Chicago vs Cologne - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chicago	Cologne
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2678	$1744
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6655	$4212
🏠 One person rent	$1596	$947
🏘️ Family rent	$2946	$1673
🍽️ Food expenses	$700	$491
🚐 Transport expenses	$200	$174
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4876	$3148
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	100	92
😀 Quality of life	95	96
🏙️ Population	2.75M	1.09M

The cost of living in Chicago is 54% more expensive than in Cologne. Cities ranked 529th and 2551st ($2678 vs $1744) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 483rd and 24th in the United States and Germany, respectively. Check the United States vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Chicago compared to 1.8 months in Cologne. Chicago ranked 3rd best city to live in the United States vs Cologne ranked 2nd in Germany, while ranked 23rd 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 Chicago vs Cologne infographic

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Prices in Chicago vs Cologne

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

	Chicago	Cologne
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$13.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.6	$61.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$4.67
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$3.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.95	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1841	$963
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1327	$743
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3729	$1902
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2474	$1332
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$104	$120
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$186
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$40.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.68%	4.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3391	$6163
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2689	$5539
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$3.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.1	$56.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$22.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.83
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$1.8
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$2.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$3.95
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$13.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$20.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$2.71
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.55
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.43	$4.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.85	$2.22
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$6.56
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$15	$8.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$8.17
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$2.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.63	$1.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$1.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63	$32.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$11.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$49.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.8	$18.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$94.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.4	$103
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2114	$773
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24502	$15595

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2425
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2421
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2510
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2426
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2444
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2194
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2256
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2401
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2418
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2384
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2314
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2334
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2389
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2264
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2377
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2392
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2363
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2509
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2359
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2393
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2360
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$1938
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2362
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2363
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2344
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2396
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$1948
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2350
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2378
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2446
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2369
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2506
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2342
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2367
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2342
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2227
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2345
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1954
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2351
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2371

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