Bucharest vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$2584
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$5778
🏠 One person rent	$525	$1504
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$2234
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$732
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$191
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$4329
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	77	100
😀 Quality of life	81	93
🏙️ Population	1.72M	1.6M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 57% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 4913th and 744th ($1116 vs $2584) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 660th 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 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 1.7 months in Philadelphia. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Philadelphia ranked 25th in the United States, while ranked 646th and 95th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Philadelphia infographic

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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	$11.7	$20
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$95.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$13.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$6.02
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$5.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$2.84
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$1597
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$1193
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$2401
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$1807
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$153
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$232
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$76.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$3243
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$2372
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$2.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$99
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$15.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$0.85
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$4.24
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$8.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$4.46
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$14.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$13
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$6.04
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$4.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$5.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$3.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$3.25
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.47
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$3.85
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.98
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$14.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$9.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$7.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$4
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$2.35
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$58.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$14.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$85.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$28.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$51.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$95
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$2021
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$15283

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 Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2593
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2580
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2638
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2616
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2408
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2603
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2578
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2603
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2476
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2568
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2594
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2637
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2627
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2358
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2620
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2610
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2737
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2267
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2676
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2609
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2671
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2355
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2741
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2533
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2121
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2608
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$3102
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2524
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2797
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2846
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2883
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2714
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2770
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2880
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2323
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2278
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2948
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2239
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2737
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2886