Boston vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Boston	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3652	$2584
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$8068	$5778
🏠 One person rent	$2548	$1504
🏘️ Family rent	$4099	$2234
🍽️ Food expenses	$735	$732
🚐 Transport expenses	$144	$191
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$6190	$4329
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	100	100
😀 Quality of life	94	93
🏙️ Population	676K	1.6M

The cost of living in Boston is 41% more expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 27th and 744th ($3652 vs $2584) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 21st and 660th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Boston compared to 1.7 months in Philadelphia. Ranked 12th vs 25th best cities to live in the United States, and 71st vs 95th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Boston vs Philadelphia infographic

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Prices in Boston vs Philadelphia

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

	Boston	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22	$20
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$104	$95.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.7	$13.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.06	$6.02
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$5.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.89	$2.84
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2890	$1597
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2183	$1193
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5272	$2401
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3425	$1807
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$153
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$231	$232
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$74.5	$76.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.39%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9693	$3243
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6005	$2372
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.39	$2.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$89.8	$99
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.5	$15.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.9	$0.85
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$4.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.86	$8.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.54	$4.46
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$14.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.2	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.6	$6.04
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$4.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.83	$5.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.32	$3.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$3.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.62	$1.47
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.82	$3.85
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$17	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.29	$1.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.4	$14.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.56	$9.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.02	$7.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.01	$4
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.01	$2.35
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$93.3	$58.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.5	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$189	$85.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$27.9	$28.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.5	$51.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$110	$95
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2782	$2021
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$27427	$15283

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Boston

Distance	City	Cost of living
4 km or 2.5 mi	Cambridge	$3768
4.4 km or 2.7 mi	Chelsea	$3107
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Somerville	$3647
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	Everett	$2977
5.7 km or 3.5 mi	Brookline	$3134
6.9 km or 4.3 mi	Revere	$2960
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Malden	$3002
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Medford	$2701
10 km or 6.2 mi	Belmont	$2997
10 km or 6.2 mi	Arlington	$2937
10 km or 6.2 mi	Watertown	$2952
11 km or 6.9 mi	Melrose	$2865
12 km or 7.5 mi	Milton	$2981
12 km or 7.5 mi	Winchester	$2821
12 km or 7.7 mi	Newton	$2811
13 km or 7.8 mi	Saugus	$2815
13 km or 8.1 mi	Quincy	$3159
14 km or 8.6 mi	Stoneham	$2785
14 km or 8.9 mi	Waltham	$2866
15 km or 9.4 mi	Lynn	$2732
15 km or 9.5 mi	Woburn	$2646
16 km or 9.6 mi	Dedham	$2915
16 km or 10 mi	Needham	$2854
16 km or 10 mi	Lexington	$2769
16 km or 10 mi	Wakefield	$2750
18 km or 11 mi	Braintree	$2922
18 km or 11 mi	Weymouth	$2929
19 km or 12 mi	Reading	$2728
19 km or 12 mi	Hingham	$2913
20 km or 12 mi	Burlington	$2414
20 km or 13 mi	Wellesley	$2838
21 km or 13 mi	Norwood	$2862
22 km or 14 mi	Peabody	$2837
22 km or 14 mi	Randolph	$2869
22 km or 14 mi	Salem	$3016
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmington	$2582
23 km or 14 mi	Marblehead	$2817
23 km or 14 mi	Canton	$2855
25 km or 16 mi	Natick	$2920
26 km or 16 mi	Stoughton	$2833

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2593
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2580
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2638
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2616
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2408
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2603
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2578
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2603
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2476
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2568
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2594
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2637
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2627
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2358
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2620
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2610
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2737
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2267
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2676
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2609
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2671
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2355
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2741
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2533
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2121
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2608
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$3102
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2524
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2797
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2846
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2883
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2714
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2770
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2880
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2323
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2278
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2948
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2239
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2737
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2886