Charlotte vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Charlotte	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2528	$2597
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5839	$6395
🏠 One person rent	$1559	$1516
🏘️ Family rent	$2624	$2783
🍽️ Food expenses	$636	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$162	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4485	$4131
😷 Air quality	Good	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	68	99
😀 Quality of life	88	90
🏙️ Population	875K	1.6M

The cost of living in Charlotte is 3% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 761st and 664th ($2528 vs $2597) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 705th and 610th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Charlotte compared to 1.6 months in Philadelphia. Ranked 62nd vs 28th best cities to live in the United States, and 252nd vs 138th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Charlotte vs Philadelphia infographic

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Prices in Charlotte vs Philadelphia

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

	Charlotte	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.6	$20.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.6	$94.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.95	$5.96
☕ Cappuccino	$5.06	$5.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.56	$2.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1601	$1616
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1337	$1200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3268	$3231
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2181	$2273
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$105	$161
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$162	$247
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$63.8	$71.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.54%	6.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4188	$3404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2832	$2379
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.61	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$90.9	$95.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.4	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.01	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.23	$4.25
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$9.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.8	$4.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$19.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.9	$12.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$17.6	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.44	$6.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$2.2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.8	$5.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.64	$5.41
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$3.59
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.19	$3.4
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.28	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.74	$3.63
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.9	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.52	$1.93
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.65	$13.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.14	$9.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.97	$5.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.26	$3.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52.9	$50.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.1	$14.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$124	$102
💇 Haircut, simple	$25.8	$24.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$54	$52.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.3	$89.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1337	$2066
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$25956	$19774

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Charlotte

Distance	City	Cost of living
17 km or 10 mi	Matthews	$2271
17 km or 11 mi	Mint Hill	$2269
20 km or 13 mi	Huntersville	$2188
23 km or 14 mi	Indian Trail	$2225
28 km or 18 mi	Cornelius	$2166
30 km or 18 mi	Concord	$2147
31 km or 19 mi	Gastonia	$1891
36 km or 22 mi	Kannapolis	$2136
36 km or 22 mi	Rock Hill	$2177
38 km or 23 mi	Monroe	$2182
40 km or 25 mi	Mooresville	$2072
57 km or 35 mi	Lancaster	$2170
59 km or 37 mi	Salisbury	$2117
62 km or 39 mi	Statesville	$2090
63 km or 39 mi	Shelby	$1474
72 km or 45 mi	Hickory	$1851
94 km or 58 mi	Forest	$1951
101 km or 63 mi	Thomasville	$2058
104 km or 64 mi	Rockingham	$2136
104 km or 65 mi	Spartanburg	$1925
108 km or 67 mi	Asheboro	$2091
111 km or 69 mi	Winston-Salem	$2098
113 km or 70 mi	High Point	$1934
120 km or 75 mi	Kernersville	$2169
130 km or 81 mi	Greer	$2292
132 km or 82 mi	Greensboro	$2011
138 km or 86 mi	Columbia	$1809
142 km or 88 mi	Mauldin	$2404
143 km or 89 mi	Lexington	$1929
147 km or 91 mi	Greenville	$2530
152 km or 94 mi	Florence	$1907
152 km or 95 mi	Sumter	$1902
154 km or 96 mi	Sanford	$2184
159 km or 99 mi	Burlington	$2144
160 km or 99 mi	Asheville	$2697
166 km or 103 mi	Greenwood	$2106
176 km or 109 mi	Fayetteville	$2100
179 km or 111 mi	Chapel Hill	$2309
180 km or 112 mi	Lumberton	$2100
184 km or 114 mi	Anderson	$1888

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2625
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2596
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2683
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2621
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2415
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2610
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2574
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2604
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2477
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2567
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2600
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2591
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2608
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2368
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2600
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2611
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2787
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2493
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2423
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2582
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2541
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2353
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2683
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2676
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2085
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2653
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$2901
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2642
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2739
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2919
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2819
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2723
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2782
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2849
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2303
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2264
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2880
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2320
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2557
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2693