Chisinau vs Sofia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chisinau	Sofia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$892	$1037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2204	$2570
🏠 One person rent	$505	$499
🏘️ Family rent	$980	$871
🍽️ Food expenses	$270	$357
🚐 Transport expenses	$36	$79.9
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$625	$1394
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	51	70
😀 Quality of life	57	78
🏙️ Population	639K	1.4M

The cost of living in Chisinau is 14% less expensive than in Sofia. Cities ranked 6080th and 5261st ($892 vs $1037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Moldova and Bulgaria, respectively. Check Moldova vs Bulgaria comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chisinau compared to 1.3 months in Sofia. Chisinau ranked 1st best city to live in Moldova vs Sofia ranked 1st in Bulgaria, while ranked 5665th and 723rd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chisinau vs Sofia infographic

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Prices in Chisinau vs Sofia

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

	Chisinau	Sofia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.05	$9.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.2	$42.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.98	$8.07
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.61	$2.53
☕ Cappuccino	$1.76	$2.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.92	$1.59
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$500
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$376
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$979
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$744	$663
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$85.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$132
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.95	$12.5
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.4%	3.16%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1974	$3192
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1449	$2153
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.32	$0.87
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.5	$25.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.9	$7.59
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.41
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$1.75
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.94
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.4	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.64	$11
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.97	$8.43
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.07	$12
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$1.6
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.81
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$2.44
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.69	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.6	$0.98
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.62	$1.46
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.2	$7.58
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$1.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.96	$3.69
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.48	$9.3
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.74	$3.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.25	$1.88
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.87	$2.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.9	$33.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.04	$7.97
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18	$39.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.91	$10.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.7	$61.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$99.2
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$356	$538
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6466	$6749

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$780
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$829
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$502
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$517
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$782
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$1062
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$825
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$840
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$876
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$725
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$812
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$863
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$637
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$555
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$650
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$727
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$786
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$676
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$752
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$837
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$741
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$709
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$400
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$562
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$729
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$533
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$433
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$938
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$722
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$483
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$513
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$929
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1002
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$796
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$454
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$758
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$663
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$696
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$867

Cities near Sofia

Distance	City	Cost of living
26 km or 16 mi	Pernik	$682
59 km or 37 mi	Vratsa	$687
77 km or 48 mi	Blagoevgrad	$576
97 km or 60 mi	Bansko	$866
100 km or 62 mi	Pazardzhik	$667
132 km or 82 mi	Pleven	$594
132 km or 82 mi	Plovdiv	$734
135 km or 84 mi	Nis	$711
142 km or 88 mi	Stip	$561
146 km or 91 mi	Kumanovo	$588
148 km or 92 mi	Vidin	$605
149 km or 92 mi	Asenovgrad	$616
151 km or 94 mi	Strumica	$612
164 km or 102 mi	Gabrovo	$598
168 km or 104 mi	Veles	$545
175 km or 108 mi	Skopje	$772
176 km or 110 mi	Pristina	$595
178 km or 110 mi	Kavadarci	$556
180 km or 112 mi	Serres	$988
185 km or 115 mi	Drama	$891
186 km or 116 mi	Craiova	$848
191 km or 119 mi	Stara Zagora	$646
193 km or 120 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$731
202 km or 125 mi	Mitrovica	$463
202 km or 126 mi	Haskovo	$619
208 km or 129 mi	Tetovo	$682
210 km or 130 mi	Prilep	$537
210 km or 131 mi	Slatina	$623
215 km or 134 mi	Kavala	$930
215 km or 134 mi	Alexandria	$629
217 km or 135 mi	Xanthi	$948
222 km or 138 mi	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	$663
224 km or 139 mi	Giannitsa	$1028
232 km or 144 mi	Thessaloniki	$1106
234 km or 145 mi	Novi Pazar	$662
242 km or 150 mi	Kragujevac	$807
245 km or 152 mi	Sliven	$631
246 km or 153 mi	Komotini	$899
248 km or 154 mi	Bitola	$635
248 km or 154 mi	Ruse	$633