How the date is calculated
Rent Freedom Day = rent ÷ take-home pay × days in the month, rounded up to the day the rent is fully covered. At 74% in a 31-day month, rent takes 22.9 days, so it's paid off on the 23rd. At 100% or more, the month runs out first.
The workday clock applies the same share to an 8-hour day starting at 9:00.
City figures share one source, so they compare fairly: Deutsche Bank Research, Mapping the World's Prices 2025, built on crowdsourced Numbeo prices. City-centre rents run above city-wide averages, so read them as the cost of living close to work. The stories above use other studies, each labelled with its basis.