What London actually costs you
Tell us how you’d live, and we’ll add up the real monthly bill — rent, council tax, transport, food and the rest. Then see how that same life shades across every borough.
How the estimate is built
Your monthly total comes from five parts: rent, council tax, transport, food and groceries, and everyday essentials. Rent is the big one and the one people most often guess wrong, so it's drawn from ONS PIPR average private rents rather than a round number. Transport is costed by the travel zones you'd cross, council tax by borough band, and the rest from typical London spending at the lifestyle level you choose.
The result is split two ways: a clear monthly figure with a breakdown of where it goes, and a map that recolours every borough by how affordable it is against your budget. A cheaper rent further out often trades against longer, pricier travel — the map makes that trade-off visible instead of leaving it as a hunch.
Costs, take-home and where to live — together
A monthly cost only means something next to what you earn and where you'd live. See your whole picture — real costs, your actual take-home, and the boroughs that fit — rather than a total with no context. Work out your take-home first, then bring it here, then let the area tool rank the boroughs your budget reaches.
Common questions
How much does it cost to live in London per month?
- It depends most on rent and the borough you pick. A single person renting a one-bed outside the centre typically needs somewhere around £2,000–£2,800 a month all in; couples sharing and families sit higher. Rather than a single headline figure, the calculator builds your number from how you'd actually live — your rent, travel zones, and everyday spending.
Is £3,000 a month enough to live in London?
- For many single people, yes — £3,000 take-home covers rent, bills, travel and a reasonable social life with some margin, as long as the rent is kept sensible. It gets tighter for couples on one income or families. Enter your own setup to see what's left after a realistic month, and read the full breakdown in our £3,000-a-month guide.
Which London boroughs are the most affordable?
- Outer boroughs generally cost less to rent than central and inner-west ones, but travel time and zone fares rise as rent falls — so the cheapest rent isn't always the cheapest month. The calculator colours every borough by affordability against your budget, so you can see the trade-off rather than guess at it.
What does the calculator include?
- Rent (from ONS PIPR average private rents), council tax, transport by travel zone, food and groceries, and everyday essentials. You set the lifestyle level; we total the monthly bill and show how much of your take-home is left over.
How accurate is the cost-of-living estimate?
- Rents use official ONS figures and the other categories use typical London spend, so it's a sound planning estimate — not a quote. Your real costs shift with the exact flat, how often you eat out, and the deals you find on bills.
Keep going
Rank all 32 boroughs by what matters to you and what your budget reaches.
UK take-home pay calculator →Work out the take-home that this monthly budget has to come from.
Salary sacrifice pension calculator →Sacrificing salary into a pension changes the take-home this budget starts from — see by how much.
London cost of living — the full guide →The detailed read on what people really spend across the city.
Is £3,000 a month enough to live in London? →A worked example of a real London month on a set budget.