Bern vs Ottawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bern	Ottawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2381	$2055
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6677	$4624
🏠 One person rent	$1185	$1212
🏘️ Family rent	$2375	$1940
🍽️ Food expenses	$829	$563
🚐 Transport expenses	$112	$162
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6312	$3115
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	6 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	80	50
😀 Quality of life	94	90
🏙️ Population	135K	1.02M

The cost of living in Bern is 16% more expensive than in Ottawa. Cities ranked 987th and 1701st ($2381 vs $2055) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 42nd and 25th in Switzerland and Canada, respectively. Check Switzerland vs Canada comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.7 months in Bern compared to 1.5 months in Ottawa. Bern ranked 8th best city to live in Switzerland vs Ottawa ranked 9th in Canada, while ranked 36th and 162nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bern vs Ottawa infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/bern/ottawa.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Bern vs Ottawa infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/bern/ottawa" target="_blank">Bern vs Ottawa - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Bern vs Ottawa

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

	Bern	Ottawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$23.7	$16
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$88.2	$65.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$16.9	$10.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.52	$5.54
☕ Cappuccino	$5.64	$3.82
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$4.62	$1.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1326	$1214
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$889	$1014
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2668	$2032
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1931	$1649
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$163	$109
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$252	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.3	$49.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.51%	6.14%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$13401	$4939
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$11590	$4597
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.31	$2.82
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$89.3	$92
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$41	$15
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.99	$1.07
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.02	$2.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.94	$2.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.35	$2.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.88	$3.53
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$24.7	$13.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$29.9	$12.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$42.1	$14.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.57	$4.03
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.31
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.32	$3.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.34	$3.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.27	$2.55
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.74	$1.03
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.91	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.6	$13.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.79	$2.47
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$13.9	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.41	$4.15
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.83	$1.95
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.8	$1.46
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$72.2	$41.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21.8	$10.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$58.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$46.7	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$131	$53.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$156	$88.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2981	$942
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27477	$19030

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bern

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.5 km or 2.2 mi	Koniz	$2457
25 km or 16 mi	Thun	$2481
26 km or 16 mi	Biel/Bienne	$2331
28 km or 17 mi	Fribourg	$2470
40 km or 25 mi	Neuchatel	$2308
43 km or 27 mi	Interlaken	$2637
48 km or 30 mi	Bulle	$2658
50 km or 31 mi	La Chaux-de-Fonds	$2287
64 km or 40 mi	Kriens	$2891
64 km or 40 mi	Yverdon-les-Bains	$2776
66 km or 41 mi	Lucerne	$2931
66 km or 41 mi	Emmen	$2897
67 km or 42 mi	Aarau	$2252
67 km or 42 mi	Allschwil	$2717
69 km or 43 mi	Basel	$2643
70 km or 44 mi	Montreux	$3088
71 km or 44 mi	Saint-Louis	$1286
72 km or 45 mi	Riehen	$3234
73 km or 45 mi	Rheinfelden	$1447
73 km or 45 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1442
76 km or 47 mi	Lorrach	$1434
77 km or 48 mi	Lausanne	$2732
80 km or 50 mi	Sion	$1950
80 km or 50 mi	Renens	$2738
85 km or 53 mi	Zug	$3426
86 km or 54 mi	Baar	$3099
87 km or 54 mi	Baden	$3059
88 km or 55 mi	Wettingen	$2970
88 km or 55 mi	Dietikon	$2934
88 km or 55 mi	Belfort	$1360
89 km or 56 mi	Mulhouse	$1249
92 km or 57 mi	Altstetten	$3037
94 km or 58 mi	Horgen	$2976
95 km or 59 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1472
95 km or 59 mi	Zurich	$3296
98 km or 61 mi	Wadenswil	$2960
102 km or 63 mi	Dubendorf	$2988
104 km or 65 mi	Bulach	$2873
106 km or 66 mi	Uster	$2974
109 km or 68 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$2861

Cities near Ottawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Gatineau	$1768
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2202
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1633
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1875
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1894
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1762
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1830
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1733
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1768
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1807
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1761
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1753
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1819
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1732
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1814
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1704
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1814
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1810
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1841
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$1900
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1690
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1803
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1792
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1658
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1776
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1773
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1824
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1857
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1735
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1790
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1852
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1835
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1889
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2004
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1804
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1743
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1764
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1651
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1836
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1800