Cost-of-living rankings · Eurostat PLI 2024
Best Value: Income vs Cost of Living
Where median net income stretches furthest against local prices — real affordability, not headline pay.
- #1 Best value
- Luxembourg (33209)
- Average index
- 22197
- Top–bottom spread
- 20336
- Countries ranked
- 29
The verdict
According to Eurostat, Luxembourg leads on affordability score at 33209, ahead of Norway at 31263; the Top 5 cutoff is 28175, with a 20336-point spread down to Hungary.
- 33209
- #1 Luxembourg
- 31263
- #2 Norway
- 28175
- Top 5 cutoff
- 20336
- Top–bottom spread
Every figure is rendered live from the same Eurostat 2024 ranking query as the table below, no AI summaries, no synthetic statistics.
Top 10 - Best value
Best Value: Income vs Cost of Living (top 10)
Affordability score = median net income ÷ local price level (EU-27 = 100). Higher means a typical income stretches further.
Full ranking, all 29 countries
What this shows: each bar's length is this country's affordability score relative to the highest value in the table (33209); hover or tap a bar for its share of the #1 leader and exact rank.
| Rank | Country | Affordability score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | |
| 2 | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 3 | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 4 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 5 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 6 | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 8 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 9 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 10 | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | 🇲🇹 Malta | |
| 12 | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 13 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 14 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | |
| 15 | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 16 | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 17 | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 18 | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 19 | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 20 | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 21 | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 22 | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | |
| 23 | 🇪🇪 Estonia | |
| 24 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 25 | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 26 | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | |
| 27 | 🇷🇴 Romania | |
| 28 | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 29 | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
Wide best value gap: Luxembourg → Hungary
Affordability score = median net income ÷ local price level. Luxembourg (33209) leads Hungary (12873) by 20336 points on this stretch metric. Compare the raw pieces on best-value and highest income.
Mid-table Italy (22489) is far from both poles, the favourable end is a different cost world from the tail. Open any country profile for the full per-category breakdown.
Income and price sides
What to do with this ranking
Luxembourg and Hungary anchor the two ends of this best value table -- open either profile for the full per-category breakdown, or compare them side by side.
- Luxembourg's full cost profile
- Compare Luxembourg vs Hungary
- See the highest income ranking
- Run your own numbers in the calculator
Rankings reflect national averages, not a personal budget -- a country's largest cities typically run above its national figure.
Source: Eurostat, comparative price levels (prc_ppp_ind) and median equivalised net income Price-level indices, EU-27 = 100, 2024.
Sources: Eurostat comparative price levels (prc_ppp_ind) · Eurostat median equivalised net income (ilc_di03) · 2024. Methodology