Brussels vs San Francisco - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	San Francisco
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$3905
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$8537
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$2719
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$4421
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$804
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$177
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$7528
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	96	97
😀 Quality of life	89	96
🏙️ Population	196K	874K

The cost of living in Brussels is 54% less expensive than in San Francisco. Cities ranked 2354th and 7th ($1816 vs $3905) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th 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 1.9 months in San Francisco. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs San Francisco ranked 1st in the United States, while ranked 190th and 16th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs San Francisco infographic

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

Prices in Brussels vs San Francisco

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

	Brussels	San Francisco
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$22.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$102
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$11.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$8.59
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$5.83
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$3.07
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$2797
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$2467
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$4615
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$4053
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$128
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$198
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$57.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	6.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$11255
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$10091
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$2.71
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$92.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$20.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.32
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.7
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$4.48
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$5.7
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$6.5
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$24.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$14.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$22.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$6.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$3.03
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$5.48
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$6.96
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.47
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$3.61
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$19.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$3.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$14
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$7.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$5.91
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.92
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$87.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$17.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$148
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$26.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$64.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$2824
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$20590

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 San Francisco

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.9 mi	Daly	$3190
14 km or 8.4 mi	South San Francisco	$3185
14 km or 8.8 mi	Alameda	$3364
15 km or 9.2 mi	Oakland	$2968
16 km or 10 mi	Albany	$2888
17 km or 10 mi	Berkeley	$2974
17 km or 11 mi	San Bruno	$3195
18 km or 11 mi	El Cerrito	$2929
18 km or 11 mi	Pacifica	$3183
19 km or 12 mi	Richmond	$3004
20 km or 12 mi	Millbrae	$3226
21 km or 13 mi	San Pablo	$2999
22 km or 14 mi	Burlingame	$3269
24 km or 15 mi	San Leandro	$2963
24 km or 15 mi	San Rafael	$3997
26 km or 16 mi	San Mateo	$3678
28 km or 17 mi	San Lorenzo	$2747
28 km or 18 mi	Foster	$3466
29 km or 18 mi	Lafayette	$2888
29 km or 18 mi	Hercules	$2840
31 km or 19 mi	Belmont	$3657
32 km or 20 mi	Hayward	$2811
32 km or 20 mi	Castro Valley	$3041
34 km or 21 mi	San Carlos	$3344
34 km or 21 mi	Walnut Creek	$2932
36 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3649
37 km or 23 mi	Martinez	$2780
37 km or 23 mi	Danville	$3785
37 km or 23 mi	Pleasant Hill	$2816
38 km or 24 mi	Union	$3002
39 km or 24 mi	San Ramon	$3045
39 km or 24 mi	Vallejo	$2412
39 km or 24 mi	Novato	$3115
39 km or 24 mi	Benicia	$2767
41 km or 25 mi	Concord	$2778
42 km or 26 mi	Menlo Park	$3326
42 km or 26 mi	East Palo Alto	$3286
43 km or 27 mi	Newark	$3060
45 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3059
46 km or 28 mi	Palo Alto	$3752