Birmingham vs Glasgow - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Birmingham	Glasgow
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1951	$2011
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4641	$4929
🏠 One person rent	$1137	$1155
🏘️ Family rent	$1834	$2177
🍽️ Food expenses	$481	$524
🚐 Transport expenses	$175	$165
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3011	$3222
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	96	94
😀 Quality of life	94	95
🏙️ Population	1.14M	626K

The cost of living in Birmingham is 3% less expensive than in Glasgow. Cities ranked 1973rd and 1806th ($1951 vs $2011) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 86th and 64th in the United Kingdom.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Birmingham compared to 1.6 months in Glasgow. Ranked 4th vs 2nd best cities to live in the United Kingdom, and 35th vs 24th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Birmingham vs Glasgow infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Birmingham vs Glasgow

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

	Birmingham	Glasgow
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.7	$18.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$89.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.87	$9.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.15	$6.25
☕ Cappuccino	$4.2	$4.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.15	$2.06
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1083	$1168
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$872	$840
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2013	$2489
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1380	$1650
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$187	$210
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$292	$320
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$35.8	$39.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.86%	5.41%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4882	$3920
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3808	$2776
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.5	$3.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$78.1	$78.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$23.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.82	$1.85
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.51	$1.72
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.04	$2.43
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.02	$3.63
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$9.64
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.49	$8.33
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$13.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.52
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$3.09
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$3.57
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.61
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.83
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.95
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.12	$2.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10.2	$10.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.99	$2.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.4	$18.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$2.83
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.98	$3.37
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.99	$2.87
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.44	$2.34
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$30.6	$47.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$16.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$113	$80.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.4	$16.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$82.3	$115
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.2	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1512	$1078
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18058	$15092

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 Glasgow

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.9 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
11 km or 7.1 mi	Paisley	$1765
16 km or 10 mi	Hamilton	$1699
19 km or 12 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
32 km or 20 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
34 km or 21 mi	Greenock	$1601
35 km or 21 mi	Stirling	$1604
37 km or 23 mi	Irvine	$1551
40 km or 25 mi	Alloa	$1649
46 km or 29 mi	Livingston	$1608
50 km or 31 mi	Ayr	$1404
54 km or 34 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
66 km or 41 mi	Edinburgh	$2140
73 km or 45 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
78 km or 49 mi	Perth	$1500
97 km or 60 mi	Dumfries	$1246
104 km or 65 mi	Dundee	$1482
136 km or 85 mi	Carlisle	$1567
152 km or 94 mi	Whitehaven	$1732
161 km or 100 mi	Bangor	$1382
170 km or 106 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692
176 km or 110 mi	Belfast	$1755
181 km or 112 mi	Inverness	$1722
187 km or 116 mi	Lisburn	$1713
191 km or 119 mi	Douglas	$1968
193 km or 120 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1726
195 km or 121 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
196 km or 121 mi	Gateshead	$1705
200 km or 124 mi	Jarrow	$1651
201 km or 125 mi	Tynemouth	$1638
202 km or 126 mi	South Shields	$1628
203 km or 126 mi	Washington	$1637
207 km or 128 mi	Elgin	$1393
208 km or 129 mi	Durham	$1707
210 km or 131 mi	Sunderland	$1510
211 km or 131 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1592
218 km or 135 mi	Derry	$1390
219 km or 136 mi	Morecambe	$1714
222 km or 138 mi	Lancaster	$1629
227 km or 141 mi	Darlington	$1288