Relocation decisions often start with nominal salary: a higher USD or EUR figure feels like a win. Our planning workflow adds a second lens—buying power—by dividing gross USD equivalents by a static country cost-of-living index (US baseline = 1.0).
This is not take-home pay, city-level rent, or tax optimization. It is a coarse signal for questions like “Will this offer stretch further than my current market?” before you open employer-specific calculators.
When leaders diverge
In our mid-level catalog average, nominal leaders are often high-cost hubs. Buying-power leaders frequently include markets where gross pay is moderate but living costs are lower in the model.
- Nominal #1 (avg mid USD): Switzerland ($126,905)
- Buying power #1 (avg): Switzerland ($99,144 US-equivalent)
Practical workflow
- Compare gross bands on the country + role salary page.
- Check buying power on the matrix or map—not as a single truth, but as a tie-breaker.
- Use city comparison pages when moving between hubs in different countries.
- Cite the Salary Index JSON if you publish research—link to methodology.