Birmingham vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Birmingham	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1951	$1744
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4641	$4212
🏠 One person rent	$1137	$947
🏘️ Family rent	$1834	$1673
🍽️ Food expenses	$481	$491
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3011	$3148
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	96	92
😀 Quality of life	94	96
🏙️ Population	1.14M	1.09M

The cost of living in Birmingham is 12% more expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 1973rd and 2551st ($1951 vs $1744) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 86th and 24th in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively. Check the United Kingdom vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Birmingham compared to 1.8 months in Cologne. Birmingham ranked 4th best city to live in the United Kingdom vs Cologne ranked 2nd in Germany, while ranked 35th and 12th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Birmingham vs Cologne infographic

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Prices in Birmingham vs Cologne

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

	Birmingham	Cologne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$13.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$61.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.87	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$4.67
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$3.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.15	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1083	$963
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$872	$743
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2013	$1902
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1380	$1332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$187	$120
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$186
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.8	$40.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.86%	4.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4882	$6163
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3808	$5539
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$3.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$78.1	$56.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$22.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.83
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$2.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$3.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$13.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.49	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$20.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$2.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.55
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$4.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.12	$2.22
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.2	$6.56
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.4	$8.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$8.17
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$2.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.99	$1.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.44	$1.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.6	$32.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$11.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$113	$49.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$18.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.3	$94.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$103
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1512	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18058	$15595

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Birmingham

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.7 km or 2.9 mi	Smethwick	$1819
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	West Bromwich	$1824
11 km or 6.6 mi	Halesowen	$1766
12 km or 7.2 mi	Solihull	$1740
12 km or 7.6 mi	Walsall	$1717
14 km or 8.7 mi	Dudley	$1745
14 km or 8.7 mi	Aldridge	$1743
15 km or 9.6 mi	Willenhall	$1732
17 km or 10 mi	Stourbridge	$1731
19 km or 12 mi	Wolverhampton	$1718
19 km or 12 mi	Bromsgrove	$1728
20 km or 12 mi	Redditch	$1608
22 km or 14 mi	Tamworth	$1737
25 km or 15 mi	Cannock	$1736
26 km or 16 mi	Kidderminster	$1744
27 km or 17 mi	Coventry	$1903
30 km or 19 mi	Nuneaton	$1452
31 km or 19 mi	Warwick	$1679
32 km or 20 mi	Leamington Spa	$2009
35 km or 22 mi	Stratford-upon-Avon	$1798
37 km or 23 mi	Hinckley	$1663
39 km or 24 mi	Worcester	$1569
39 km or 24 mi	Stafford	$1750
40 km or 25 mi	Burton upon Trent	$1633
43 km or 27 mi	Telford	$1450
45 km or 28 mi	Rugby	$1600
55 km or 34 mi	Leicester	$1805
57 km or 35 mi	Derby	$1727
57 km or 35 mi	Loughborough	$1759
60 km or 37 mi	Banbury	$1693
61 km or 38 mi	Stoke-on-Trent	$1552
63 km or 39 mi	Shrewsbury	$1591
63 km or 39 mi	Newcastle-under-Lyme	$1465
66 km or 41 mi	Cheltenham	$1739
66 km or 41 mi	Market Harborough	$1790
70 km or 44 mi	Leek	$1686
72 km or 45 mi	Gloucester	$1623
73 km or 45 mi	Hereford	$1814
73 km or 46 mi	Nottingham	$1820
73 km or 46 mi	Northampton	$1748

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1578
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1822
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1569
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1559
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1572
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1554
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1586
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1551
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1536
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1576
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1534
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1577
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1544
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1559
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1529
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1554
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1523
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1518
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1522
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1497
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1542
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1677
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1522
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1580
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1502
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1497
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1517
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1504
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1494
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1499
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1494
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1516
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1446
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1503
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1495
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1479
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1490
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1500
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772