Brussels vs Budapest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Budapest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$1109
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$2730
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$553
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$965
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$342
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1229
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	96	92
😀 Quality of life	89	79
🏙️ Population	196K	1.69M

The cost of living in Brussels is 64% more expensive than in Budapest. Cities ranked 2354th and 4777th ($1816 vs $1109) 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 1.1 months in Budapest. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Budapest ranked 1st in Hungary, while ranked 190th and 618th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Budapest infographic

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<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	$18.9	$9.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$45
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$7.53
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$2.55
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$2.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$1.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$426
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$1044
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$769
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$79.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$123
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$18.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	6.95%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$4106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$2694
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$1.18
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$23.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$2.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$5.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.66
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.13
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.15
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$1.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$5.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$1.03
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$5.93
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$9.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$3.38
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$2.15
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$51
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$7.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$49.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$71.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$82.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$374
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$11151

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 Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$901
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$790
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$939
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$843
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$924
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$827
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$794
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$762
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$684
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$855
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1045
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$781
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1019
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$823
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$987
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$666
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$786
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$922
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$784
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$784
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1039
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1237
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$802
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$747
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1080
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$794
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$892
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1181
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$676
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$692
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$681
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$750
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1202
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1275
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$768
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$766
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$848
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1118
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1039