Chisinau vs Saint Petersburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Chisinau	Saint Petersburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$969	$1139
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2309	$2793
🏠 One person rent	$535	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$933	$1013
🍽️ Food expenses	$304	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$39.5	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$357	$1316
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	52	85
😀 Quality of life	62	71
🏙️ Population	567K	5.65M

The cost of living in Chisinau is 15% less expensive than in Saint Petersburg. Cities ranked 5780th and 4898th ($969 vs $1139) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Moldova and Russia, respectively. Check Moldova vs Russia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.4 months in Chisinau compared to 1.2 months in Saint Petersburg. Chisinau ranked 1st best city to live in Moldova vs Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd in Russia, while ranked 5599th and 3542nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/chisinau/saint-petersburg.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Chisinau vs Saint Petersburg infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/chisinau/saint-petersburg" target="_blank">Chisinau vs Saint Petersburg - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Chisinau vs Saint Petersburg

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

	Chisinau	Saint Petersburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.77	$9.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$40	$33.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.4	$6.37
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.09	$2.62
☕ Cappuccino	$2.16	$3.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$1.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$550	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$366	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1012	$1362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$662	$765
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$78.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$192	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.02	$8.01
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	8.99%	20.67%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2614	$4926
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1942	$3068
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.37	$1.17
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.6	$47.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$4.74	$11.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.48	$0.89
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.61	$0.86
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.05	$1.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$1.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.41	$12
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.5	$5.69
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.91	$12.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.96	$1.84
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.96	$1.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$3.21
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.71	$0.74
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.54	$0.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.73	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.44	$8.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.22	$1.22
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.42	$3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.85	$1.91
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.09	$1.43
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.01	$1.38
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.2	$40.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.97	$6.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18.9	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.04	$4.25
👖 Brand Jeans	$68	$94.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$132
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$443	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6332	$13865

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$789
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$760
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$690
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$572
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$774
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$954
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$855
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$1048
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$799
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$809
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$823
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$727
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$694
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$641
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$807
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$840
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$906
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$712
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$857
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$874
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$870
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$834
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$529
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$572
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$801
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$579
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$701
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$409
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$1120
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$771
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$541
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$577
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$1041
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1119
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$896
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$464
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$725
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$716
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$722
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$995

Cities near Saint Petersburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
135 km or 84 mi	Narva	$1081
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1079
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1467
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$766
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1448
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1104
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1490
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1478
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1383
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1312
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$1085
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1445
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1521
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$758
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1220
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1533
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1673
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1428
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1759
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1843
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1550
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1698
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$834
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1970
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1455
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1644
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1531
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1974
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1419
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1594
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1054
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1684
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1436
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1391
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1492
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1403
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1525
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1578
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1179
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1597