Cologne vs Gothenburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Gothenburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$1623
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$3695
🏠 One person rent	$947	$808
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$1406
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$516
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$163
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$3142
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	92	46
😀 Quality of life	96	92
🏙️ Population	1.09M	675K

The cost of living in Cologne is 7% more expensive than in Gothenburg. Cities ranked 2551st and 2959th ($1744 vs $1623) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 6th in Germany and Sweden, respectively. Check Germany vs Sweden comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.9 months in Gothenburg. Cologne ranked 2nd best city to live in Germany vs Gothenburg ranked 2nd in Sweden, while ranked 12th and 78th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cologne vs Gothenburg infographic

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

Prices in Cologne vs Gothenburg

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

	Cologne	Gothenburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$12.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$9.46
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$6.53
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$4.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$2.7
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$872
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$665
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$1561
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$1193
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$67.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$105
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$34.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	4.37%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$5838
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$3896
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$3.4
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$78.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$22.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.7
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.52
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$2.65
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$3.08
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$4.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$10.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$11.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$16.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.77
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$2.42
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.62
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$4.1
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.54
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.69
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.94
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$2.2
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$2.06
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$7.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$5.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$3.02
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$2.24
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.54
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$37.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$15.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$39.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$25.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$80.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$89.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$144
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$3664

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 Gothenburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
2.8 km or 1.7 mi	Molndal	$1498
58 km or 36 mi	Boras	$1367
66 km or 41 mi	Varberg	$1284
70 km or 44 mi	Trollhattan	$1167
76 km or 47 mi	Uddevalla	$1334
80 km or 50 mi	Vanersborg	$1235
90 km or 56 mi	Frederikshavn	$1394
126 km or 78 mi	Halmstad	$1208
130 km or 81 mi	Jonkoping	$1373
134 km or 83 mi	Varnamo	$1424
136 km or 84 mi	Skovde	$1473
142 km or 88 mi	Aalborg	$1676
150 km or 93 mi	Ljungby	$1333
157 km or 98 mi	Mariestad	$1373
164 km or 102 mi	Halden	$1575
167 km or 104 mi	Angelholm	$1310
179 km or 111 mi	Randers	$1505
182 km or 113 mi	Fredrikstad	$1977
186 km or 115 mi	Sarpsborg	$1500
186 km or 115 mi	Helsingor	$1800
186 km or 116 mi	Vetlanda	$1434
187 km or 116 mi	Helsingborg	$1297
191 km or 118 mi	Vaxjo	$1331
191 km or 119 mi	Larvik	$1733
192 km or 119 mi	Sandefjord	$1864
194 km or 121 mi	Hillerod	$1983
199 km or 124 mi	Hassleholm	$1298
200 km or 124 mi	Aarhus	$1828
202 km or 125 mi	Horsholm	$1952
202 km or 126 mi	Tonsberg	$1714
206 km or 128 mi	Landskrona	$1140
207 km or 129 mi	Viborg	$1508
208 km or 129 mi	Arendal	$1623
210 km or 131 mi	Karlstad	$1279
212 km or 132 mi	Moss	$1707
212 km or 132 mi	Porsgrunn	$1528
213 km or 132 mi	Horten	$1631
216 km or 134 mi	Gentofte	$2134
222 km or 138 mi	Skien	$1651
223 km or 138 mi	Arvika	$1251