Brussels vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Brussels	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1816	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4478	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$1024	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$1880	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$567	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$85.5	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2931	$1394
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	96	70
😀 Quality of life	89	78
🏙️ Population	196K	1.4M

The cost of living in Brussels is 75% more expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 2354th and 5261st ($1816 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Belgium and Bulgaria, respectively. Check Belgium vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Brussels compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Brussels ranked 1st best city to live in Belgium vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 190th and 723rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Brussels vs Sofia infographic

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

Prices in Brussels vs Sofia

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

	Brussels	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$76.1	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.8	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.16	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$4.01	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.85	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$770	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1932	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1489	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$161	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$250	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$52.7	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.61%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4675	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4207	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.62	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.2	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.8	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.42	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.19	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.53	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.22	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.21	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.6	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.32	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.7	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.25	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.54	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.78	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.8	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$38.9	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.2	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.5	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$975	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19505	$6749

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 Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633