Bucharest vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 01, 2024

	Bucharest	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$961	$4044
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2436	$8222
🏠 One person rent	$449	$2662
🏘️ Family rent	$782	$3953
🍽️ Food expenses	$333	$794
🚐 Transport expenses	$70.7	$392
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1072	$6298
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	76	100
😀 Quality of life	77	96
🏙️ Population	1.72M	8.8M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 76% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 5593rd and 6th ($961 vs $4044) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 4th in Romania and the United States, respectively. Check Romania vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Bucharest compared to 1.6 months in New York City. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs New York City ranked 1st in the United States, while ranked 703rd and 8th 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 New York City infographic

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

Prices in Bucharest vs New York City

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

	Bucharest	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.66	$24.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.5	$108
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.31	$11.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.68	$8.64
☕ Cappuccino	$2.94	$5.71
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.04	$2.94
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$464	$3504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$318	$2240
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$3748
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$587	$3719
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$92.7	$103
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$162
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$8.75	$66.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.17%	6.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2654	$16943
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1649	$12588
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.65	$2.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$19.2	$135
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.86	$26.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.51	$1.05
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$1.4
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$4.11
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.44	$5.76
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.19	$5.55
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.05	$16.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.28	$15.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$19.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$5.87
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.63	$2.03
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$5.87
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$6.18
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$3.38
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.02	$3.81
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.51	$1.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.03	$3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.32	$20
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.03	$2.67
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.39	$16.7
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.97	$9.36
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.19	$7.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.62	$6.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.57	$2.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.6	$115
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.54	$18.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.9	$111
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.5	$27.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$73.9	$68.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$81.2	$104
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$503	$1647
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9569	$17859

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	$846
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$817
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$868
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$619
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$702
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$681
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$758
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$701
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$739
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$758
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$610
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$611
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$928
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$654
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$595
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$719
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$718
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$646
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$748
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$639
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$813
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$495
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$743
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$616
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$851
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$898
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$962
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$563
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$800
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$641
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$746
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$702
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$812
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$730
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$561
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$508
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$865
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$670
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$661
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$678

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2529
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$2821
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3002
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$2743
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2739
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3241
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2691
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2638
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2613
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2494
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2608
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2612
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2520
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$1956
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2622
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2400
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2464
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2612
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2433
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2351
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2338
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2521
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2684
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2653
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2422
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2638
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2695
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2615
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2660
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2627
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2614
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2698
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2534
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2404
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2737
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2784
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2465
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2447
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3028