Cologne vs Frankfurt - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Frankfurt
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$1989
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$4617
🏠 One person rent	$947	$1125
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$1929
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$534
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$170
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$3700
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	87
😀 Quality of life	96	94
🏙️ Population	1.09M	776K

The cost of living in Cologne is 12% less expensive than in Frankfurt. Cities ranked 2551st and 1863rd ($1744 vs $1989) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 4th in Germany.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.9 months in Frankfurt. Ranked 2nd vs 7th best cities to live in Germany, and 12th vs 47th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cologne vs Frankfurt infographic

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Prices in Cologne vs Frankfurt

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

	Cologne	Frankfurt
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$19.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$72.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$5.06
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$3.92
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$1133
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$849
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$2172
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$1473
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$186
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$282
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$33.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	4.01%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$8106
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$4832
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$3.86
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$54.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$26.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.3
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$1.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$2.52
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$4.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$13.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$11.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$17.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.91
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.73
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$3.84
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.77
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$1.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$6.11
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$0.97
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$8.41
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$3.52
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$1.67
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.15
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$53.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$14.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$95.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$19.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$86
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$91.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$555
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$14496

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Frankfurt

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.4 km or 4 mi	Offenbach am Main	$1566
6.6 km or 4.1 mi	Neu-Isenburg	$1680
8.2 km or 5.1 mi	Bad Vilbel	$1670
8.6 km or 5.3 mi	Eschborn	$1717
11 km or 6.6 mi	Dreieich	$1662
11 km or 6.7 mi	Muhlheim am Main	$1589
12 km or 7.3 mi	Maintal	$1599
12 km or 7.7 mi	Oberursel	$1682
13 km or 8 mi	Obertshausen	$1592
13 km or 8.2 mi	Bad Soden	$1707
14 km or 8.4 mi	Dietzenbach	$1626
14 km or 8.6 mi	Bad Homburg vor der Hohe	$1660
14 km or 8.6 mi	Langen	$1651
15 km or 9.1 mi	Karben	$1631
15 km or 9.1 mi	Hattersheim am Main	$1698
16 km or 9.9 mi	Morfelden-Walldorf	$1665
16 km or 10 mi	Friedrichsdorf	$1624
16 km or 10 mi	Kelkheim	$1705
17 km or 11 mi	Hofheim	$1708
17 km or 11 mi	Hanau	$1591
18 km or 11 mi	Rodgau	$1606
18 km or 11 mi	Rodermark	$1618
19 km or 12 mi	Bruchkobel	$1601
21 km or 13 mi	Florsheim am Main	$1689
22 km or 14 mi	Nidderau	$1595
22 km or 14 mi	Seligenstadt	$1608
23 km or 14 mi	Russelsheim am Main	$1698
24 km or 15 mi	Weiterstadt	$1605
25 km or 16 mi	Friedberg	$1623
26 km or 16 mi	Gro-Gerau	$1641
28 km or 17 mi	Darmstadt	$1632
29 km or 18 mi	Bad Nauheim	$1620
30 km or 18 mi	Griesheim	$1605
32 km or 20 mi	Wiesbaden	$1879
32 km or 20 mi	Idstein	$1707
32 km or 20 mi	Mainz	$1666
33 km or 20 mi	Gro-Umstadt	$1614
34 km or 21 mi	Riedstadt	$1614
35 km or 22 mi	Pfungstadt	$1603
36 km or 22 mi	Butzbach	$1595