How we calculate cost of living.
Where the daily travel-budget numbers on TravelMaxing come from, how the three tiers are defined, and what the data does and doesn't capture.
Data source
Our cost-of-living dataset is built from publicly-aggregated city-level spending data covering 330+ cities worldwide. Each city carries three datapoints — bare-minimum monthly cost, intermediate monthly cost, and luxury monthly cost — sourced from cost-comparison datasets like crowdsourced city cost reports and aggregated daily-spend traveler reports.
We aggregate city-level numbers up to country-level using the median rather than the mean. Medians are robust against outliers (Monaco doesn't skew “France,” Aspen doesn't skew “USA”) and give numbers closer to what most travelers actually spend in a representative city.
The three budget tiers, explained
The same trip costs wildly different amounts depending on how you travel. We chose three tiers that map to how real travelers actually spend:
Bare minimum
Hostel dorms, street food, public transit, free attractions. Frugal backpacker mode. What you'd pay if you actually live like a backpacker in 2026 — not what was achievable on €15/day in 2014.
Intermediate
Private hostel room or budget hotel, mix of street food and casual sit-down restaurants, local transport with occasional rideshare, one or two paid activities per day. The realistic budget for most independent travelers — not roughing it, not luxury.
Luxury
Mid-to-high-end hotels, sit-down restaurants for every meal, private transfers, premium experiences and activities. Comfortable travel with no budget anxiety.
What's included in “daily cost”
- Accommodation — hostel bed, hotel, or short-term rental per night
- Food — 3 meals per day at the tier's typical restaurant mix
- Local transport — public transit, occasional rideshare/taxi
- Activities and attractions — typical paid experiences per day
- Day-to-day incidentals — coffee, snacks, drinks, small purchases
What's NOT included
- International flights — wildly variable based on origin city, season, and booking lead time. Use flight-comparison tools for those.
- Long-distance transport between cities — trains, internal flights, ferries. Add these per route, not per day.
- Visa fees and travel insurance — one-time costs that don't fit a per-day model. See our visa checker for visa categories per country.
- Major one-off splurges — multi-day treks, dive certifications, festival tickets. Plan these separately.
Known limitations
- Country-level numbers hide intra-country variation. Thailand's median masks the gap between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. For a multi-city trip, check city-level data where available.
- Exchange rates drift. Numbers are anchored in USD and re-aggregated periodically, but day-to-day FX movement can swing real-world budgets ±10%.
- Peak vs. off-season pricing. The median is annual-average; accommodation in peak season can run 50-200% above the median. Cross-reference with our when-to-visit guides to see when prices spike.
- Some countries have thin data. Cities with fewer cost-data points have lower confidence. We flag countries with very low city counts in the country detail pages.
- The dataset reflects 2024-2026 prices. Pandemic-era price disruption is mostly worked through, but some cities (Lisbon, Mexico City, Bali) have seen rapid cost increases that may outpace the median refresh cadence.
For journalists and researchers
We're happy to share cost-of-living rankings, regional comparisons, or specific country cuts for citation in articles. If you need the underlying city-level data with proper attribution, email admin@travelmaxing.app.