Brussels vs Dresden - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Brussels	Dresden
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2065	$1531
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4988	$3749
🏠 One person rent	$1165	$706
🏘️ Family rent	$2046	$1209
🍽️ Food expenses	$658	$528
🚐 Transport expenses	$92.4	$159
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3697	$3314
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	96	65
😀 Quality of life	92	92
🏙️ Population	196K	566K

The cost of living in Brussels is 35% more expensive than in Dresden. Cities ranked 1872nd and 3968th ($2065 vs $1531) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 536th in Belgium and Germany, respectively. Check Belgium vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Brussels compared to 2.2 months in Dresden. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Dresden ranked 19th in Germany, while ranked 99th and 117th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
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	$24.7	$13.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$80.5	$75.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$14.7	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.48	$5.29
☕ Cappuccino	$4.55	$4.08
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.46	$3.91
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1092	$716
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$909	$462
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1988	$1275
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$840
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$160	$154
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$243
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$58.9	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.39%	3.93%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5177	$5211
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$3268
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.95	$3.75
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$64.8	$72.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.7	$24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.98	$2.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$1.25
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.76	$1.89
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$2.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.89	$3.74
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$15.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$21	$23
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3	$3.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.61	$2.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$2.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.82	$4.31
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.54	$1.69
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.76	$0.78
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.64	$1.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.72	$6.68
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.5	$1.05
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.6	$9.19
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.15	$2.57
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.52	$1.47
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.37	$1.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.9	$36
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15.7	$13.4
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.2	$55
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.9	$15.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$104	$90.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1225	$390
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19894	$16803

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	$1920
3.3 km or 2.1 mi	Saint-Gilles	$1932
4 km or 2.5 mi	Anderlecht	$1939
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Forest	$1993
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Woluwe-Saint-Lambert	$1853
6.2 km or 3.8 mi	Watermael-Boitsfort	$1906
7.3 km or 4.6 mi	Dilbeek	$1900
10 km or 6.3 mi	Sint-Pieters-Leeuw	$1917
10 km or 6.4 mi	Vilvoorde	$1866
11 km or 6.8 mi	Tervuren	$1894
15 km or 9 mi	Overijse	$1860
15 km or 9.1 mi	Waterloo	$2050
15 km or 9.1 mi	Halle	$1886
17 km or 11 mi	Zemst	$1854
19 km or 12 mi	Braine-l'Alleud	$1910
19 km or 12 mi	Rixensart	$1838
21 km or 13 mi	Mechelen	$1877
21 km or 13 mi	Tubize	$1851
23 km or 14 mi	Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve	$1834
23 km or 14 mi	Wavre	$1785
23 km or 15 mi	Herent	$1864
24 km or 15 mi	Ninove	$1809
24 km or 15 mi	Aalst	$1890
25 km or 15 mi	Leuven	$1920
26 km or 16 mi	Dendermonde	$1706
28 km or 17 mi	Nivelles	$1702
31 km or 20 mi	Braine-le-Comte	$1796
35 km or 22 mi	Lier	$1772
35 km or 22 mi	Geraardsbergen	$1692
36 km or 23 mi	Heist-op-den-Berg	$1815
37 km or 23 mi	Mortsel	$1734
37 km or 23 mi	Aarschot	$1830
37 km or 23 mi	Soignies	$1763
38 km or 23 mi	Zottegem	$1766
38 km or 24 mi	Lokeren	$1734
38 km or 24 mi	Sint-Niklaas	$1727
40 km or 25 mi	Gembloux	$1887
40 km or 25 mi	Beveren	$1849
41 km or 26 mi	Tienen	$1742
41 km or 26 mi	Antwerp	$1857

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1478
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1476
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1473
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1476
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1460
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1305
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1462
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1227
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1454
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1093
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1494
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1525
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1502
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1474
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1103
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1497
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1280
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1273
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1200
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1478
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1464
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1479
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1510
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1488
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1472
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1334
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1468
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1382
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1401
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1146
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1188
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1576
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1652
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1276
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1375
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1188
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1244
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1196
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1553