Brussels vs Bucharest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Brussels	Bucharest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2028	$1116
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4874	$2864
🏠 One person rent	$1133	$525
🏘️ Family rent	$1958	$907
🍽️ Food expenses	$649	$389
🚐 Transport expenses	$97.4	$80
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3458	$1391
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	96	77
😀 Quality of life	91	81
🏙️ Population	196K	1.72M

The cost of living in Brussels is 82% more expensive than in Bucharest. Cities ranked 1913th and 4913th ($2028 vs $1116) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Belgium and Romania, respectively. Check Belgium vs Romania comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Brussels compared to 1.2 months in Bucharest. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Bucharest ranked 1st in Romania, while ranked 165th and 646th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Bucharest infographic

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

Prices in Brussels vs Bucharest

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

	Brussels	Bucharest
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$25.6	$11.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$77.4	$54.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.1	$8.27
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.38	$3.41
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$3.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.18	$2.33
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1090	$576
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$879	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1983	$1044
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1587	$667
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$155	$98.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$235	$153
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.3	$10.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.23%	7.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4704	$3651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3801	$2102
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.93	$1.15
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.9	$22.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$26.7	$6.02
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.95	$1.68
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.63	$1.73
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.66	$1.16
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.43
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.86	$3.41
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$9.89
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$7.34
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.7	$12.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.95	$1.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.55	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$2.68
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.03
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.76	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$2.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.21	$8.07
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.34	$1.21
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.2	$6.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$8.09
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.07	$5.47
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.81
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.32	$3.18
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$47.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.2	$8.84
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$37.9	$61.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$79.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$92.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1055	$664
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22658	$14350

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Brussels

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	Schaerbeek	$1854
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1876
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1889
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1931
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1758
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1847
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1858
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1870
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1732
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1845
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1816
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$2025
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1835
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1791
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1863
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1787
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1835
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1801
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1806
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1745
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1823
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1768
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1846
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1867
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1571
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1648
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1746
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1737
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1657
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1830
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1696
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1794
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1722
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1724
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1745
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1671
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1867
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1804
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1666
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1818

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749