Budapest vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Budapest	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1377	$1968
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3353	$4619
🏠 One person rent	$707	$1091
🏘️ Family rent	$1218	$1830
🍽️ Food expenses	$411	$536
🚐 Transport expenses	$120	$196
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1503	$3266
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	92	91
😀 Quality of life	82	96
🏙️ Population	1.69M	1.09M

The cost of living in Budapest is 30% less expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 4312th and 2104th ($1377 vs $1968) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 11th in Hungary and Germany, respectively. Check Hungary vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Budapest compared to 1.7 months in Cologne. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Cologne ranked 1st in Germany, while ranked 636th and 23rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Budapest vs Cologne infographic

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Prices in Budapest vs Cologne

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

	Budapest	Cologne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$15.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.3	$71.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.58	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.18	$5.26
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$4.06
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.8	$3.38
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$735	$1103
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$557	$870
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$1997
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$984	$1478
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91	$133
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$206
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$23.3	$41.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.04%	3.8%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5141	$6855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3394	$5848
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.48	$3.93
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.3	$67.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.3	$24
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$2.03
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.63	$2.03
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$2.87
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$4.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$14.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.36	$12.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$23.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$3.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$2.05
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$2.17
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.51	$4.63
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$1.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.22
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.77
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.58	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.95	$7.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$1.14
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.03	$9.05
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$8.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.2	$2.45
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$1.93
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.67
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$60	$40.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.94	$13.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.4	$54.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$95	$98
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.2	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$447	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13171	$19386

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Budapest

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Budafok-Teteny	$1089
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$936
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1081
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$1010
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$1059
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$1070
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$943
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$884
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$823
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$1002
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1148
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$895
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1134
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$971
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$946
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$806
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$973
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1037
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$861
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$949
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1176
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1346
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$982
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$890
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1126
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$917
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$992
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1311
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$913
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$965
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$985
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$808
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$802
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1388
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1497
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$832
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$934
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$1033
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1257
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1162

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1759
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2037
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1745
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1744
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1741
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1740
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1726
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1750
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1699
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1740
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1711
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1727
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1736
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1708
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1695
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1770
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1694
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1678
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1716
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1642
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1747
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1957
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1674
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1691
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1654
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1630
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1645
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1650
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1666
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1659
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1608
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1611
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1650
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1613
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1662
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1689
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1979