City Salary Equivalent Calculator

Ten lakh in Hyderabad, twelve-eighty in Mumbai

A salary of ₹10,00,000 in Hyderabad needs to be ₹12,82,051 in Mumbai to sustain the same standard of living — an increase of ₹2,82,051, or 28.21%.

That figure is the one worth having before any relocation conversation. A move that comes with a 15% raise and a 28% cost increase is a pay cut, and it is remarkably easy to accept one without noticing.

How the equivalence is computed

Equivalent salary = current salary × (new city index ÷ current city index)

The index captures relative cost across the main categories of household spending — housing, groceries, utilities, transport and services — weighted roughly by how much of a typical budget each consumes.

Housing dominates, and that is why the spread between Indian cities is as wide as it is. Rent can differ by 50% or more between Mumbai and Hyderabad for a comparable flat, while groceries and utilities differ far less. In most cost-of-living comparisons, the rent line explains the majority of the total difference.

What the index does not capture

Tax is unchanged. Income tax in India is national, so moving cities does not alter your slab. What can change is professional tax, which is a state levy ranging from nil in Delhi, Haryana and UP to the ₹2,500 annual cap elsewhere — a small effect, but real.

HRA metro status can change, and this is not small. From FY 2026-27 the metro list covers eight cities at a 50% exemption cap against 40% elsewhere, so a move between a metro and a non-metro alters your HRA exemption by ten percentage points of basic. For an old-regime filer paying substantial rent, that can be worth more than a modest raise.

Commute cost and time. Two cities with identical indices can differ enormously in how long it takes to get to work, and time is not in any index.

Lifestyle is not preserved automatically. The index assumes you consume a comparable basket. People frequently adjust — smaller flat, longer commute, different neighbourhood — which makes the move affordable while changing what was being compared.

Beyond the number

A relocation decision that turns purely on the equivalence figure misses several things that matter more over a few years:

Career trajectory. A move into a deeper market for your skills can be worth accepting a flat or slightly negative adjustment, because the next two moves are priced off a different base.

One-time costs. Deposits, brokerage, moving and setting up a home routinely run to several months of salary and are not recovered.

Proximity to family, schooling, and whether a partner can find comparable work.

The direction of the adjustment. Moving from an expensive city to a cheaper one at the same salary is a real-terms raise, and it is the easier trade to accept — but it can also reset your salary base downward for future negotiations if the new employer anchors on local rates.

Reading the result

Treat the equivalent salary as a negotiating floor, not a target. It is the point at which you are no worse off, and a move that leaves you exactly no better off is rarely worth the disruption.

Note also that indices are averages across a whole city. Mumbai spans an enormous range, and a specific comparison between the neighbourhoods you would actually live in is more informative than a city-level figure. Where you can, price the actual rent for the actual area.

Common mistakes

Comparing gross salary without adjusting for cost. A 20% raise into a 30% more expensive city is a cut.

Ignoring one-time relocation costs. They can consume the first year's gain entirely.

Forgetting the HRA metro change. It can be worth ten percentage points of basic.

Using city averages for a specific neighbourhood. Ranges within a city are wider than differences between cities.

Omitting commute time from the comparison. It is a cost even when it is not an expense.