Your finances are one of the most important things to consider when planning your move. When you first start using Teleport Cities, we’ll ask you about your current income and rent and compare it to budget estimates we’ve gathered on all the startup cities. This way we can help you understand how and why your budget would change if you relocated.
In both the mobile and web app, in your Best Matches list you can see your annual budget upside or downside for every city.
We estimate your monthly salary in this potential new city and subtract your estimated costs for housing and other living costs. This result compared with the result of your current city shows us whether you'll have a budget upside or a downside moving to this new city.
If you see a budget upside for a city, then based on our estimation, it is likely that you are financially better off moving to this city compared to where you are currently living.
If you see a budget downside for a city, this doesn't mean automatically that you can't afford living in that city, it only says that it is likely you'll save less than in your current city.
Want a more detailed budget comparison in either the mobile or web app? Go to a city’s detail view and find the budget upside/downside section just below your match score summary. By tapping on that, you can see the breakdown of our calculations, including the estimated monthly income and costs compared to your current location.
For example, suppose someone living in Berlin is considering moving to either Rome or Toronto. Here is a comparison of monthly budgets for all three cities:
This means that moving to Rome would mean losing $800 a month ($9600 a year!) compared to staying in Berlin (i.e, "budget downside"). On the other hand, moving to Toronto would result in a monthly budget upside of $1400 which amounts to an upside of $16,800 a year compared to Berlin.
The conclusion is that budget upside could come from either side: higher income or lower cost. It is even possible that you're better off in a place where you seemingly make less, but the costs proportionally drop even more.
Hopefully this makes understanding the budget upside/downside a bit easier. If you still have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email at contact@teleport.org!
Looking for something else? Have a look at the previous feature posts we’ve written:
Understanding your match score
Update feed and following cities
