Bucharest vs Santiago - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Santiago
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$1108
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$2721
🏠 One person rent	$525	$495
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$858
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$360
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$154
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$844
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	77	91
😀 Quality of life	81	81
🏙️ Population	1.72M	6.26M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 0.7% more expensive than in Santiago. Cities ranked 4913th and 4939th ($1116 vs $1108) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Romania and Chile, respectively. Check Romania vs Chile comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 0.8 months in Santiago. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Santiago ranked 1st in Chile, while ranked 646th and 672nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Santiago infographic

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

Prices in Bucharest vs Santiago

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

	Bucharest	Santiago
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$10.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$47.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$7.74
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$3.49
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$3.52
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$1.55
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$509
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$369
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$896
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$675
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$77.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$119
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$20.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	5.26%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$2583
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$3493
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.85
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$41.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$10.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.19
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.26
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.66
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$4.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$10.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$6.5
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$10.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.96
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.52
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$2.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$1.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.62
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.78
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$2.12
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$6.13
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.53
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$5.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$4.06
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$4.03
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$2.36
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$2.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$43.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$6.31
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$40.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$16.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$56
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$79.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$425
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$9190

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 Santiago

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 11 mi	San Bernardo	$768
20 km or 12 mi	Puente Alto	$874
69 km or 43 mi	Los Andes	$760
78 km or 48 mi	San Felipe	$714
80 km or 50 mi	Rancagua	$780
80 km or 50 mi	Villa Alemana	$839
83 km or 52 mi	Quillota	$849
85 km or 53 mi	Quilpue	$845
89 km or 55 mi	San Antonio	$1065
95 km or 59 mi	Vina del Mar	$885
99 km or 62 mi	Valparaiso	$908
130 km or 80 mi	San Fernando	$911
179 km or 111 mi	Curico	$752
181 km or 112 mi	Godoy Cruz	$877
182 km or 113 mi	Mendoza	$897
185 km or 115 mi	Las Heras	$877
208 km or 129 mi	San Martin	$838
238 km or 148 mi	Talca	$821
251 km or 156 mi	San Rafael	$639
264 km or 164 mi	Constitucion	$806
280 km or 174 mi	Linares	$848
292 km or 181 mi	San Juan	$578
321 km or 199 mi	Ovalle	$724
375 km or 233 mi	Chillan	$666
394 km or 245 mi	Coquimbo	$829
398 km or 247 mi	La Serena	$833
401 km or 249 mi	San Luis	$756
409 km or 254 mi	Tome	$746
426 km or 265 mi	Talcahuano	$657
434 km or 269 mi	Concepcion	$874
455 km or 283 mi	Coronel	$801
456 km or 284 mi	Lujan	$750
464 km or 288 mi	Lota	$800
472 km or 294 mi	Los Angeles	$840
482 km or 300 mi	Villa Mercedes	$752
508 km or 316 mi	Curanilahue	$800
518 km or 322 mi	Angol	$819
542 km or 337 mi	Vallenar	$798
576 km or 358 mi	La Rioja	$571
588 km or 366 mi	Rio Cuarto	$827