What things really cost, everywhere.
The same iPhone, Big Mac, or Netflix plan carries a different price and a very different weight in every country. We show all three: local currency, US dollars, and days of local income.
Work to afford one iPhone 17 Pro
Same phone. In United States it is 4.5 days of average income; in India, 6.1 months.
Full country ranking →Six datasets, one honest question
Every figure is scraped from a first-party source and stamped with the date we read it. No estimates, no user submissions.
iPhone
$1,099 – $1,484
iPhone 17 Pro spans $385 between USA and Germany.
Big Mac Index
53 countries
From 6 min of work in Hong Kong to 5.4 hrs at the other end.
Netflix
$7 vs $27
Same Premium plan, wildly different price. India versus the USA, per month.
Gasoline
170 countries
What a litre of petrol costs, from the cheapest pumps to the most expensive.
Spotify
Premium plan
Music streaming priced for local wallets. The gap is bigger than you think.
Affordability Index
4.5 days → 6.1 months
Every price divided by local income. The number that actually decides who can buy.
How long do you work for a burger?
The Big Mac is made to the same recipe worldwide, which makes it a quietly perfect yardstick. Priced against local wages, minutes of work reveal what an exchange rate hides. Fresh from The Economist, 2026-01-01.
All 53 countries →Where the iPhone 17 Pro is easy, and where it is not
Days of average income to buy one, ranked. The dollar price barely moves; the human cost is a different story.
Start with a country
Everything we know about local prices, side by side, in one place.
The cost of living, in the news
Fresh reporting on prices, inflation and affordability from around the web, refreshed each time we rebuild.
Gas giants use AI to raise prices, lawsuit says, another algorithmic hit to the cost of living
Los Angeles Times · Jul 1, 2026
Affordability isn’t a slogan — it’s a governing agenda.
The Washington Post · Jul 2, 2026
Lowering the Cost of Living for American Families
Center for American Progress · May 19, 2026
The Real Cost of Retiring to Scottsdale, Arizona, at 65 on $950,000 Stress Free
24/7 Wall St. · Jul 3, 2026
The American Affordability Tracker
Urban Institute · Apr 2, 2026
Graphic: How grocery prices have changed since Trump took office
NBC News · Jul 1, 2026
How do grocery prices today compare to those 50 years ago?
The Columbus Dispatch · Jul 3, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Where do the prices come from?
Each dataset is scraped directly from a first-party source: Apple's country storefronts, Netflix and Spotify's own pages, The Economist's Big Mac dataset, and GlobalPetrolPrices. Incomes are World Bank GNI per capita. Every table shows the source and the date we read it.
What does “days of income” mean?
We take a country's average income (World Bank GNI per capita) and divide the price by the daily share of it. It answers a more honest question than the dollar price: how much of your life does this cost here?
Are the US prices really the lowest?
Often, but not always — and it's partly an illusion. US prices exclude sales tax, which varies by state, while every other country's price includes VAT or GST. We flag this on every Apple table.
How often is the data updated?
Snapshots are refreshed by re-running the scrapers and rebuilding the site. Each page carries the exact retrieval date so you always know how fresh a number is.