What is the PhD stipend affordability calculator?

It compares estimated monthly living costs with PhD stipends to show how far a salary stretches in each country. Rankings on this page use the median gross stipend from funded institute scholarships listed on phd-scholarship.com (open vacancies are excluded).

How is the affordability score calculated?

Living cost ≈ €1,200 × country factor. Score = estimated net stipend ÷ living cost → band (not from country factor alone). Net stipend uses country tax profiles where we have them (e.g. 0% for many Baltic doctoral stipends). Example: Germany — factor 1.09 → living €1,302; median stipend €2,200 (net ≈ €2,024) → score 1.55 → Comfortable. Norway has a higher factor but a much higher median stipend, so the score is still higher.

How are taxes on PhD stipends handled?

We apply one effective tax rate per country from our database (synced from config). Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, UK, and Australia are modelled at 0% for typical stipends; employed PhDs in the Netherlands at ~20%. No profile → gross used as net. Not tax advice.

What do the comfort bands mean?

Tight (<0.9), Adequate (0.9–1.4), Comfortable (1.4–1.6), Relaxed (1.6–2.0), Generous (≥2.0). Indicative only — not financial advice.

What is the country factor?

The country factor is a living-cost multiplier derived from Eurostat or OECD price level indices (EU27 = 100 baseline). Higher factor means higher estimated living costs. City pages apply an extra city factor on top.

Where does stipend data come from?

Country rankings use the median monthly grant field from published institute posts on this site. Countries without enough institute stipend data are omitted from the table.

Where does living cost data come from?

Price level indices from Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) and OECD PPP datasets, synced to our API. Figures are simplified estimates for students, not official government budgets.

PhD stipend affordability calculator

Compare living costs and stipend purchasing power across countries. Rankings use the median monthly stipend from PhD scholarships on this site (institutes only, not open vacancies).

Country	Median stipend	Country factor	Living cost	Score	Band
Norway	€4,000	1.24	€1,490	2.42	Generous
Denmark	€4,300	1.45	€1,741	2.17	Generous
Switzerland	€4,500	1.74	€2,084	1.99	Relaxed
Sweden	€2,800	1.14	€1,372	1.80	Relaxed
Netherlands	€3,050	1.17	€1,404	1.74	Relaxed
Austria	€2,400	1.12	€1,342	1.65	Relaxed
Iceland	€3,500	1.58	€1,890	1.63	Relaxed
Germany	€2,200	1.09	€1,302	1.56	Comfortable
Australia	€2,650	1.44	€1,728	1.53	Comfortable
Finland	€2,500	1.24	€1,493	1.51	Comfortable
Belgium	€2,400	1.17	€1,409	1.45	Comfortable
United Kingdom	€2,000	1.19	€1,426	1.40	Comfortable
Singapore	€1,630	0.95	€1,140	1.36	Adequate
France	€1,900	1.12	€1,346	1.34	Adequate
Croatia	€1,200	0.75	€896	1.21	Adequate
Spain	€1,400	0.91	€1,093	1.15	Adequate
Italy	€1,460	0.98	€1,174	1.12	Adequate
Portugal	€1,275	0.87	€1,040	1.10	Adequate
United States	€2,000	1.35	€1,614	1.05	Adequate
Slovenia	€1,200	0.90	€1,074	1.03	Adequate
Lithuania	€1,000	0.82	€985	1.02	Adequate
Greece	€1,100	0.86	€1,028	0.96	Adequate
Ireland	€1,700	1.37	€1,646	0.93	Adequate
Canada	€1,500	1.25	€1,500	0.88	Tight
Slovakia	€900	0.84	€1,006	0.82	Tight
Latvia	€790	0.82	€985	0.80	Tight
Poland	€600	0.68	€810	0.74	Tight
Estonia	€815	1.01	€1,211	0.67	Tight
Czech Republic	€625	0.93	€1,112	0.53	Tight
Romania	€420	0.61	€733	0.53	Tight
Hungary	€380	0.74	€887	0.39	Tight

City-level estimates

Living costs adjusted with a city factor on top of the country factor (e.g. Munich vs Berlin).

Brno (Czech Republic) city factor 0.88
Copenhagen (Denmark) city factor 1.10
Paris (France) city factor 1.18
Berlin (Germany) city factor 0.95
Munich (Germany) city factor 1.12
Amsterdam (Netherlands) city factor 1.15
Wageningen (Netherlands) city factor 0.92
Uppsala (Sweden) city factor 0.95
Bern (Switzerland) city factor 1.05
Zürich (Switzerland) city factor 1.20
London (United Kingdom) city factor 1.22

Affordability calculator — FAQ

What is the PhD stipend affordability calculator?: It compares estimated monthly living costs with PhD stipends to show how far a salary stretches in each country. Rankings on this page use the median gross stipend from funded institute scholarships listed on phd-scholarship.com (open vacancies are excluded).
How is the affordability score calculated?: Living cost ≈ €1,200 × country factor. Score = estimated net stipend ÷ living cost → band (not from country factor alone). Net stipend uses country tax profiles where we have them (e.g. 0% for many Baltic doctoral stipends). Example: Germany — factor 1.09 → living €1,302; median stipend €2,200 (net ≈ €2,024) → score 1.55 → Comfortable. Norway has a higher factor but a much higher median stipend, so the score is still higher.
How are taxes on PhD stipends handled?: We apply one effective tax rate per country from our database (synced from config). Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, UK, and Australia are modelled at 0% for typical stipends; employed PhDs in the Netherlands at ~20%. No profile → gross used as net. Not tax advice.
What do the comfort bands mean?: Tight (<0.9), Adequate (0.9–1.4), Comfortable (1.4–1.6), Relaxed (1.6–2.0), Generous (≥2.0). Indicative only — not financial advice.
What is the country factor?: The country factor is a living-cost multiplier derived from Eurostat or OECD price level indices (EU27 = 100 baseline). Higher factor means higher estimated living costs. City pages apply an extra city factor on top.
Where does stipend data come from?: Country rankings use the median monthly grant field from published institute posts on this site. Countries without enough institute stipend data are omitted from the table.
Where does living cost data come from?: Price level indices from Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) and OECD PPP datasets, synced to our API. Figures are simplified estimates for students, not official government budgets.

Country factor comes from Eurostat/OECD price levels only. Band uses both factor and the median stipend on this site (estimated net pay after tax). Indicative only — not tax or financial advice.