Cologne vs Madrid - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Madrid
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$1781
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$4027
🏠 One person rent	$947	$1048
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$1736
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$445
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$163
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$2294
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	92	98
😀 Quality of life	96	90
🏙️ Population	1.09M	3.42M

The cost of living in Cologne is 2% less expensive than in Madrid. Cities ranked 2551st and 2443rd ($1744 vs $1781) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 5th in Germany and Spain, respectively. Check Germany vs Spain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.3 months in Madrid. Cologne ranked 2nd best city to live in Germany vs Madrid ranked 1st in Spain, while ranked 12th and 151st 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 Madrid infographic

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Prices in Cologne vs Madrid

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

	Cologne	Madrid
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$14.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$57
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$10.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$4.36
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$2.92
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$2.77
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$1203
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$853
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$2092
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$1428
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$94
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$145
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$30.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	3.59%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$6884
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$3988
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$1.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$32.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$15.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.74
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$1.31
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$1.31
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$3.12
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$13.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$8.12
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$14.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.31
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.91
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.13
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$2.26
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.78
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.77
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$2.02
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$6.89
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.21
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$6.25
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$11.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$3.96
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$2.62
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$2.99
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$45
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$10.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$58.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$15.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$80.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$90.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$576
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$10042

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

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 Madrid

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Pozuelo de Alarcon	$1565
11 km or 6.7 mi	Coslada	$1530
14 km or 8.5 mi	Alcobendas	$1433
18 km or 11 mi	Mostoles	$1573
18 km or 11 mi	Fuenlabrada	$1389
18 km or 11 mi	Torrejon de Ardoz	$1387
21 km or 13 mi	Tres Cantos	$1309
29 km or 18 mi	Alcala de Henares	$1293
50 km or 31 mi	Guadalajara	$1056
68 km or 42 mi	Toledo	$1204
69 km or 43 mi	Segovia	$1285
138 km or 86 mi	Cuenca	$1084
155 km or 97 mi	Laguna de Duero	$1201
158 km or 98 mi	Villarrobledo	$1235
162 km or 101 mi	Valladolid	$1212
177 km or 110 mi	Salamanca	$1086
196 km or 122 mi	Puertollano	$812
208 km or 129 mi	Plasencia	$1098
211 km or 131 mi	Zamora	$1286
215 km or 133 mi	Burgos	$1107
223 km or 139 mi	Albacete	$1209
242 km or 150 mi	Villanueva de la Serena	$1157
244 km or 151 mi	Requena	$1261
250 km or 156 mi	Logrono	$983
251 km or 156 mi	Caceres	$947
253 km or 157 mi	Tudela	$1241
258 km or 160 mi	Linares	$1220
269 km or 167 mi	Ubeda	$1316
272 km or 169 mi	Zaragoza	$1101
281 km or 175 mi	Merida	$1126
283 km or 176 mi	Vitoria-Gasteiz	$1532
288 km or 179 mi	Leon	$1241
295 km or 183 mi	Jaen	$930
296 km or 184 mi	Jumilla	$1241
297 km or 184 mi	Cordoba	$1100
298 km or 185 mi	Yecla	$1324
299 km or 186 mi	Braganca	$806
301 km or 187 mi	Martos	$1204
302 km or 187 mi	Caravaca de la Cruz	$1221
302 km or 188 mi	Valencia	$1522