Where should you live?
Five questions. A costed plan, in order.
What do you earn, and where?
$113,800
a year, 76% of itWhere you should live depends on more than tax. Above a certain income, the useful question is no longer which country shows the lowest rate. It is what to do, in what order, with a family, a career and sometimes shares. This flow asks one question per screen and adapts: if you are staying, it goes straight to what you can do where you are; if you could leave, it takes in your family, what matters to you besides money, and the cases that change everything, such as large holdings of shares or US citizenship. You finish with a figure, a short list of countries, the gross to ask for so you lose nothing, and the steps in order: enough to prepare a real meeting rather than a hunch.
What the plan works out
It runs your salary through each country’s real tax bands and contributions. It compares that net with yours, before and after local prices, then finds the gross you would need there to lose nothing.
It does not replace a tax adviser. It gets you to that meeting with the right questions and the right orders of magnitude.
Beyond money it relies on public figures: homicides, political stability and rule of law for safety; PISA results and the published fee of an international school for schools; life expectancy and fine particles for health; housing and consumption price levels for cost of living. A country in the bottom third on something you tick leaves the list, and the plan says how many were left out. These national averages describe no district and no school: they are there to rule out quickly, not to choose for you.
Questions
At what salary is moving worth it?
There is no single threshold. Gaps between countries widen as pay rises, but housing, schools and a pension you must now fund yourself can take them back. The plan prices the gain at your salary before and after local prices, so you can see whether the move still pays once daily life is counted.
How do I negotiate a salary for a job abroad?
Start from the net you keep today, not from your gross. The plan works out the gross needed in each country to keep that net, using its real bands and contributions. Treat that as your floor, then add housing, schooling and flights home, since these often decide whether an offer is really better.
Why does the plan ask about my family?
Because a partner or children staying behind can keep you resident in your old country whatever your day count says, and because schooling often decides both the date and the cost of a move. Choosing children also ticks schools for you, so that countries in the bottom third on results leave your list.
Are my answers stored?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us. Your answers live only in the page address, which you can copy to return later or to share with an adviser, or simply discard. That address does contain your salary, so share it only with people you would tell anyway.
Figures 2026, checked on