Bern vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Bern	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2857	$4202
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7212	$9189
🏠 One person rent	$1571	$2718
🏘️ Family rent	$2760	$4417
🍽️ Food expenses	$890	$842
🚐 Transport expenses	$127	$400
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$7360	$5389
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	81	100
😀 Quality of life	93	95
🏙️ Population	137K	8.8M

The cost of living in Bern is 32% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 348th and 4th ($2857 vs $4202) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 40th and 1st in Switzerland and the United States, respectively. Check Switzerland vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.6 months in Bern compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Bern ranked 6th best city to live in Switzerland vs New York City ranked 2nd in the United States, while ranked 52nd and 15th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Bern vs New York City

Prices for goods and services in Bern and New York City are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Bern	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$26.3	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$108	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$18	$13.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.92	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$7	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$5.23	$3.28
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1759	$3692
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1244	$2206
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3129	$5140
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2271	$3874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$170	$144
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$263	$218
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.2	$70.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.14%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$16402	$18073
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9845	$7831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.26	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$101	$138
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$45.6	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.25	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.36	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.22	$4.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.46	$5.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$8.68	$6.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$25.6	$16.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$27.1	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$40.5	$18.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$6.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.98	$5.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.27	$6.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$3.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.9	$1.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.27	$3.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.5	$19.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.56	$4.61
🚬 Cigarette pack	$11.6	$18.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$15.1	$23.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.95	$14
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.31	$8.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$4.4	$2.86
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$91.1	$132
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$26.2	$21.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$112	$159
💇 Haircut, simple	$48.4	$40.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$143	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$168	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2526	$2095
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$29629	$21713

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bern

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.5 km or 2.2 mi	Koniz	$2907
25 km or 16 mi	Thun	$2711
26 km or 16 mi	Biel/Bienne	$2543
28 km or 17 mi	Fribourg	$2891
40 km or 25 mi	Neuchatel	$2868
43 km or 27 mi	Interlaken	$3138
48 km or 30 mi	Bulle	$3043
50 km or 31 mi	La Chaux-de-Fonds	$2554
64 km or 40 mi	Kriens	$3199
64 km or 40 mi	Yverdon-les-Bains	$3126
66 km or 41 mi	Lucerne	$3321
66 km or 41 mi	Emmen	$3288
67 km or 42 mi	Aarau	$2644
67 km or 42 mi	Allschwil	$3117
69 km or 43 mi	Basel	$3034
70 km or 44 mi	Montreux	$3393
71 km or 44 mi	Saint-Louis	$1507
72 km or 45 mi	Riehen	$3587
73 km or 45 mi	Rheinfelden	$1695
73 km or 45 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1700
76 km or 47 mi	Lorrach	$1700
77 km or 48 mi	Lausanne	$3134
80 km or 50 mi	Sion	$2468
80 km or 50 mi	Renens	$3125
85 km or 53 mi	Zug	$4491
86 km or 54 mi	Baar	$3519
87 km or 54 mi	Baden	$3312
88 km or 55 mi	Wettingen	$3264
88 km or 55 mi	Dietikon	$3348
88 km or 55 mi	Belfort	$1447
89 km or 56 mi	Mulhouse	$1465
92 km or 57 mi	Altstetten	$3514
94 km or 58 mi	Horgen	$3492
95 km or 59 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1679
95 km or 59 mi	Zurich	$3857
98 km or 61 mi	Wadenswil	$3441
102 km or 63 mi	Dubendorf	$3281
104 km or 65 mi	Bulach	$3231
106 km or 66 mi	Uster	$3239
109 km or 68 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$3286

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192