Columbus vs Malaga - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Columbus	Malaga
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2127	$1727
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5086	$3948
🏠 One person rent	$1221	$1025
🏘️ Family rent	$2077	$1729
🍽️ Food expenses	$642	$478
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$98.2
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3894	$1786
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	73	24
😀 Quality of life	92	79
🏙️ Population	906K	599K

The cost of living in Columbus is 23% more expensive than in Malaga. Cities ranked 1686th and 3160th ($2127 vs $1727) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1354th and 20th in the United States and Spain, respectively. Check the United States vs Spain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Columbus compared to 1 months in Malaga. Columbus ranked 17th best city to live in the United States vs Malaga ranked 28th in Spain, while ranked 96th and 802nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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

Prices in Columbus vs Malaga

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

	Columbus	Malaga
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.3	$16.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$66.4	$58.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$11.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.36	$4.07
☕ Cappuccino	$4.76	$2.74
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.53	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1328	$1174
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$934	$845
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2183	$2042
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1691	$1448
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$147	$87.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$226	$136
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$61	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.35%	3.53%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3248	$5265
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2159	$4533
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.99	$1.66
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60.1	$29.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.5	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.85	$1.8
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.91	$1.25
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.1	$1.47
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.02	$1.69
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.12	$3.33
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.7	$19.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.9	$9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.3	$14.1
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.64	$2.41
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.83	$2.16
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.03	$1.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$2.49
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$1.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.43	$2.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.54	$0.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.75	$2.54
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.8	$6.67
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.81	$1.23
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.61	$6.66
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.22	$12.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.76	$2.87
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.07	$2.43
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.24	$2.11
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$38.5	$48.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$12.3	$9.93
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$85.7	$46.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.1	$17.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$95.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.2	$91.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1272	$616
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24638	$10911

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	$2080
11 km or 7.1 mi	Grove	$2048
13 km or 8.3 mi	Gahanna	$1994
15 km or 9 mi	Hilliard	$2093
17 km or 11 mi	Reynoldsburg	$1992
18 km or 11 mi	Dublin	$2123
19 km or 12 mi	Westerville	$1816
22 km or 13 mi	Pickerington	$1982
38 km or 24 mi	Delaware	$2029
43 km or 27 mi	Lancaster	$1911
43 km or 27 mi	Marysville	$1975
51 km or 32 mi	Newark	$1872
69 km or 43 mi	Springfield	$1813
70 km or 43 mi	Chillicothe	$1919
70 km or 44 mi	Marion	$1922
84 km or 52 mi	Zanesville	$1746
86 km or 53 mi	Xenia	$1831
89 km or 55 mi	Fairborn	$1756
94 km or 59 mi	Beavercreek	$1822
97 km or 60 mi	Huber Heights	$1831
97 km or 60 mi	Mansfield	$1594
98 km or 61 mi	Riverside	$1877
103 km or 64 mi	Kettering	$1931
103 km or 64 mi	Troy	$1849
104 km or 65 mi	Athens	$1582
104 km or 65 mi	Centerville	$1915
105 km or 65 mi	Dayton	$1901
105 km or 65 mi	Sidney	$1863
108 km or 67 mi	Piqua	$1833
112 km or 69 mi	Trotwood	$1933
116 km or 72 mi	Ashland	$1580
120 km or 74 mi	Lebanon	$1864
128 km or 80 mi	Middletown	$1554
128 km or 80 mi	Lima	$2110
130 km or 81 mi	Wooster	$1530
131 km or 81 mi	Mason	$1904
132 km or 82 mi	Findlay	$1859
136 km or 84 mi	Portsmouth	$1468
144 km or 90 mi	New Philadelphia	$1791
146 km or 91 mi	Norwalk	$1935

Cities near Malaga

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Benalmadena	$1614
24 km or 15 mi	Mijas	$1551
27 km or 17 mi	Fuengirola	$1537
36 km or 22 mi	Antequera	$1336
48 km or 30 mi	Marbella	$1935
55 km or 34 mi	Loja	$1500
65 km or 40 mi	Almunecar	$1129
67 km or 41 mi	Ronda	$1003
71 km or 44 mi	Estepona	$1625
80 km or 50 mi	Motril	$1016
89 km or 55 mi	Granada	$1360
94 km or 58 mi	Alcala la Real	$2270
104 km or 64 mi	La Linea de la Concepcion	$1316
105 km or 65 mi	Gibraltar City	$2594
109 km or 68 mi	Ecija	$1385
113 km or 70 mi	Los Barrios	$1212
114 km or 71 mi	Algeciras	$1041
119 km or 74 mi	Martos	$1385
122 km or 76 mi	Ceuta	$1340
124 km or 77 mi	Arcos de la Frontera	$1295
125 km or 78 mi	Adra	$1230
130 km or 81 mi	Jaen	$1123
132 km or 82 mi	Tarifa	$1394
133 km or 83 mi	Cordoba	$1331
137 km or 85 mi	Carmona	$1353
143 km or 89 mi	El Ejido	$1157
148 km or 92 mi	Dos Hermanas	$1339
152 km or 94 mi	Jerez de la Frontera	$1008
154 km or 96 mi	Tetouan	$577
158 km or 98 mi	Seville	$1403
158 km or 98 mi	Chiclana de la Frontera	$1187
162 km or 101 mi	Tangier	$881
169 km or 105 mi	Linares	$1356
169 km or 105 mi	Cadiz	$1560
171 km or 106 mi	Ubeda	$1435
174 km or 108 mi	Rota	$1497
176 km or 109 mi	Almeria	$1345
196 km or 122 mi	Almonte	$1337
207 km or 129 mi	Melilla	$949
218 km or 135 mi	Nador	$538