Bucharest vs Seattle - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Seattle
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$3162
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$7446
🏠 One person rent	$525	$1981
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$3407
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$810
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$169
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$6556
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	77	80
😀 Quality of life	81	93
🏙️ Population	1.72M	737K

The cost of living in Bucharest is 65% less expensive than in Seattle. Cities ranked 4913th and 125th ($1116 vs $3162) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 92nd 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 2.1 months in Seattle. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Seattle ranked 27th in the United States, while ranked 646th and 99th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Seattle infographic

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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	$11.7	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$104
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$14.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$8.17
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$6
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$3.04
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$2119
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$1641
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$3861
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$2873
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$169
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$260
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$76
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	6.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$6864
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$5184
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$3
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$107
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$18
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.19
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$4.82
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$4.75
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$7.26
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$22.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$16.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$21.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$6.07
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$2.71
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$5.36
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$5.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$3.16
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$3.35
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$1.75
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$3.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$3.72
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$12.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$8.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$5.94
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$74.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$15.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$148
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$28.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$69.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$2178
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$29883

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 Seattle

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.1 km or 5.7 mi	Mercer Island	$2851
11 km or 6.5 mi	Bellevue	$3313
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kirkland	$2907
15 km or 9.2 mi	Tukwila	$2644
15 km or 9.5 mi	Burien	$2652
16 km or 10 mi	Bainbridge Island	$2814
17 km or 10 mi	Shoreline	$2723
17 km or 10 mi	Renton	$2552
17 km or 11 mi	Redmond	$3269
17 km or 11 mi	Kenmore	$2674
19 km or 12 mi	SeaTac	$2745
21 km or 13 mi	Bothell	$2730
22 km or 14 mi	Sammamish	$2812
22 km or 14 mi	Edmonds	$2669
23 km or 14 mi	Issaquah	$2741
24 km or 15 mi	Des Moines	$2641
24 km or 15 mi	Lynnwood	$2678
24 km or 15 mi	Bremerton	$2525
26 km or 16 mi	Kent	$2796
30 km or 19 mi	Mill Creek	$2655
33 km or 20 mi	Federal Way	$2523
34 km or 21 mi	Maple Valley	$2609
35 km or 21 mi	Mukilteo	$2632
35 km or 22 mi	Auburn	$2295
41 km or 25 mi	Everett	$2649
42 km or 26 mi	Tacoma	$2461
46 km or 28 mi	University Place	$2702
48 km or 30 mi	Puyallup	$2782
50 km or 31 mi	Lake Stevens	$2623
51 km or 32 mi	Lakewood	$2473
52 km or 33 mi	Marysville	$2603
57 km or 35 mi	Spanaway	$2384
74 km or 46 mi	Lacey	$2632
76 km or 47 mi	Olympia	$2551
78 km or 48 mi	Sequim	$2644
80 km or 50 mi	Oak Harbor	$2762
90 km or 56 mi	Mount Vernon	$2419
100 km or 62 mi	Port Angeles	$2480
109 km or 68 mi	Centralia	$2749
119 km or 74 mi	Victoria	$2114