Brussels vs Dresden - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Brussels	Dresden
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2030	$1448
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4894	$3599
🏠 One person rent	$1166	$637
🏘️ Family rent	$1999	$1099
🍽️ Food expenses	$628	$517
🚐 Transport expenses	$88	$159
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3313	$3219
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	96	65
😀 Quality of life	91	92
🏙️ Population	196K	566K

The cost of living in Brussels is 40% more expensive than in Dresden. Cities ranked 1939th and 4158th ($2030 vs $1448) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 592nd in Belgium and Germany, respectively. Check Belgium vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 2.2 months in Dresden. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Dresden ranked 17th in Germany, while ranked 121st and 96th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Brussels vs Dresden

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

	Brussels	Dresden
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.2	$14.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$80	$75.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.7	$11.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.64	$5.44
☕ Cappuccino	$4.38	$4.13
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.4	$3.84
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1112	$652
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$903	$423
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2002	$1203
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1605	$764
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$169	$131
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$262	$210
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.2	$37.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.77%	3.99%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5037	$5147
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4002	$2772
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.91	$3.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$63.5	$73.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.4	$23.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.06	$2.06
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.51	$1.33
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.7	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.42
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.8	$3.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$16.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$10.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21.4	$23.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.04	$3.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$2.2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.07
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$3.69
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.7
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$1.59
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.5	$1.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.36	$5.91
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.55	$1.07
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.8	$8.96
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$9.37
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.04	$2.47
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.43
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.3	$1.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.1	$34.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.3	$13
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38	$52.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.2	$16
👖 Brand Jeans	$102	$87.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$106	$107
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1423	$446
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19621	$15933

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 Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1412
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1410
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1417
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1424
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1430
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1316
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1445
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1216
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1440
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1141
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1503
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1517
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1461
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1470
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1094
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1530
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1276
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1332
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1174
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1464
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1419
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1438
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1505
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1482
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1460
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1299
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1467
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1332
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1363
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1131
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1174
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1579
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1659
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1244
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1402
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1112
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1195
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1218
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1551