Bucharest vs Warsaw - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Warsaw
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$1978
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$4463
🏠 One person rent	$525	$1217
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$2001
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$444
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$155
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$2042
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	77	94
😀 Quality of life	81	85
🏙️ Population	1.72M	1.86M

The cost of living in Bucharest is 44% less expensive than in Warsaw. Cities ranked 4913th and 2069th ($1116 vs $1978) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Romania and Poland, respectively. Check Romania vs Poland comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 1 months in Warsaw. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Warsaw ranked 1st in Poland, while ranked 646th and 444th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Bucharest vs Warsaw infographic

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Prices in Bucharest vs Warsaw

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

	Bucharest	Warsaw
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$10.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$52
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$9.78
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$5.27
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$4.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$2.35
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$1225
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$917
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$2165
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$1517
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$218
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$333
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	7.29%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$6642
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$4244
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$1.14
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$34
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.76
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.27
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.37
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$4.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$13.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$8.87
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$15.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$2.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$3.79
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.07
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.46
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$2.96
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$10.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$1.41
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$6.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$13.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$4.29
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$3.77
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$3.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$48.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$10.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$86.4
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$28.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$107
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$97.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$588
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$15871

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 Warsaw

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 10 mi	Pruszkow	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Otwock	$1522
68 km or 42 mi	Skierniewice	$1199
79 km or 49 mi	Ciechanow	$1241
85 km or 53 mi	Siedlce	$1009
91 km or 56 mi	Radom	$1008
98 km or 61 mi	Plock	$1166
103 km or 64 mi	Ostroleka	$1113
110 km or 68 mi	Pulawy	$1226
114 km or 71 mi	Kutno	$1177
119 km or 74 mi	Lodz	$1338
127 km or 79 mi	Lomza	$993
130 km or 81 mi	Piotrkow Trybunalski	$966
143 km or 89 mi	Wloclawek	$902
144 km or 89 mi	Biala Podlaska	$1079
145 km or 90 mi	Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski	$1136
149 km or 92 mi	Belchatow	$1089
152 km or 94 mi	Lublin	$1323
152 km or 94 mi	Kielce	$1097
159 km or 99 mi	Swidnik	$1257
175 km or 109 mi	Bialystok	$1148
178 km or 110 mi	Olsztyn	$1182
180 km or 112 mi	Brest	$528
186 km or 115 mi	Torun	$926
187 km or 116 mi	Tarnobrzeg	$1216
198 km or 123 mi	Inowroclaw	$1186
199 km or 123 mi	Elk	$1125
206 km or 128 mi	Czestochowa	$1033
207 km or 129 mi	Chelm	$1185
208 km or 129 mi	Grudziadz	$1127
208 km or 129 mi	Kalisz	$970
217 km or 135 mi	Mielec	$843
228 km or 141 mi	Bydgoszcz	$1103
236 km or 146 mi	Gniezno	$1209
241 km or 150 mi	Malbork	$1210
243 km or 151 mi	Elblag	$1074
243 km or 151 mi	Suwalki	$1113
245 km or 152 mi	Tarnow	$966
246 km or 153 mi	Dabrowa Gornicza	$1077
247 km or 153 mi	Grodno	$349