🇪United Arab Emirates$9,843/mo0.0%87

🥈🇬🇷Greece$8,401/mo25.0%82

🥉🇰🇷South Korea$8,289/mo21.2%81

4🇸🇬Singapore$7,719/mo25.7%81

5🇨🇿Czech Republic$8,492/mo25.0%79

6🇹🇭Thailand1 city ▾$16,959/mo19.4%78

7🇪🇸Spain4 cities ▾$6,961/mo32.3%77

8🇨🇱Chile$10,146/mo25.0%77

9🇵🇱Poland2 cities ▾$7,548/mo40.8%76

10🇵🇹Portugal2 cities ▾$6,426/mo42.5%75

11🇯🇵Japan1 city ▾$6,772/mo32.4%75

12🇻🇳Vietnam$16,276/mo25.0%75

13🇦🇷Argentina$10,212/mo25.0%75

14🇹🇷Turkey$13,470/mo25.0%74

15🇮🇳India$19,043/mo26.6%71

16🇧🇷Brazil1 city ▾$9,456/mo30.1%69

17🇲🇽Mexico1 city ▾$8,306/mo28.0%69

18🇮🇹Italy3 cities ▾$5,812/mo39.6%68

19🇿🇦South Africa1 city ▾$10,414/mo32.5%68

20🇨🇦Canada3 cities ▾$5,572/mo25.1%67

21🇦🇺Australia2 cities ▾$5,300/mo24.0%67

22🇫🇷France3 cities ▾$5,641/mo33.5%66

23🇨🇴Colombia$13,242/mo25.0%66

24🇬🇧United Kingdom3 cities ▾$5,586/mo24.1%65

25🇳🇱Netherlands2 cities ▾$5,477/mo30.6%65

26🇳🇿New Zealand$5,190/mo26.4%64

27🇩🇪Germany2 cities ▾$4,993/mo39.4%63

28🇺🇸United States4 cities ▾$4,844/mo22.5%62

29🇨🇭Switzerland2 cities ▾$4,725/mo18.5%62

30🇮🇪Ireland1 city ▾$4,740/mo39.2%61

NLV = √(Economic Power × Life Quality)

Economic Power = PPP-adjusted net income (cap $8K/mo = 100). Inspired by the HDI methodology.

Click a city badge to see NLV by city.

How NLV Works

NLV = √(Economic Power × Quality of Life)

Economic Power

50%

Your net income after taxes, adjusted for local prices and rent. Real tax engines for 30 countries, PPP from the World Bank, rent data from OECD + Numbeo. Capped at $8K/month PPP.

Quality of Life

50%

Five dimensions from official data: cost of living, climate (bell curve, not linear), safety, healthcare, and internet. Sources: WHO, OECD, World Bank, Open-Meteo.

Geometric mean — a country can't compensate low purchasing power with good weather, or vice versa. Accessibility (visa, language, expat community) is shown as context but doesn't affect the score. Full methodology →