FAQ
How do I use this calculator?
Enter your monthly costs — housing, food, commute, help, lifestyle, and the rest. The tool reverse-calculates a required CTC estimate after tax. You can toggle line items on or off. Optional city and lifestyle presets fill starting numbers if you want them.
How do I use it well?
Your own numbers beat presets. City presets are optional starting points, not live listings. Override rent and every other line with what you actually pay or expect to pay. The more honest the inputs, the more useful the CTC estimate.
Are the results exact?
No. Results are estimates for planning. They are not live market prices, not a payslip, and not tax advice. Always verify rent, fees, and tax with current listings and a professional before you decide.
Can I take these numbers into Offer Manager?
Yes. The same expense and CTC figures are meant to carry into Offer Manager and later offer-letter parts of the app when you use those. Offer Manager saves on this device only (max 10). Nothing is uploaded to a CityExpenses server.
How this cost of living calculator works
Most salary calculators start with CTC and spit out take-home. This one runs the other way: you describe the life you want — housing type, food habits, commute, savings rate — and it reverse-calculates the gross CTC required to fund that lifestyle after income tax, professional tax, and monthly costs.
Optionally pick a city preset, set lifestyle tier (budget, comfortable, or premium), then toggle line items on or off. Rent, groceries, eating out, utilities, internet, mobile, domestic help, school fees, gym, entertainment, fuel or metro passes, and emergency buffer all roll into one monthly burn number. The engine then layers Indian tax slabs (new and old regime awareness via our tax hub) so the headline figure is employer CTC, not take-home fantasy.
What expenses are included
Housing is usually the largest line. We model shared PGs, 1BHK and 2BHK rents where preset data exists, plus society maintenance and typical deposit impact spread over time. Food covers home cooking versus mixed dining-out patterns. Transport includes two-wheeler fuel, cab budgets, and metro or local-train passes. Utilities bundle electricity, water, cooking gas, broadband, and mobile plans.
Discretionary spend — OTT, weekend trips, shopping, fitness — scales with the lifestyle tier you choose. Family mode adds school fees and higher grocery load. Nothing here is a bank statement; figures are estimates meant for planning job offers, relocation, and salary negotiations. Always verify rent and school fees on the ground before you sign.
Using results for offers and tax
When two offers look similar on paper, run each location through this tool with the same lifestyle settings. Pair the monthly expense total with our new vs old regime comparator and CTC anatomy guide so you know which components (basic, HRA, special allowance, variable) actually hit your bank account.
Save or screenshot your configuration before HR calls. Adjust savings rate upward if you are building an emergency fund or planning a home down payment — the reverse calculator will raise required CTC accordingly. For offer tracking across companies, use the offer manager (local-only, no account). The same numbers are meant to carry into those offer-letter parts of the app when you use them.
Limitations
Numbers are approximate and change with inflation, season, and micro-location. Brokerage, security deposits, one-time moving costs, and employer-specific benefits (meal cards, cab, ESOP) are not fully automated. Professional tax and standard deduction assumptions follow common salaried patterns; self-employed and freelancers should treat outputs as directional only. Read the disclaimer before making financial decisions.