Cologne vs Houston - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Houston
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$2265
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$5664
🏠 One person rent	$947	$1305
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$2467
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$581
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$212
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$4390
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	92	100
😀 Quality of life	96	91
🏙️ Population	1.09M	2.3M

The cost of living in Cologne is 23% less expensive than in Houston. Cities ranked 2551st and 1229th ($1744 vs $2265) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 1115th in Germany and the United States, respectively. Check Germany vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.9 months in Houston. Cologne ranked 2nd best city to live in Germany vs Houston ranked 14th in the United States, while ranked 12th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cologne vs Houston infographic

Share this infographic!

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

Prices in Cologne vs Houston

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

	Cologne	Houston
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$17.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$76
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$10.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$5.88
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$5.4
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$2.71
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$1390
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$1037
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$2766
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$2058
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$132
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$202
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$65.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	6.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$2714
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$1949
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$71.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$23.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$0.92
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$3
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$3.4
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$4.07
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$11.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$16.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$4.29
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$3.95
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$3.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.73
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$2.43
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$1.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$3.01
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$14.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$2.15
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$9.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$9.29
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$5.13
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$3.64
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.46
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$37.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$14.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$127
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$21.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$50.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$98.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$1470
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$18964

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 Houston

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Pasadena	$2182
25 km or 15 mi	Pearland	$2108
25 km or 16 mi	Missouri	$2087
27 km or 17 mi	Deer Park	$2196
29 km or 18 mi	Sugar Land	$2028
32 km or 20 mi	Spring	$2093
33 km or 21 mi	Friendswood	$2097
35 km or 22 mi	La Porte	$2232
40 km or 25 mi	Baytown	$2311
41 km or 25 mi	League	$2065
42 km or 26 mi	Alvin	$2056
47 km or 29 mi	Rosenberg	$2107
48 km or 30 mi	The Woodlands	$2698
59 km or 37 mi	Texas City	$2014
62 km or 38 mi	Conroe	$1799
76 km or 47 mi	Galveston	$1855
81 km or 50 mi	Lake Jackson	$2089
108 km or 67 mi	Huntsville	$2089
126 km or 78 mi	Beaumont	$1673
129 km or 80 mi	College Station	$1853
138 km or 86 mi	Bryan	$1944
140 km or 87 mi	Port Arthur	$1907
186 km or 115 mi	Lufkin	$1878
188 km or 117 mi	Victoria	$2215
203 km or 126 mi	Sulphur	$2037
215 km or 134 mi	Lake Charles	$1986
217 km or 135 mi	Nacogdoches	$1510
229 km or 142 mi	Pflugerville	$2218
234 km or 145 mi	Austin	$2455
236 km or 146 mi	Round Rock	$2163
239 km or 149 mi	Temple	$2134
242 km or 150 mi	Kyle	$2223
242 km or 150 mi	Georgetown	$2192
247 km or 153 mi	San Marcos	$2224
249 km or 155 mi	Cedar Park	$2244
250 km or 156 mi	Seguin	$2182
254 km or 158 mi	Leander	$2260
261 km or 162 mi	Waco	$2230
262 km or 163 mi	Harker Heights	$2044
264 km or 164 mi	New Braunfels	$2182