Brussels vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$2597
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$6395
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$1516
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$2783
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$4131
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	96	99
😀 Quality of life	89	90
🏙️ Population	196K	1.6M

The cost of living in Brussels is 30% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 2354th and 664th ($1816 vs $2597) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 610th in Belgium and the United States, respectively. Check Belgium vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.6 months in Philadelphia. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Philadelphia ranked 28th in the United States, while ranked 190th and 138th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Philadelphia infographic

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

Prices in Brussels vs Philadelphia

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

	Brussels	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$20.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$94.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$5.96
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$5.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$2.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$1616
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$1200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$3231
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$2273
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$161
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$247
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$71.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	6.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$3404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$2379
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$95.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$4.25
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$9.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$4.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$19.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$12.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$6.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$2.2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$5.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$5.41
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.59
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.4
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$3.63
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$1.93
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$13.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$9.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$5.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$3.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$50.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$14.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$102
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$24.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$52.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$89.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$2066
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$19774

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2625
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2596
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2683
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2621
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2415
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2610
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2574
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2604
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2477
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2567
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2600
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2591
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2608
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2368
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2600
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2611
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2787
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2493
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2423
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2582
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2541
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2353
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2683
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2676
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2085
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2653
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$2901
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2642
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2739
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2919
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2819
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2723
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2782
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2849
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2303
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2264
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2880
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2320
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2557
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2693