Chicago vs Dresden - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chicago	Dresden
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2678	$1402
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6655	$3491
🏠 One person rent	$1596	$684
🏘️ Family rent	$2946	$1301
🍽️ Food expenses	$700	$460
🚐 Transport expenses	$200	$138
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4876	$2953
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	100	65
😀 Quality of life	95	88
🏙️ Population	2.75M	566K

The cost of living in Chicago is 91% more expensive than in Dresden. Cities ranked 529th and 3862nd ($2678 vs $1402) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 483rd and 512th 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 2.1 months in Dresden. Chicago ranked 3rd best city to live in the United States vs Dresden ranked 33rd in Germany, while ranked 23rd and 217th 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 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	$21.9	$12.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.6	$56.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$9.93
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$4.54
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$3.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.95	$3.58
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1841	$656
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1327	$439
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3729	$1357
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2474	$929
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$104	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$248
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$39
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.68%	3.94%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3391	$4831
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2689	$3685
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$3.14
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.1	$61.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$21.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$1.68
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$2.18
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$3.22
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$18.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$2.82
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$2.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.43	$3.6
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.57
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.55
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.85	$1.57
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$6.07
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$15	$7.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$9.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$2.29
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.63	$1.3
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$1.5
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63	$29.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$11.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$48.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.8	$14.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$75.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.4	$98.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2114	$323
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24502	$13167

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 Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1347
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1351
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1341
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1352
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1325
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1202
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1309
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1048
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1278
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$880
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$971
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1420
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1314
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1351
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1373
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$942
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1187
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1092
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1081
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1033
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1222
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1310
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1307
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1353
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1350
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1352
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1147
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1362
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1241
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1281
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1011
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1030
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1452
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1516
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1118
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1216
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$950
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1092
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$979
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1419