Bucharest vs Budapest - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bucharest	Budapest
🚶 Cost of living one person	$988	$1109
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2566	$2730
🏠 One person rent	$474	$553
🏘️ Family rent	$877	$965
🍽️ Food expenses	$339	$342
🚐 Transport expenses	$67.6	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1247	$1229
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	18 km
🎓 Higher education	77	92
😀 Quality of life	79	79
🏙️ Population	1.72M	1.69M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 11% less expensive than in Budapest. Cities ranked 5565th and 4777th ($988 vs $1109) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 1st in Romania and Hungary, respectively. Check Romania vs Hungary comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 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 645th and 618th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Budapest infographic

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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	$10.5	$9.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.7	$45
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$7.53
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$2.55
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.77
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$1.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$337	$426
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$999	$1044
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$658	$769
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.8	$79.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$123
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.28	$18.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.1%	6.95%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3094	$4106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1793	$2694
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.63	$1.18
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.3	$23.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.57	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.52	$1.62
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$1.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$2.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$10
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$5.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.66
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$2.99
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$1.13
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.15
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$1.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.28	$5.79
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.03
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.84	$5.93
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.38	$9.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.93	$3.38
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.61	$2.15
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.03	$2.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$51
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.92	$7.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$49.5
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.9	$71.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84	$82.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$569	$374
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11573	$11151

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	$867
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$847
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$796
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$633
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$704
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$629
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$729
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$696
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$722
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$743
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$623
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$622
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$938
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$770
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$594
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$702
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$752
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$741
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$848
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$598
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$786
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$631
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$892
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$929
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1002
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$546
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$698
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$837
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$718
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$725
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$574
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$721
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$687
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$650
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$605
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$758

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$901
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$790
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$939
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$843
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$924
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$827
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$794
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$762
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$684
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$855
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1045
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$781
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1019
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$823
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$987
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$666
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$786
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$922
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$784
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$784
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1039
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1237
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$802
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$747
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1080
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$794
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$892
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1181
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$676
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$692
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$681
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$750
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1202
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1275
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$768
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$766
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$848
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1118
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1039