Budapest vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Budapest	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1109	$1744
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2730	$4212
🏠 One person rent	$553	$947
🏘️ Family rent	$965	$1673
🍽️ Food expenses	$342	$491
🚐 Transport expenses	$105	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1229	$3148
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	92	92
😀 Quality of life	79	96
🏙️ Population	1.69M	1.09M

The cost of living in Budapest is 36% less expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 4777th and 2551st ($1109 vs $1744) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 24th 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 1.8 months in Cologne. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Cologne ranked 2nd in Germany, while ranked 618th and 12th 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	$9.45	$13.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45	$61.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.53	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.55	$4.67
☕ Cappuccino	$2.77	$3.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.48	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$574	$963
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$426	$743
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$1902
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$769	$1332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.4	$120
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$186
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.1	$40.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.95%	4.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4106	$6163
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2694	$5539
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.18	$3.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.7	$56.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.7	$22.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.62	$1.83
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.24	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.78	$3.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10	$13.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.66	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.6	$20.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$2.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$1.55
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.88	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.99	$4.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$1.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.96	$2.22
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.79	$6.56
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.03	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.93	$8.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.29	$8.17
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.38	$2.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.15	$1.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$1.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51	$32.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.6	$11.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.5	$49.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.8	$18.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$71.3	$94.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$82.8	$103
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$374	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11151	$15595

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	$901
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$790
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$939
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$843
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$924
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$827
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$794
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$762
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$684
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$855
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1045
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$781
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1019
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$823
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$987
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$666
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$786
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$922
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$784
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$784
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1039
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1237
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$802
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$747
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1080
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$794
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$892
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1181
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$676
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$692
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$935
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$681
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$750
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1202
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1275
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$768
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$766
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$848
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1118
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1039

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1578
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$1822
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1569
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1559
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1572
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1554
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1586
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1551
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1536
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1576
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1561
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1534
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1577
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1544
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1559
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1529
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1554
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1523
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1518
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1522
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1497
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1542
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1677
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1522
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1580
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1502
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1497
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1517
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1504
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1494
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1499
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1494
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1516
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1446
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1503
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1495
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1479
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1490
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1500
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1772