Brussels vs Bucharest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Bucharest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$988
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$2566
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$474
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$877
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$339
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$67.6
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1247
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	12 km
🎓 Higher education	96	77
😀 Quality of life	89	79
🏙️ Population	196K	1.72M

The cost of living in Brussels is 84% more expensive than in Bucharest. Cities ranked 2354th and 5565th ($1816 vs $988) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Belgium and Romania, respectively. Check Belgium vs Romania comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.3 months in Bucharest. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Bucharest ranked 1st in Romania, while ranked 190th and 645th 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	$18.9	$10.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$44.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$7.25
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$2.9
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$3.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$2.09
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$520
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$337
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$999
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$658
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$90.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$141
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$9.28
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	7.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$3094
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$1793
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$0.63
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$17.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$5.57
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.52
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.6
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$0.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$3.05
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$8.55
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$6.56
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.15
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.62
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.6
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$2.05
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.94
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.89
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$2.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$7.28
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$1.12
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$5.84
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$4.93
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.61
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$3.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$42.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$7.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$51.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$72.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$84
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$569
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$11573

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	$1651
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1663
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1667
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1692
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1580
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1647
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1642
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1660
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1539
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1685
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1618
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1788
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1626
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1556
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1615
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1594
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1541
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1607
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1585
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1536
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1599
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1560
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1663
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1683
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1446
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1492
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1537
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1523
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1461
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1488
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1530
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1362
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1509
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1520
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1475
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1514
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1578
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1613
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1488
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1640

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$867
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$847
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$796
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$633
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$704
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$629
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$729
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$696
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$722
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$743
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$623
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$622
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$938
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$770
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$594
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$702
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$752
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$741
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$848
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$598
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$786
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$631
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$892
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$929
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1002
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$546
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$698
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$837
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$718
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$725
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$574
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$721
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$687
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$650
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$605
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$758