Brussels vs Budapest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Brussels	Budapest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2030	$1580
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4894	$3914
🏠 One person rent	$1166	$810
🏘️ Family rent	$1999	$1423
🍽️ Food expenses	$628	$474
🚐 Transport expenses	$88	$133
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3313	$1832
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	96	92
😀 Quality of life	91	81
🏙️ Population	196K	1.69M

The cost of living in Brussels is 28% more expensive than in Budapest. Cities ranked 1939th and 3675th ($2030 vs $1580) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Belgium and Hungary, respectively. Check Belgium vs Hungary comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.2 months in Budapest. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Budapest ranked 1st in Hungary, while ranked 121st and 646th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Brussels vs Budapest

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

	Brussels	Budapest
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.2	$13.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$80	$67.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.7	$9.83
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.64	$3.67
☕ Cappuccino	$4.38	$3.6
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.4	$2.11
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1112	$839
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$903	$633
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2002	$1498
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1605	$1160
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$169	$111
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$262	$170
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.2	$25.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.77%	6.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5037	$6164
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4002	$4452
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$1.64
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.5	$29.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.4	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.06	$1.93
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.51	$1.3
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.7	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.65
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.8	$4.14
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$12.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$7.46
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21.4	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.04	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$2.29
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.57
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$3.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.14
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$1.14
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.43
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.5	$2.86
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.36	$5.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.55	$1.35
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.8	$8.37
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$15.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.04	$4.48
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$2.71
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.3	$3.32
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.1	$74.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.3	$10.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38	$79
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.2	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$117
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$122
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1423	$549
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19621	$17067

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	$1896
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1895
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1926
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1969
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1837
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1870
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1861
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1866
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1844
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1874
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1832
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$1993
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1843
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1833
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1888
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1793
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1848
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1819
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1813
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1769
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1845
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1799
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1881
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1895
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1769
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1703
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1781
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1743
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1686
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1757
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1688
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1799
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1746
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1753
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1742
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1799
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1939
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1829
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1727
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1834

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$1228
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$973
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1226
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$1115
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$1203
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$1195
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$1063
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$981
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$914
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$1139
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1156
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$1019
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1126
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$1117
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$928
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$941
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$1124
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1031
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$974
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$1028
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1218
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1340
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$1058
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$978
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1117
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$1042
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$1032
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1308
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$1034
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$1067
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$967
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$915
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$893
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1475
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1590
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$848
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$1076
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$1189
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1255
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1160