Dresden vs Edinburgh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Dresden	Edinburgh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1448	$2295
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3599	$5636
🏠 One person rent	$637	$1360
🏘️ Family rent	$1099	$2398
🍽️ Food expenses	$517	$601
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$153
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3219	$3514
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	65	88
😀 Quality of life	92	92
🏙️ Population	566K	488K

The cost of living in Dresden is 37% less expensive than in Edinburgh. Cities ranked 4158th and 1307th ($1448 vs $2295) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 592nd and 38th in Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively. Check Germany vs the United Kingdom comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.2 months in Dresden compared to 1.5 months in Edinburgh. Dresden ranked 17th best city to live in Germany vs Edinburgh ranked 11th in the United Kingdom, while ranked 96th and 83rd among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Dresden vs Edinburgh

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

	Dresden	Edinburgh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$14.5	$22.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.7	$90
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.1	$10.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.44	$8.34
☕ Cappuccino	$4.13	$5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.84	$2.58
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$652	$1471
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$423	$1081
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1203	$2686
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$764	$1966
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$131	$158
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$210	$245
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$37.8	$43.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.99%	4.86%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5147	$6647
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2772	$4795
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.96	$2.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.2	$94.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$23.7	$21.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.06	$1.99
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.33	$1.85
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.77	$2.01
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.42	$2.12
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.69	$5.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$11.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$10.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.9	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.97
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.07	$3.29
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.69	$3.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$1.75
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.59	$1.47
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.73	$1.1
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.74	$3.31
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.91	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.07	$2.83
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.96	$22.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.37	$8.15
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.47	$4.71
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.43	$3.27
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.66	$1.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.2	$50.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13	$15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$52.6	$112
💇 Haircut, simple	$16	$22.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$87.6	$94.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$107	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$446	$1749
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15933	$25458

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1412
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1410
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1417
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1424
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1430
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1316
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1445
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1216
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1440
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1141
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1503
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1517
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1461
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1470
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1094
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1530
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1276
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1332
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1174
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1464
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1419
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1438
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1505
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1482
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1460
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1299
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1467
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1332
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1363
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1131
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1174
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1579
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1659
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1244
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1402
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1112
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1195
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1218
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1551

Cities near Edinburgh

Distance	City	Cost of living
18 km or 11 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1794
21 km or 13 mi	Livingston	$1760
21 km or 13 mi	Dunfermline	$1750
42 km or 26 mi	Alloa	$1842
49 km or 30 mi	Cumbernauld	$1611
49 km or 31 mi	Stirling	$1835
52 km or 32 mi	Perth	$1640
56 km or 35 mi	Hamilton	$1831
59 km or 37 mi	Dundee	$1593
65 km or 40 mi	East Kilbride	$1878
66 km or 41 mi	Glasgow	$2114
78 km or 48 mi	Paisley	$1885
89 km or 56 mi	Kilmarnock	$1600
98 km or 61 mi	Greenock	$1647
99 km or 61 mi	Irvine	$1704
102 km or 63 mi	Dumfries	$1456
105 km or 65 mi	Ayr	$1586
120 km or 74 mi	Carlisle	$1596
147 km or 91 mi	Newcastle upon Tyne	$1979
149 km or 93 mi	Aberdeen	$1806
150 km or 93 mi	Gateshead	$1943
153 km or 95 mi	Tynemouth	$1784
153 km or 95 mi	Jarrow	$1820
154 km or 96 mi	South Shields	$1777
158 km or 98 mi	Washington	$1778
158 km or 98 mi	Whitehaven	$1798
164 km or 102 mi	Sunderland	$1554
166 km or 103 mi	Durham	$1872
173 km or 107 mi	Bishop Auckland	$1742
182 km or 113 mi	Inverness	$2005
189 km or 117 mi	Hartlepool	$1417
189 km or 117 mi	Elgin	$1523
190 km or 118 mi	Darlington	$1404
194 km or 121 mi	Stockton-on-Tees	$1424
197 km or 123 mi	Middlesbrough	$1741
211 km or 131 mi	Morecambe	$1834
212 km or 132 mi	Bangor	$1485
213 km or 132 mi	Lancaster	$1791
216 km or 134 mi	Douglas	$2236
224 km or 139 mi	Newtownabbey	$1820