Does a Manila salary go further in the province?

Usually, yes. The same ₱40,000/month leaves roughly ₱3,000 after costs for a family of three in Makati, but around ₱14,000 in Davao — the swing is almost entirely housing.

NCR vs Province · Cost of living

Same salary, three cities. What's left at month-end?

One paycheck, three places to spend it. Rent, food, commute, utilities, school — see what a ₱40,000 salary actually buys in Makati versus Cebu versus Davao.

₱Drag salary and family size on the right. The cards rebalance live.

Your paycheck

Monthly salary₱40,000

Family size3

How to read it

Drag monthly salary and family size. Three city cards — Makati, Cebu, Davao — show net after rent, food, transport, utilities and school. Rent is fixed per city (a 2-bedroom); the variable costs scale with household size. The bar under each net figure is your keep rate: how much of the salary survives the month.

Why province ≠ cheap

Rent in Davao is 40% of Makati. But appliances, gadgets, branded clothes — even Lazada-shipped — cost the same. Food costs 15% less locally, 5% less for imported.

The biggest swing is housing. Net: a ₱40k Makati salary leaves ~₱3k after costs for a family of 3. The same salary in Davao leaves ~₱14k.

What ₱40k buys

The headline salary in this sim is ₱40,000/month — roughly a mid-level Manila office wage. In Makati it covers a small condo, a tight food budget and a daily commute, with almost nothing spare. Carry that exact same number to Davao and the leftover quadruples. The job didn't change. The map did.

The catch

Geographic arbitrage assumes the salary travels. Many high-paying roles don't exist outside NCR, and remote work isn't universal. The honest comparison isn't "cheaper city" — it's "can I earn a Manila salary while paying province prices?" When that holds, the gap below is yours to keep.

Citations

PSA FIES 2021 — Family Income & Expenditure Survey by region.
PSA Regional Price Index — CPI base prices NCR vs Region VII / XI.
Lamudi / OnePropertee (2024) — Q2 rental data across major PH cities.
BSP Regional Economic Indicators (2024).
NEDA Regional Development Reports — labor & cost structure by region.

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