Bucharest vs Budapest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Bucharest	Budapest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1036	$1185
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2606	$2918
🏠 One person rent	$496	$589
🏘️ Family rent	$863	$1010
🍽️ Food expenses	$354	$362
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.4	$114
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1242	$1262
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	76	92
😀 Quality of life	78	80
🏙️ Population	1.72M	1.69M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 13% less expensive than in Budapest. Cities ranked 5404th and 4643rd ($1036 vs $1185) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Romania and Hungary, respectively. Check Romania vs Hungary comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 1.1 months in Budapest. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Budapest ranked 1st in Hungary, while ranked 642nd and 551st among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Budapest infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Budapest

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

	Bucharest	Budapest
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$10.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$47	$47.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.53	$7.94
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.06	$2.65
☕ Cappuccino	$3.18	$2.73
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.11	$1.68
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$545	$603
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$348	$453
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$948	$1093
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$640	$799
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99	$86.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$152	$134
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.34	$18.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.21%	7.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2831	$4116
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1759	$2686
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.67	$1.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$18.6	$25.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.92	$12.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.64	$1.77
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.77	$1.19
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$1.34
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$1.64
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.32	$2.9
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.2	$10.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.76	$5.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$12.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$1.72
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.85
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.71	$1.94
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$2.83
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.08	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.6	$0.35
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.11	$1.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.93	$5.76
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.18	$1.12
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.06	$6.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.85	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.36	$4.78
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.78	$2.44
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.29	$3.24
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.3	$50
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.19	$7.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$61.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.1	$11.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$78.8	$80.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$87.9	$94.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$532	$448
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10286	$11060

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$900
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$852
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$786
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$668
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$757
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$663
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$795
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$727
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$759
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$772
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$631
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$644
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$955
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$793
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$688
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$684
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$751
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$755
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$751
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$721
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$744
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$589
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$831
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$624
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$931
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$961
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1035
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$561
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$837
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$693
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$832
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$761
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$846
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$759
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$584
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$573
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$876
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$735
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$640
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$721

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$960
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$849
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1018
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$901
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$992
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$876
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$910
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$805
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$770
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$849
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1067
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$953
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1037
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$879
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$898
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$712
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$883
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1166
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$788
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$864
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1062
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1574
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$879
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$780
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1103
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$827
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$952
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1197
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$784
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$761
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$837
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$745
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1234
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1307
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$797
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$860
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$851
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1150
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1090