Budapest vs Ulaanbaatar - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Budapest	Ulaanbaatar
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1377	$870
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3353	$2091
🏠 One person rent	$707	$430
🏘️ Family rent	$1218	$764
🍽️ Food expenses	$411	$306
🚐 Transport expenses	$120	$43.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1503	$516
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	18 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	92	43
😀 Quality of life	82	61
🏙️ Population	1.69M	1.4M

The cost of living in Budapest is 58% more expensive than in Ulaanbaatar. Cities ranked 4312th and 6373rd ($1377 vs $870) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Hungary and Mongolia, respectively. Check Hungary vs Mongolia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.1 months in Budapest compared to 0.6 months in Ulaanbaatar. Budapest ranked 1st best city to live in Hungary vs Ulaanbaatar ranked 1st in Mongolia, while ranked 636th and 5856th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Budapest vs Ulaanbaatar infographic

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Prices in Budapest vs Ulaanbaatar

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

	Budapest	Ulaanbaatar
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$5.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.3	$29.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.58	$5.44
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.18	$1.95
☕ Cappuccino	$3.26	$2.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.8	$0.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$735	$417
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$557	$358
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$769
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$984	$656
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$91	$46
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$141	$70.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$23.3	$14.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.04%	6.05%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5141	$1651
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3394	$881
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.48	$0.28
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.3	$8.29
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.3	$4.98
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.63	$0.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$2.06
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.34	$2.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$11.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.36	$5.88
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$5.32
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$2.98
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.03	$2.22
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$4.11
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.51	$2.58
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.27	$0.66
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.51
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.58	$1.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.95	$9.25
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.31	$1.39
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.03	$1.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.2	$3.61
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.49	$2.49
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.95	$1.79
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$60	$70
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.94	$3.92
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$72.4	$19
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$4.85
👖 Brand Jeans	$95	$81.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$97.2	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$447	$167
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13171	$6621

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 Ulaanbaatar

Distance	City	Cost of living
268 km or 167 mi	Bulgan	$838
437 km or 272 mi	Ulan-Ude	$676
520 km or 323 mi	Irkutsk	$735
559 km or 347 mi	Angarsk	$725
656 km or 408 mi	Chita	$912
794 km or 493 mi	Manzhouli	$631
798 km or 496 mi	Bayannur	$986
835 km or 519 mi	Xilinhot	$677
840 km or 522 mi	Baotou	$659
875 km or 544 mi	Hohhot	$541
914 km or 568 mi	Ulanqab	$629
917 km or 570 mi	Wuhai	$1365
934 km or 581 mi	Ordos	$655
954 km or 593 mi	Hulunbuir	$638
969 km or 602 mi	Fengzhen	$642
985 km or 612 mi	Bratsk	$518
992 km or 616 mi	Shizuishan	$785
1008 km or 626 mi	Datong	$748
1012 km or 629 mi	Zhangjiakou	$652
1025 km or 637 mi	Yakeshi	$614
1028 km or 639 mi	Huairen	$654
1050 km or 652 mi	Shenmu	$580
1051 km or 653 mi	Yinchuan	$548
1051 km or 653 mi	Shuozhou	$600
1094 km or 680 mi	Lingwu	$564
1103 km or 685 mi	Qingtongxia	$563
1106 km or 687 mi	Wuzhong	$589
1113 km or 692 mi	Jinchang	$480
1124 km or 698 mi	Yuanping	$546
1126 km or 700 mi	Zhangye	$484
1131 km or 703 mi	Chifeng	$615
1131 km or 703 mi	Jiuquan	$470
1156 km or 718 mi	Xinzhou	$553
1164 km or 723 mi	Wuwei	$411
1165 km or 724 mi	Chengde	$694
1166 km or 724 mi	Ulanhot	$532
1166 km or 724 mi	Zhongwei	$597
1169 km or 726 mi	Beijing	$1029
1169 km or 727 mi	Yumen	$439
1176 km or 731 mi	Zalantun	$600