Bucharest vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Bucharest	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$988	$916
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2566	$2281
🏠 One person rent	$474	$445
🏘️ Family rent	$877	$751
🍽️ Food expenses	$339	$239
🚐 Transport expenses	$67.6	$141
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1247	$372
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	77	95
😀 Quality of life	79	62
🏙️ Population	1.72M	6.21M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 8% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 5565th and 5954th ($988 vs $916) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 2nd in Romania and Brazil, respectively. Check Romania vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Bucharest compared to 0.4 months in Rio de Janeiro. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 3rd in Brazil, while ranked 645th and 4857th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Rio de Janeiro infographic

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Rio de Janeiro

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

	Bucharest	Rio de Janeiro
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.5	$5.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$44.7	$29.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.25	$5.98
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.9	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$3.01	$2.17
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.09	$1.22
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$454
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$337	$306
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$999	$821
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$658	$535
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.8	$92.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$141
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.28	$17.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.1%	11.1%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3094	$1746
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1793	$1118
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.63	$1.2
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$17.3	$46.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.57	$7.66
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.52	$1.04
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.6	$1.03
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.98	$1.37
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$1.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.55	$7.07
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.56	$3.32
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.9	$7.46
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$2.17
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.47
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.6	$1.33
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$1.5
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.94	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.89	$1.06
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.57	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.01	$1.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.28	$7.32
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$1.12
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.84	$1.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.38	$3.14
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.93	$3.01
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.61	$1.03
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.03	$0.8
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.7	$24.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.92	$6.26
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$61.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$10.4	$7.25
👖 Brand Jeans	$72.9	$46.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$84	$71.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$569	$506
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11573	$10819

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 Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$718
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$614
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$622
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$769
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$562
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$587
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$546
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$632
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$474
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$522
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$537
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$589
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$636
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$584
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$462
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$482
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$572
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$642
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$595
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$487
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$631
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$599
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$563
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$603
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$584
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$505
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$536
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$588
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$518
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$593
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$581
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$584
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$599
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$523
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$602
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$605
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$503
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$449
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$705
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$562