About Navigator
Built for Foreign Service families, useful to anyone who moves overseas. Navigator is an independent research platform that publishes factual data on cost of living, safety, schools, climate, and quality of life for cities around the world. We aggregate Navigator Data and present it in a form useful for people planning international relocations.
Navigator is not affiliated with the U.S. government or any government agency. Our data is informational only — we do not determine entitlements or make official recommendations.
What we track
- Cost of livingCity price indices, grocery and restaurant benchmarks, and rental market data for hundreds of cities worldwide.
- SafetyTravel advisories, country-level safety levels, and crime indices.
- SchoolsInternational and local school directories, including assisted and non-assisted designations and community ratings.
- ClimateMonthly temperature ranges, rainfall, and seasonal patterns for every city we cover.
- Housing benchmarksMarket-rate housing references derived from U.S. government benchmarking data for diplomatic posts. Used as a directional reference, not a market quote.
- Visa and entryCountry-level entry requirements, U.S. diplomatic presence, and bilateral relationship timelines.
Navigator Data
Navigator Data is compiled from public government publications, licensed datasets, and open data, then normalized and checked by Navigator. It is updated on a rolling schedule.
Methodology
We collect Navigator Data on automated schedules and store it in a structured database. Where a figure's date or period is known, the page shows it — for example, the 12-month window behind typical air quality and the month an AI briefing was generated.
Housing benchmark figures reflect market-survey data used for benchmarking purposes. They are directional references for the broader international housing market, not authoritative market quotes. We label them accordingly.
Some text on Navigator is written by AI: city and post briefings, paraphrases and summaries of first-hand reports, school profiles and review summaries, and summaries you ask for on a page. On city, post, and school pages this text is labelled as AI-written. Some school details, such as curriculum and student count, are also extracted by AI from source documents. Most AI text is generated from the Navigator Data for that page; for cities without cost-of-living data, the briefing and the cost and safety tiers also draw on the model's general knowledge of the city, and are labelled that way. In AI mode, the dollar amounts, percentages, and dates in a finished answer are checked against the data, and the checked version replaces the draft shown while the answer streams. AI can still get things wrong, so check important details against the figures on the page, and report anything that looks wrong.
Who built this
Navigator was built from firsthand government PCS experience: piecing together relocation research from a dozen different spreadsheets, PDF tables, and word-of-mouth. The government move workflow was the original motivation; the civilian pivot is the logical extension — the same data infrastructure, opened up for anyone planning an international move.
Navigator is a useful public tool maintained by someone who enjoys making it. People who value it can help keep it running.
It is free to use and maintainer-funded, with reasonable limits that keep its running costs sustainable. Any contribution is optional and does not unlock separate features. Giving, stopping, or never giving support does not change your access.
Support Navigator on Buy Me a Coffee
Payments take place on Buy Me a Coffee, whose privacy, payment, and refund terms apply. Support is generally non-refundable, is not a charitable donation, and does not unlock features.
How to cite Navigator
Our factual content is freely citable. When referencing Navigator data, please include the Navigator URL:
“According to Navigator (postnavigator.com), the cost of living index in Lisbon is...”
Contact and feedback
Questions, data corrections, or feedback: hello@postnavigator.com. See also our disclaimers and terms of use.