Chicago vs Dresden - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Chicago	Dresden
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2799	$1555
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6454	$3707
🏠 One person rent	$1702	$755
🏘️ Family rent	$2727	$1271
🍽️ Food expenses	$702	$510
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$155
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5210	$3206
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	100	65
😀 Quality of life	97	89
🏙️ Population	2.75M	566K

The cost of living in Chicago is 80% more expensive than in Dresden. Cities ranked 394th and 3768th ($2799 vs $1555) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 338th and 462nd 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 1.9 months in Chicago compared to 2.1 months in Dresden. Chicago ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Dresden ranked 28th in Germany, while ranked 16th and 263rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chicago vs Dresden infographic

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Prices in Chicago vs Dresden

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

	Chicago	Dresden
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.2	$13.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$86.5	$72.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$11
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7.36	$5.15
☕ Cappuccino	$5.6	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$3.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1993	$706
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1414	$491
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3215	$1259
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2313	$871
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$108	$182
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$168	$283
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$64.8	$39.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.77%	4.04%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3645	$5084
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2499	$3851
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$3.74
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$74.8	$68.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17	$23.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.01	$1.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.93	$2.48
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.3	$3.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$15.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$21.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.04	$3.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.95
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.11	$2.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.56	$3.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.65
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.76	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.14	$1.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.7	$6.59
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.81	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$16.5	$9.15
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.8	$9.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7	$2.55
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.84	$1.43
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.14	$1.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$68.2	$35.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.1	$12.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$135	$53.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.7	$16.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.8	$84.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.8	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2032	$342
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$23423	$14681

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2384
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2360
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2396
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2386
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2367
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2202
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2287
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2393
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2385
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2399
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2366
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2400
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2426
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2288
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2398
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2406
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2405
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2549
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2393
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2413
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2395
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$2030
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2327
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2392
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2379
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2462
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$2008
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2388
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2399
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2468
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2363
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2495
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2268
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2392
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2368
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2261
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2392
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1989
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2376
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2426

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1490
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1485
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1475
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1473
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1448
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1301
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1436
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1182
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1408
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$986
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1063
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1432
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1489
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1486
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1446
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1028
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1385
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1196
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1211
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1125
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1374
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1435
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1401
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1491
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1471
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1427
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1251
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1428
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1363
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1396
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1084
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1195
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1601
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1690
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1207
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1337
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1152
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1187
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1117
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1563