Cologne vs Munich - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cologne	Munich
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1744	$2201
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4212	$5311
🏠 One person rent	$947	$1313
🏘️ Family rent	$1673	$2479
🍽️ Food expenses	$491	$524
🚐 Transport expenses	$174	$211
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3148	$3560
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	23 km
🎓 Higher education	92	90
😀 Quality of life	96	93
🏙️ Population	1.09M	1.51M

The cost of living in Cologne is 21% less expensive than in Munich. Cities ranked 2551st and 1352nd ($1744 vs $2201) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 24th and 1st in Germany.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.6 months in Munich. Ranked 2nd vs 8th best cities to live in Germany, and 12th vs 54th 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 Munich 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/munich.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cologne vs Munich infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cologne/munich" target="_blank">Cologne vs Munich - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cologne vs Munich

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

	Cologne	Munich
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.1	$16.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$61.3	$69.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.4	$12.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.67	$4.92
☕ Cappuccino	$3.64	$4.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.1	$3.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$963	$1323
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$743	$1006
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1902	$2618
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1332	$2005
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$120	$205
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$313
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$40.4	$38.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.01%	3.97%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6163	$12224
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5539	$8488
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$4.1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$56.6	$59.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$22.1	$24.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.83	$1.85
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.23	$1.36
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.8	$2.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.69	$2.7
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.95	$3.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$14.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$11.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.1	$18.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$2.88
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.86
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.06	$2.53
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.26	$3.62
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.85
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.64	$1.56
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.57
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.22	$1.83
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.56	$6.83
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.02	$1.1
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.09	$9.08
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$8.17
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.2	$3.34
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.75	$1.92
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$1.42
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$32.5	$52.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$13.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.2	$73.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$22.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$94.7	$92.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$97.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$953
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15595	$14702

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 Munich

Distance	City	Cost of living
16 km or 9.6 mi	Germering	$1789
16 km or 10 mi	Unterschleiheim	$1746
17 km or 10 mi	Puchheim	$1772
17 km or 11 mi	Dachau	$1755
20 km or 13 mi	Olching	$1730
23 km or 15 mi	Starnberg	$1727
24 km or 15 mi	Furstenfeldbruck	$1711
31 km or 19 mi	Erding	$1631
31 km or 19 mi	Geretsried	$1679
32 km or 20 mi	Freising	$1611
44 km or 28 mi	Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm	$1568
47 km or 29 mi	Weilheim in Oberbayern	$1700
48 km or 30 mi	Aichach	$1613
50 km or 31 mi	Friedberg	$1644
52 km or 32 mi	Rosenheim	$1164
53 km or 33 mi	Konigsbrunn	$1638
53 km or 33 mi	Landsberg am Lech	$1637
57 km or 35 mi	Augsburg	$1728
61 km or 38 mi	Gersthofen	$1644
62 km or 38 mi	Landshut	$1569
62 km or 38 mi	Waldkraiburg	$1541
62 km or 39 mi	Neusa	$1645
71 km or 44 mi	Ingolstadt	$1465
71 km or 44 mi	Muhldorf	$1537
72 km or 45 mi	Neuburg an der Donau	$1508
76 km or 48 mi	Kaufbeuren	$1698
77 km or 48 mi	Traunreut	$1517
80 km or 50 mi	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	$1911
85 km or 53 mi	Traunstein	$1540
87 km or 54 mi	Donauworth	$1544
98 km or 61 mi	Innsbruck	$1636
103 km or 64 mi	Gunzburg	$1538
104 km or 65 mi	Kempten	$1502
105 km or 65 mi	Regensburg	$1627
105 km or 65 mi	Memmingen	$1565
110 km or 69 mi	Straubing	$1522
112 km or 70 mi	Nordlingen	$1509
114 km or 71 mi	Senden	$1516
116 km or 72 mi	Salzburg	$1672
119 km or 74 mi	Sonthofen	$1560