Brisbane vs Essen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Brisbane	Essen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2323	$1519
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5585	$3766
🏠 One person rent	$1439	$642
🏘️ Family rent	$2525	$1100
🍽️ Food expenses	$586	$537
🚐 Transport expenses	$144	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4313	$3165
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	25 km
🎓 Higher education	66	96
😀 Quality of life	97	95
🏙️ Population	2.71M	587K

The cost of living in Brisbane is 53% more expensive than in Essen. Cities ranked 1241st and 3925th ($2323 vs $1519) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 521st in Australia and Germany, respectively. Check Australia vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Brisbane compared to 2.1 months in Essen. Brisbane ranked 3rd best city to live in Australia vs Essen ranked 3rd in Germany, while ranked 3rd and 23rd 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 Brisbane vs Essen

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

	Brisbane	Essen
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.8	$16.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.2	$72.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.69	$5.63
☕ Cappuccino	$4.32	$3.91
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$2.88
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1733	$571
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1173	$434
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3028	$1047
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2142	$794
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.5	$141
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$217
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$54.9	$39.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.91%	3.95%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$8341	$4896
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5970	$3071
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$4.17
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.5	$69.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.6	$31.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.39	$1.96
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$1.31
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.24	$1.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.91	$2.8
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.18	$3.68
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.38	$15.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.56	$10.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$25.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.14	$3.15
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$2.19
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.97	$2.29
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.11	$3.68
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$1.42
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$0.81
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.95	$2.05
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.2	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.98	$1.05
🚬 Cigarette pack	$24.3	$9.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.15	$11.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.18	$2.72
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.49	$1.56
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.62	$1.58
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$53.3	$36.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.5	$88.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$24	$15.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$87.8	$97.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2164	$483
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13265	$9789

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brisbane

Distance	City	Cost of living
31 km or 19 mi	Ipswich	$1825
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1992
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2341
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2530
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1863
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1838
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1720
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$2672
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1883
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1720
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1273
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1643
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1642
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1995
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1855
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2354
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$2040
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1709
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2481
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2844
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1701
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1460
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1695
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1795
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2258
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1825
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$2015
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1816
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1905
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1493
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$2000
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1933
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1936
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2543
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1915
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1834
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1913

Cities near Essen

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.5 km or 5.9 mi	Gelsenkirchen	$1506
9.6 km or 6 mi	Mulheim	$1575
10 km or 6.3 mi	Bottrop	$1468
11 km or 7.1 mi	Oberhausen	$1636
12 km or 7.8 mi	Velbert	$1580
13 km or 8.3 mi	Hattingen	$1552
14 km or 8.4 mi	Gladbeck	$1538
14 km or 8.8 mi	Heiligenhaus	$1588
15 km or 9 mi	Bochum	$1548
18 km or 11 mi	Herne	$1624
18 km or 11 mi	Duisburg	$1507
19 km or 12 mi	Herten	$1565
19 km or 12 mi	Wulfrath	$1605
19 km or 12 mi	Sprockhovel	$1565
20 km or 13 mi	Ratingen	$1637
22 km or 14 mi	Witten	$1559
23 km or 14 mi	Recklinghausen	$1580
23 km or 14 mi	Mettmann	$1629
23 km or 14 mi	Dinslaken	$1551
24 km or 15 mi	Dorsten	$1557
24 km or 15 mi	Castrop-Rauxel	$1534
24 km or 15 mi	Wuppertal	$1547
25 km or 16 mi	Marl	$1568
26 km or 16 mi	Erkrath	$1653
27 km or 17 mi	Schwelm	$1589
27 km or 17 mi	Oer-Erkenschwick	$1565
27 km or 17 mi	Moers	$1544
27 km or 17 mi	Wetter	$1545
28 km or 17 mi	Gevelsberg	$1559
28 km or 18 mi	Voerde	$1566
28 km or 18 mi	Ennepetal	$1572
29 km or 18 mi	Haan	$1662
30 km or 18 mi	Dusseldorf	$1913
30 km or 18 mi	Herdecke	$1528
30 km or 19 mi	Rheinberg	$1559
31 km or 20 mi	Hilden	$1673
32 km or 20 mi	Neukirchen-Vluyn	$1564
32 km or 20 mi	Waltrop	$1533
32 km or 20 mi	Solingen	$1698
32 km or 20 mi	Datteln	$1538