MoneyToolsGlobal Study · July 2026
The Real Purchasing Power Index 2026: Where $100,000 Actually Goes Furthest
Our Take-Home Pay Index ranked cities by how much of a $100,000 salary survives tax. This study asks the more useful question: after tax and after rent, groceries, eating out, transport, and utilities, how much is actually left over? Same benchmark salary, same 20 cities, a very different ranking.
Key findings
- Dubai leaves the most real disposable income on a $100,000-equivalent salary: about $62,398 a year after tax and essential living costs.
- San Francisco leaves the least — roughly $17,714 — with essential costs consuming 77.0% of net pay, the highest share on the list.
- New York ranks #5 on take-home pay alone but falls to #18 once real living costs are subtracted — a reminder that keep-rate and purchasing power are not the same question.
- San Francisco ranks #7 on take-home pay alone but falls to #20 once real living costs are subtracted — a reminder that keep-rate and purchasing power are not the same question.
- Zero-income-tax cities don't automatically win: Dubai tops the list, but Singapore, London, and New York all combine strong take-home pay with living costs high enough to erase most of the advantage.
Real disposable income on a $100,000 salary, 2026
Net pay minus annual rent, groceries, eating out, transport, and utilities — in USD equivalent.
The full 2026 ranking
| # | City | Net pay | Essentials | Disposable | Essentials % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dubai | $100,000 | $37,602 | $62,398 | 37.6% |
| 2 |  Austin | $80,419 | $33,840 | $46,579 | 42.1% |
| 3 |  Sydney | $76,580 | $30,824 | $45,757 | 40.2% |
| 4 |  Vancouver | $74,219 | $31,324 | $42,896 | 42.2% |
| 5 | Toronto | $73,014 | $31,200 | $41,814 | 42.7% |
| 6 | Seattle | $79,967 | $41,280 | $38,687 | 51.6% |
| 7 | Chicago | $76,558 | $38,940 | $37,618 | 50.9% |
| 8 |  Madrid | $62,375 | $24,848 | $37,528 | 39.8% |
| 9 | Barcelona | $61,593 | $24,430 | $37,163 | 39.7% |
| 10 |  Berlin | $65,661 | $29,557 | $36,105 | 45.0% |
| 11 | Miami | $80,419 | $45,300 | $35,119 | 56.3% |
| 12 |  Lisbon | $60,213 | $26,087 | $34,126 | 43.3% |
| 13 |  Singapore | $74,455 | $42,340 | $32,115 | 56.9% |
| 14 |  Paris | $65,610 | $33,991 | $31,619 | 51.8% |
| 15 |  Zurich | $77,885 | $47,823 | $30,063 | 61.4% |
| 16 |  Amsterdam | $61,443 | $34,330 | $27,113 | 55.9% |
| 17 |  London | $74,291 | $47,392 | $26,899 | 63.8% |
| 18 | New York | $78,669 | $54,984 | $23,685 | 69.9% |
| 19 |  Dublin | $67,860 | $47,165 | $20,695 | 69.5% |
| 20 | San Francisco | $76,994 | $59,280 | $17,714 | 77.0% |
Methodology
For each city we converted a $100,000 benchmark salary to local currency at the same fixed reference rates used in our Take-Home Pay Index, then calculated net pay with the same 2025/26 tax engine that powers every calculator on this site. From that net figure we subtracted annual essential living costs — city-centre one-bedroom rent, groceries, eating out, transport, and utilities, sourced from our cost of living data for each city — and converted the remainder back to USD for comparison.
This deliberately measures a single professional's essential budget, not a family's, and doesn't include savings goals, debt, healthcare premiums outside what's already modelled in each city's tax system, or discretionary spending beyond eating out. It also uses city-centre rent specifically; choosing a home further from the centre would improve the disposable figure in every city, sometimes substantially — see each city's cost of living breakdown for the outside-centre comparison.
This study is updated annually alongside the Take-Home Pay Index. For questions or the underlying figures, contact us.