u/Apoxie

For average monthly rents, the published value for the Netherlands refers to The Hague rather than Amsterdam, so I used The Hague.

Rent values are taken exclusively from Eurostat:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/prc_colc_rents/default/table?lang=en

For the flat and house categories used in the rent data, Eurostat covered selected neighbourhoods in each surveyed city. Methodology/source booklet:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/6939681/0/Booklet_2026_rents_2025_e_Final.pdf/d2cd0065-f017-16a7-dfa2-7dad9d6fa84b?t=1766065004758

This rent survey was designed for cost-of-living comparisons for expatriate staff of the EU and international organisations, with Brussels used as the reference city. Broadly speaking, it is part of a cost-of-living comparison used to adjust the remuneration of EU officials and other international civil servants depending on their place of employment.

The surveyed neighbourhoods are therefore good-quality residential areas where officials, international civil servants, and similar professionals would be expected to live. For that reason, this data should not be treated as a city-wide rental index. However, this caveat is already included in the chart.

Here is what page 4 of the booklet says about the selected neighbourhoods:

“Since the aim of the entire exercise is to compare ‘like with like’, the neighbourhoods surveyed may not necessarily be in those areas where expatriates actually live but are comparable with those actually occupied by officials in Brussels. These neighbourhoods are described as residential areas of good quality, favoured by expatriates and professional people such as international civil servants, university staff, doctors, managers, and similar professionals, who pay their rent by themselves, i.e. not paid by their employers.”

Note: In many European countries, including Sweden, Romania and Latvia, the common local practice is to count the living room as a “room”. So a 2-bedroom flat/house is often described as a 3-room property: 2 bedrooms + 1 living room.

----------------

By “2 × median net income”, I mean 2 × monthly national median equivalised net income from Eurostat ilc_di03.

For median equivalised net income, I used Eurostat ilc_di03 annual median equivalised net income values for 2025, which refer to the 2024 income reference year, divided by 12:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_di03/default/table?lang=en

These are country-level figures, not city-specific wages, and they refer to median equivalised net household income, not individual salaries. Median incomes are likely higher in many capital cities than in the country as a whole, but I still found this comparison useful as a consistent cross-country benchmark.

The values used here are filtered by age class 18–64. This means the final median is calculated only for people aged 18 to 64. However, the income measure itself is still based on total household net income, adjusted for household size and composition.

Eurostat uses the modified OECD equivalence scale: the first adult counts as 1.0, each additional household member aged 14 or over counts as 0.5, and each child under 14 counts as 0.3.
Source:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary%3AEquivalised_disposable_income

Example: if John earns €20,000 net per year, Mary earns €20,000, and John’s grandfather, aged 67, earns €10,000, and they all live in the same household, total household net income is €50,000. With an equivalence scale of 2.0, the household’s equivalised net income is €25,000 per year. This value is then assigned to each household member.

With the 18–64 filter, John and Mary would each be counted in the final median calculation with an equivalised net income of €25,000 per year, while the grandfather would not be counted in that final calculation. However, the grandfather’s income and household weight still affect the household’s equivalised income.

Source: citycostatlas.com / citycostatlas on Instagram. On the website, you can compare different metrics against each other, view city rankings based on various metrics, use an interactive map that instantly displays data about each selected capital, and use “Ask City Cost Atlas” to ask questions about the data available on the site.