Country-level cost-of-living data is a national average, and averages flatten the places people actually live. Capital cities and financial hubs are routinely 20–60% more expensive than their national baseline, with rent doing most of that work.
Where the gap comes from
Rent is local in a way that few other costs are. A television costs roughly the same in every city in a country; a one-bedroom flat does not. Restaurants and services follow rent upward, because staff have to live nearby. Groceries and utilities move far less.
That is why Parity Check applies separate city multipliers for rent, groceries, restaurants, transport and utilities rather than a single blanket adjustment. A city can be expensive to rent in and cheap to eat in, and a single number would hide that.
Making the comparison useful
Compare like with like: capital to capital, or second city to second city. Then weight the categories by your own spending. If you rent, the rent multiplier dominates your result. If you own outright, it barely matters and the grocery and services figures carry more weight.
The city view is an estimate built on national data plus local price ratios, so treat it as a well-informed starting point rather than a budget.