Brisbane vs Essen - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brisbane	Essen
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2016	$1443
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4617	$3513
🏠 One person rent	$1227	$690
🏘️ Family rent	$2041	$1216
🍽️ Food expenses	$503	$461
🚐 Transport expenses	$149	$150
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3747	$2980
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	25 km
🎓 Higher education	66	96
😀 Quality of life	97	94
🏙️ Population	2.71M	587K

The cost of living in Brisbane is 40% more expensive than in Essen. Cities ranked 1792nd and 3685th ($2016 vs $1443) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 10th and 413th 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 4th best city to live in Australia vs Essen ranked 5th in Germany, while ranked 7th and 33rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brisbane vs Essen infographic

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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	$13.3	$13
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$64.1	$49.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.64	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.35	$4.01
☕ Cappuccino	$3.51	$3.1
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.72	$2.45
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1443	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1015	$444
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2386	$1177
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1744	$833
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$77.6	$180
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$119	$274
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$48.7	$40.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.36%	3.97%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7172	$4052
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4905	$3401
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.32	$3.43
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$40.1	$56
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$25.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.24	$1.73
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.45	$1.1
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.98	$1.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$2.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.09	$3.2
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.49	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$11.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.6	$18.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$2.74
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.75	$2.18
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$3.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$1.49
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.09	$1.61
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.84	$0.62
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.36	$1.85
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.2	$6.49
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.37	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$23.5	$7.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.01	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.9	$2.46
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.09	$1.42
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.9	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45	$29.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.9	$13.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$57.5	$80.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.2	$13.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$76	$89.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$102	$92.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1504	$417
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$7949	$8902

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	$1677
45 km or 28 mi	Caboolture	$1748
66 km or 41 mi	Southport	$2067
71 km or 44 mi	Gold Coast	$2239
75 km or 47 mi	Caloundra	$1683
91 km or 57 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1709
107 km or 66 mi	Toowoomba	$1504
143 km or 89 mi	Byron Bay	$1781
243 km or 151 mi	Hervey Bay	$1638
299 km or 186 mi	Bundaberg	$1557
315 km or 196 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1963
362 km or 225 mi	Armidale	$1185
441 km or 274 mi	Gladstone	$1478
441 km or 274 mi	Port Macquarie	$1681
520 km or 323 mi	Rockhampton	$1411
618 km or 384 mi	Newcastle	$1448
682 km or 424 mi	Dubbo	$1702
719 km or 447 mi	Dee Why	$2099
722 km or 449 mi	Kellyville	$1824
730 km or 453 mi	Blacktown	$1584
732 km or 455 mi	Parramatta	$2252
733 km or 455 mi	Sydney	$2539
740 km or 460 mi	Bathurst	$1538
748 km or 465 mi	Orange	$1511
801 km or 498 mi	Wollongong	$1416
869 km or 540 mi	Goulburn	$1616
945 km or 587 mi	Canberra	$2023
1006 km or 625 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1457
1009 km or 627 mi	Griffith	$1619
1111 km or 690 mi	Townsville	$1667
1224 km or 761 mi	Shepparton	$1601
1278 km or 794 mi	Mildura	$1691
1320 km or 820 mi	Bendigo	$1291
1337 km or 831 mi	Traralgon	$1727
1367 km or 849 mi	Sunbury	$1691
1372 km or 853 mi	Pakenham	$1654
1375 km or 855 mi	Melbourne	$2194
1376 km or 855 mi	Berwick	$1643
1376 km or 855 mi	South Yarra	$1620
1377 km or 856 mi	Dandenong	$1645

Cities near Essen

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.5 km or 5.9 mi	Gelsenkirchen	$1418
9.6 km or 6 mi	Mulheim	$1434
10 km or 6.3 mi	Bottrop	$1367
11 km or 7.1 mi	Oberhausen	$1485
12 km or 7.8 mi	Velbert	$1428
13 km or 8.3 mi	Hattingen	$1444
14 km or 8.4 mi	Gladbeck	$1422
14 km or 8.8 mi	Heiligenhaus	$1444
15 km or 9 mi	Bochum	$1486
18 km or 11 mi	Herne	$1559
18 km or 11 mi	Duisburg	$1314
19 km or 12 mi	Herten	$1438
19 km or 12 mi	Wulfrath	$1433
19 km or 12 mi	Sprockhovel	$1431
20 km or 13 mi	Ratingen	$1497
22 km or 14 mi	Witten	$1489
23 km or 14 mi	Recklinghausen	$1407
23 km or 14 mi	Mettmann	$1479
23 km or 14 mi	Dinslaken	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Dorsten	$1430
24 km or 15 mi	Castrop-Rauxel	$1464
24 km or 15 mi	Wuppertal	$1233
25 km or 16 mi	Marl	$1435
26 km or 16 mi	Erkrath	$1516
27 km or 17 mi	Schwelm	$1404
27 km or 17 mi	Oer-Erkenschwick	$1432
27 km or 17 mi	Moers	$1439
27 km or 17 mi	Wetter	$1451
28 km or 17 mi	Gevelsberg	$1435
28 km or 18 mi	Voerde	$1434
28 km or 18 mi	Ennepetal	$1431
29 km or 18 mi	Haan	$1517
30 km or 18 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772
30 km or 18 mi	Herdecke	$1455
30 km or 19 mi	Rheinberg	$1435
31 km or 20 mi	Hilden	$1522
32 km or 20 mi	Neukirchen-Vluyn	$1445
32 km or 20 mi	Waltrop	$1459
32 km or 20 mi	Solingen	$1580
32 km or 20 mi	Datteln	$1448