Columbus vs Dresden - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Columbus	Dresden
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2181	$1555
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5273	$3707
🏠 One person rent	$1256	$755
🏘️ Family rent	$2214	$1271
🍽️ Food expenses	$662	$510
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$155
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3957	$3206
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	10 km
🎓 Higher education	72	65
😀 Quality of life	90	89
🏙️ Population	906K	566K

The cost of living in Columbus is 40% more expensive than in Dresden. Cities ranked 1512th and 3768th ($2181 vs $1555) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1292nd and 462nd in the United States and Germany, respectively. Check the United States vs Germany comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Columbus compared to 2.1 months in Dresden. Columbus ranked 64th best city to live in the United States vs Dresden ranked 28th in Germany, while ranked 217th and 263rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Columbus vs Dresden infographic

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Prices in Columbus vs Dresden

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

	Columbus	Dresden
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19.3	$13.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$68	$72.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.3	$11
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.21	$5.15
☕ Cappuccino	$4.98	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.74	$3.53
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1298	$706
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$973	$491
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2399	$1259
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1787	$871
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$157	$182
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$244	$283
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$60.7	$39.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	4.04%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3028	$5084
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2566	$3851
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$3.74
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$61.3	$68.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.4	$23.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.83	$1.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.23
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.13	$1.85
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.38	$2.48
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$3.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$15.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$11.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$21.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.06	$3.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.14	$1.95
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.2	$2.21
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.57	$3.97
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.03	$1.65
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$1.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.36	$0.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.25	$1.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.5	$6.59
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.88	$1.02
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.33	$9.15
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.22	$9.21
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.75	$2.55
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.04	$1.43
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.23	$1.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.5	$35.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.7	$12.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$86.1	$53.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.9	$16.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.1	$84.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$86.6	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1105	$342
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28983	$14681

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Columbus

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.6 km or 5.3 mi	Upper Arlington	$2105
11 km or 7.1 mi	Grove	$2091
13 km or 8.3 mi	Gahanna	$2020
15 km or 9 mi	Hilliard	$2094
17 km or 11 mi	Reynoldsburg	$2030
18 km or 11 mi	Dublin	$2084
19 km or 12 mi	Westerville	$1836
22 km or 13 mi	Pickerington	$2014
38 km or 24 mi	Delaware	$2028
43 km or 27 mi	Lancaster	$1951
43 km or 27 mi	Marysville	$2019
51 km or 32 mi	Newark	$1932
69 km or 43 mi	Springfield	$1933
70 km or 43 mi	Chillicothe	$1933
70 km or 44 mi	Marion	$1954
84 km or 52 mi	Zanesville	$1928
86 km or 53 mi	Xenia	$1918
89 km or 55 mi	Fairborn	$1842
94 km or 59 mi	Beavercreek	$1918
97 km or 60 mi	Huber Heights	$1934
97 km or 60 mi	Mansfield	$1697
98 km or 61 mi	Riverside	$1947
103 km or 64 mi	Kettering	$1961
103 km or 64 mi	Troy	$1965
104 km or 65 mi	Athens	$1571
104 km or 65 mi	Centerville	$1942
105 km or 65 mi	Dayton	$1917
105 km or 65 mi	Sidney	$2025
108 km or 67 mi	Piqua	$1980
112 km or 69 mi	Trotwood	$1957
116 km or 72 mi	Ashland	$1684
120 km or 74 mi	Lebanon	$1850
128 km or 80 mi	Middletown	$1495
128 km or 80 mi	Lima	$2188
130 km or 81 mi	Wooster	$1482
131 km or 81 mi	Mason	$1899
132 km or 82 mi	Findlay	$1922
136 km or 84 mi	Portsmouth	$1493
144 km or 90 mi	New Philadelphia	$1743
146 km or 91 mi	Norwalk	$2061

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1490
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1485
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1475
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1473
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1448
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1301
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1436
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1182
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1408
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$986
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1063
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1432
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1489
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1486
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1446
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1028
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1385
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1196
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1211
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1125
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1374
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1435
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1401
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1491
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1471
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1427
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1251
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1428
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1363
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1396
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1084
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1195
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1601
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1690
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1207
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1337
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1152
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1187
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1117
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1563