Columbus vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Columbus	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2145	$2597
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5059	$6395
🏠 One person rent	$1248	$1516
🏘️ Family rent	$2171	$2783
🍽️ Food expenses	$632	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$188
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4018	$4131
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	73	99
😀 Quality of life	88	90
🏙️ Population	906K	1.6M

The cost of living in Columbus is 17% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 1476th and 664th ($2145 vs $2597) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1323rd and 610th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Columbus compared to 1.6 months in Philadelphia. Ranked 59th vs 28th best cities to live in the United States, and 249th vs 138th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Columbus vs Philadelphia infographic

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Prices in Columbus vs Philadelphia

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

	Columbus	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18.9	$20.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$66.4	$94.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.7	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.69	$5.96
☕ Cappuccino	$4.78	$5.09
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.44	$2.56
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1314	$1616
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$972	$1200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2378	$3231
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1757	$2273
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$161
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$232	$247
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$57.9	$71.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.57%	6.74%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3095	$3404
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2954	$2379
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$60.8	$95.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.4	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.92	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.74	$4.25
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.43	$9.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.4	$4.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.3	$19.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$12.8
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.4	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.29	$6.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$2.2
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.69	$5.12
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.95	$5.41
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$3.59
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.04	$3.4
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.47	$1.66
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.28	$3.63
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$18.6	$15.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.66	$1.93
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.45	$13.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.35	$9.19
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.76	$5.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.07	$3.89
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.2	$2.31
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.3	$50.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.7	$14.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$85.5	$102
💇 Haircut, simple	$19.9	$24.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$61	$52.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.4	$89.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1236	$2066
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15423	$19774

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	$2084
11 km or 7.1 mi	Grove	$2062
13 km or 8.3 mi	Gahanna	$1986
15 km or 9 mi	Hilliard	$2085
17 km or 11 mi	Reynoldsburg	$1994
18 km or 11 mi	Dublin	$2095
19 km or 12 mi	Westerville	$1798
22 km or 13 mi	Pickerington	$1983
38 km or 24 mi	Delaware	$1851
43 km or 27 mi	Lancaster	$1903
43 km or 27 mi	Marysville	$1968
51 km or 32 mi	Newark	$1881
69 km or 43 mi	Springfield	$1897
70 km or 43 mi	Chillicothe	$1764
70 km or 44 mi	Marion	$1871
84 km or 52 mi	Zanesville	$1825
86 km or 53 mi	Xenia	$1870
89 km or 55 mi	Fairborn	$1798
94 km or 59 mi	Beavercreek	$1862
97 km or 60 mi	Huber Heights	$1852
97 km or 60 mi	Mansfield	$1832
98 km or 61 mi	Riverside	$1865
103 km or 64 mi	Kettering	$1890
103 km or 64 mi	Troy	$1897
104 km or 65 mi	Athens	$1674
104 km or 65 mi	Centerville	$1902
105 km or 65 mi	Dayton	$1783
105 km or 65 mi	Sidney	$1973
108 km or 67 mi	Piqua	$1914
112 km or 69 mi	Trotwood	$1870
116 km or 72 mi	Ashland	$1681
120 km or 74 mi	Lebanon	$1834
128 km or 80 mi	Middletown	$1427
128 km or 80 mi	Lima	$1923
130 km or 81 mi	Wooster	$1481
131 km or 81 mi	Mason	$1853
132 km or 82 mi	Findlay	$1839
136 km or 84 mi	Portsmouth	$1428
144 km or 90 mi	New Philadelphia	$1683
146 km or 91 mi	Norwalk	$1858

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2625
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2596
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2683
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2621
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2415
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2610
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2574
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2604
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2477
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2567
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2600
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2591
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2608
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2368
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2600
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2611
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2787
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2493
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2423
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2582
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2541
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2353
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2683
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2676
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2085
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2653
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$2901
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2642
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2739
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2919
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2819
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2723
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2782
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2849
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2303
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2264
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2880
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2320
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2557
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2693