Dreaming of the expat life? Here’s a cost-of-living calculator that can help make it happen

Dreaming about living in another country is easy, but creating a budget to make it happen is hard. Here’s help.

Name: theearthawaits.com

What it does: The Earth Awaits website helps you get a financial picture for what the amount of money it would take to live abroad. Indicate your monthly budget, family size, accommodation size and location, your economic style of living (Very Lean, Lean, Modest, Ample, Opulent), drive rate and pollution preference, and the Earth Awaits will suggest destinations around the globe. See a gallery of destinations, save favorites, view ratings and check a general cost breakdown. Monthly memberships range from free to $6 a month for increased data to a $48 annually.

What’s hot: Can a family of three live in a two-bedroom apartment in Europe for $3,500 a month? Yes, and for considerably less too. I found enticing cities in Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania, Germany, Lithuania and more. If becoming a location independent digital nomad is a priority, you’ll love that you can browse destinations and sort cities by Internet download/upload speeds. If you want to do that search within a specific continent, just use the filter to narrow your results. For example Bogotá and Cali, Colombia, and São Paulo, Brazil, ranked highest when I did this search in South America. Click on the Advanced section of your “Search� to sort according to quality of life, budget, language, attitudes about the LGBT community, healthcare and other attributes.

What’s not: The cost breakdowns are general. If you want to see specifics such as the cost of an apartment by size in your city of interest, or the price of a dozen eggs, boneless chicken breasts, domestic or imported beer, etc. — make sure you click on the Budget section once you are on the main page for your destination.

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