Bucharest vs Chisinau - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Chisinau
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$947
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$2238
🏠 One person rent	$525	$528
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$908
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$290
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$39.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$346
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	77	51
😀 Quality of life	81	59
🏙️ Population	1.72M	639K

The cost of living in Bucharest is 18% more expensive than in Chisinau. Cities ranked 4913th and 5968th ($1116 vs $947) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 2nd in Romania and Moldova, respectively. Check Romania vs Moldova comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 0.4 months in Chisinau. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Chisinau ranked 1st in Moldova, while ranked 646th and 6039th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Chisinau infographic

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Prices in Bucharest vs Chisinau

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

	Bucharest	Chisinau
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$8.01
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$32.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$7.81
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$1.92
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$0.87
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$521
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$385
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$961
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$677
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$107
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$165
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$9.23
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	8.72%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$2427
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$1691
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$13.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$4.39
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.11
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$2.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$9.56
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$5.76
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$8.96
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.89
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.88
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$2.03
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$0.79
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$0.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.78
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$5.83
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.28
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$3.24
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$6.08
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$5.17
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$1.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$2.07
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$36.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$7.59
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$20.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$4.14
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$61.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$110
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$405
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$7015

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	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$884
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$921
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$670
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$546
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$901
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$1164
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$804
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$964
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$793
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$797
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$926
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$879
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$659
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$624
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$724
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$815
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$895
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$711
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$898
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$854
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$871
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$830
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$516
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$603
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$857
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$545
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$420
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$1056
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$762
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$535
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$616
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$1024
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1103
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$885
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$497
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$749
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$703
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$775
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$970