Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 22, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how CostOfLiving.data ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects information when you visit uscostofliving.com (the "Site"). We are committed to transparency and to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), and other applicable privacy laws.

1. Who We Are

The Site is operated by Louis Sudre ("the Editor"), an independent publisher based in France. The Editor is the data controller responsible for the processing of personal data collected through the Site.

Contact: contact form or contact@uscostofliving.com

2. Information We Collect

We do not require any account, registration, or subscription to browse the Site. We do not operate any user accounts, newsletters, or paid services. As a result, we do not directly collect names, postal addresses, phone numbers, or payment information.

2.1 Information collected automatically

When you visit the Site, certain information is automatically collected through cookies and similar technologies operated by our third-party service providers:

• Technical data: anonymized IP address, device type, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, referring URL.
• Usage data: pages visited, time spent on each page, clicks, search queries entered on the Site, approximate geographic location (country/region, derived from IP).
• Advertising data: information used by Google AdSense to serve ads, including cookie-based identifiers (see Section 4).

2.2 Information you provide

If you contact us via the contact form, we collect the name, email address, subject, and message you provide. This information is used solely to respond to your inquiry and is not used for any marketing purpose.

3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases under the GDPR:

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — for non-essential cookies, analytics, and personalized advertising. You may withdraw consent at any time through our consent banner.
• Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) — for strictly necessary cookies, Site security, and aggregated audience measurement that does not identify you.
• Performance of pre-contractual or contractual steps (Art. 6(1)(b)) — when you voluntarily contact us through the contact form.

4. Third-Party Services and Cookies

The Site uses the following third-party services. Each of these providers may place cookies or similar identifiers on your device and process your data under their own privacy policies.

4.1 Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd.)

We use Google Analytics 4 to measure audience and understand how visitors use the Site. IP addresses are anonymized before transmission. Collected data includes pages viewed, session duration, approximate geography, device and browser information.

• Cookies used: _ga, _ga_* (up to 13 months retention)
• Data retention: Event data is retained for 14 months by default.
• Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
• Opt-out: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

4.2 Google AdSense (Google LLC)

We display advertisements through Google AdSense, which may use cookies and similar technologies to show personalized or non-personalized ads. Google and its advertising partners may use information about your visits to this Site and other sites to provide targeted advertising.

• Cookies used: __gads, __gpi, IDE, NID, ANID, and others set by Google's advertising partners.
• How Google uses data from partner sites: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
• Advertising policy: policies.google.com/technologies/ads
• Manage ad personalization: adssettings.google.com
• Opt out of third-party advertising cookies: optout.aboutads.info (US) or youronlinechoices.com (EU)

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visits to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.

4.3 Consent Management Platform (CMP)

We use a consent banner compliant with the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) to obtain, record, and manage your consent choices before setting non-essential cookies. You can change your consent preferences at any time by clicking the consent link in our footer.

4.4 Hosting and CDN

The Site is hosted on infrastructure located in the European Union. Static assets may be served through content delivery networks (CDN) which log technical request metadata (IP, timestamp, URL) for security and performance purposes.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above for the following purposes:

• To operate and maintain the Site, secure it against abuse, and fix technical issues.
• To measure audience and understand which content is useful to visitors (aggregated analytics only).
• To serve relevant advertising that helps fund the free operation of the Site.
• To respond to inquiries sent through the contact form.
• To comply with legal obligations and defend legal claims, where required.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your information with data brokers. We do not build marketing profiles about you.

6. Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access — to obtain confirmation of whether we process data about you and a copy of that data.
• Right to rectification — to have inaccurate data corrected.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — to request deletion of your data.
• Right to restriction — to request that we limit how we process your data.
• Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interest, including profiling.
• Right to portability — to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format.
• Right to withdraw consent — at any time, through our consent banner or by contacting us.
• Right to lodge a complaint — with your local supervisory authority (in France, the CNIL: cnil.fr).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@uscostofliving.com. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Your Rights Under CCPA / CPRA (California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to know what categories of personal information we collect and the purposes.
• Right to delete personal information we have collected, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. However, the use of advertising cookies by Google AdSense may qualify as "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under CPRA. You can opt out through our consent banner or via Google's opt-out tools listed in Section 4.2.
• Right to limit use of sensitive personal information — we do not collect sensitive personal information as defined by CPRA.
• Right to non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

To submit a CCPA request, email contact@uscostofliving.com with the subject line "CCPA Request". We will verify your request using the email address you provide.

8. Data Retention

• Google Analytics event data: 14 months (Google default).
• Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*): up to 13 months.
• AdSense cookies: variable durations set by Google, generally up to 13 months.
• Contact form messages: retained for up to 24 months after the last exchange, then deleted.
• Server access logs: up to 12 months for security and abuse prevention.

9. International Data Transfers

Our third-party service providers (Google LLC in particular) are based in the United States. When data is transferred to the US, Google relies on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) adopted by the European Commission, and additional safeguards to ensure a level of protection essentially equivalent to that required in the EEA.

10. Children's Privacy

The Site is not directed to children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will promptly delete it.

11. Data Security

We use HTTPS (TLS encryption) for all connections to the Site. We rely on reputable service providers that implement industry-standard security measures. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

13. Contact

For any question regarding this Privacy Policy, your personal data, or to exercise your rights:

• Email: contact@uscostofliving.com
• Contact form: https://uscostofliving.com/contact