Bucharest vs Seattle - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Bucharest	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1138	$3154
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2971	$7508
🏠 One person rent	$535	$1981
🏘️ Family rent	$931	$3422
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$796
🚐 Transport expenses	$84.2	$169
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1467	$6532
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	78	80
😀 Quality of life	84	95
🏙️ Population	1.72M	737K

The cost of living in Bucharest is 64% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 4935th and 142nd ($1138 vs $3154) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 101st 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 2.1 months in Seattle. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Seattle ranked 5th in the United States, while ranked 508th and 32nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Bucharest vs Seattle

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

	Bucharest	Seattle
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.9	$22.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$57.2	$96.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.13	$14.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.53	$7.73
☕ Cappuccino	$3.56	$6.45
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.41	$2.97
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$586	$2110
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$385	$1647
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1055	$3872
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$699	$2891
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$99.4	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$262
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.4	$72.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.13%	6.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4123	$7394
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2286	$5077
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.96	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.9	$111
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.84	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.76	$1.21
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.66	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.08	$4.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$4.23
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.75	$6.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.2	$20.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.76	$16.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$21.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$5.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.27
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$5.07
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$6.09
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$3.03
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.91	$3.45
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$1.74
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.33	$3.47
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.76	$17.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$3.65
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.73	$12.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$7.02	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.79	$8.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.77	$6.86
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.11	$2.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.8	$83.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.67	$17.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$69.3	$147
💇 Haircut, simple	$11.2	$24.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$86.8	$69.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$122
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$769	$2521
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16525	$28950

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 Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2896
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3292
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$3041
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2681
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2717
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2855
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2778
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2604
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3559
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2702
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2807
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2737
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2915
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2739
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2798
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2677
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2734
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2475
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2814
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2717
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2587
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2656
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2674
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2325
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2641
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2519
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2720
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2828
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2641
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2582
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2628
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2362
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2584
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2558
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2710
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2754
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2456
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2539
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2747
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2173