Bucharest vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Bucharest	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1138	$2597
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2971	$5854
🏠 One person rent	$535	$1514
🏘️ Family rent	$931	$2239
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$740
🚐 Transport expenses	$84.2	$187
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1467	$4328
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	78	100
😀 Quality of life	84	92
🏙️ Population	1.72M	1.6M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 56% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 4935th and 742nd ($1138 vs $2597) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 648th 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 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 1.7 months in Philadelphia. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Philadelphia ranked 14th in the United States, while ranked 508th and 87th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Philadelphia

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

	Bucharest	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.9	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$57.2	$89.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.13	$12.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.53	$6.02
☕ Cappuccino	$3.56	$5.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.41	$2.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$586	$1612
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$1201
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1055	$2399
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$699	$1810
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99.4	$158
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$238
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.4	$72.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.13%	6.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4123	$3762
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2286	$1992
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.96	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.9	$95.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.84	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.76	$0.84
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$1.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.08	$4.2
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$8.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.75	$4.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$15.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.76	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$17.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$6.15
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$1.94
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$4.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$5.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$3.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$1.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.33	$3.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.76	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.73	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.02	$9.25
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.79	$6.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.77	$3.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.11	$2.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.8	$60.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.67	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$69.3	$85.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$29.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$86.8	$49
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$93.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$769	$2195
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16525	$17603

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	$999
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$956
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$926
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$784
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$800
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$724
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$831
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$758
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$777
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$970
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$695
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$666
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1150
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$759
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$826
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$704
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$732
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$805
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$910
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$983
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$665
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$950
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$607
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1099
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1062
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1132
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$840
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$716
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$916
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$844
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$864
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$841
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$738
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$872
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$763
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$773
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$683
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$795

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2612
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2604
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2699
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2636
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2412
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2632
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2572
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2626
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2493
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2549
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2609
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2600
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2612
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2350
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2639
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2639
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2793
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2445
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2392
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2541
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2520
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2315
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2668
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2603
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2207
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2648
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$3077
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2609
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2740
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2802
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2835
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2714
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2753
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2835
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2301
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2323
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2933
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2171
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2684
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2801