Budapest vs New York City - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Budapest	New York City
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1580	$4202
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3914	$9189
🏠 One person rent	$810	$2718
🏘️ Family rent	$1423	$4417
🍽️ Food expenses	$474	$842
🚐 Transport expenses	$133	$400
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1832	$5389
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	100
😀 Quality of life	81	95
🏙️ Population	1.69M	8.8M

The cost of living in Budapest is 62% less expensive than in New York City. Cities ranked 3675th and 4th ($1580 vs $4202) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Hungary and the United States, respectively. Check Hungary vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Budapest compared to 1.3 months in New York City. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs New York City ranked 2nd in the United States, while ranked 646th and 15th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Budapest vs New York City

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

	Budapest	New York City
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.9	$22.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.1	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.83	$13.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.67	$8.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.6	$6.22
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.11	$3.28
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$839	$3692
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$633	$2206
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1498	$5140
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1160	$3874
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$111	$144
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$170	$218
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.5	$70.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.8%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6164	$18073
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4452	$7831
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.64	$3.01
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$29.4	$138
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.3	$27
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.93	$1.02
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.3	$1.44
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.88	$4.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$5.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.14	$6.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.2	$16.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.46	$14.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.8	$18.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$6.3
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$2.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.57	$5.79
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.78	$6.72
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$3.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.43	$1.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.86	$3.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.94	$19.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$4.61
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.37	$18.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$15.1	$23.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.48	$14
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.71	$8.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.32	$2.86
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$74.9	$132
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.2	$21.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$79	$159
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.9	$40.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$117	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$122	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$549	$2095
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17067	$21713

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	$1228
16 km or 9.8 mi	Erd	$973
16 km or 10 mi	Dunakeszi	$1226
17 km or 11 mi	Szigetszentmiklos	$1115
27 km or 17 mi	Godollo	$1203
32 km or 20 mi	Vac	$1195
49 km or 31 mi	Tatabanya	$1063
58 km or 36 mi	Szekesfehervar	$981
58 km or 36 mi	Dunaujvaros	$914
67 km or 42 mi	Cegled	$1139
74 km or 46 mi	Komarno	$1156
82 km or 51 mi	Kecskemet	$1019
84 km or 52 mi	Nove Zamky	$1126
86 km or 53 mi	Salgotarjan	$1117
86 km or 53 mi	Levice	$928
93 km or 58 mi	Szolnok	$941
96 km or 59 mi	Veszprem	$1124
104 km or 65 mi	Lucenec	$1031
107 km or 67 mi	Gyor	$974
109 km or 68 mi	Eger	$1028
115 km or 72 mi	Nitra	$1218
121 km or 75 mi	Zvolen	$1340
123 km or 76 mi	Ozd	$1058
130 km or 81 mi	Szekszard	$978
138 km or 86 mi	Banska Bystrica	$1117
139 km or 86 mi	Mosonmagyarovar	$1042
145 km or 90 mi	Prievidza	$1032
146 km or 91 mi	Trnava	$1308
146 km or 91 mi	Miskolc	$1034
146 km or 91 mi	Baja	$1067
150 km or 93 mi	Piestany	$967
153 km or 95 mi	Hodmezovasarhely	$915
158 km or 98 mi	Kaposvar	$893
160 km or 99 mi	Petrzalka	$1475
161 km or 100 mi	Bratislava	$1590
163 km or 101 mi	Subotica	$848
163 km or 101 mi	Szeged	$1076
170 km or 106 mi	Pecs	$1189
172 km or 107 mi	Trencin	$1255
174 km or 108 mi	Martin	$1160

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192