Dresden vs Raleigh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Dresden	Raleigh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1531	$2317
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3749	$5372
🏠 One person rent	$706	$1430
🏘️ Family rent	$1209	$2327
🍽️ Food expenses	$528	$612
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$90.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3314	$4411
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	65	82
😀 Quality of life	92	89
🏙️ Population	566K	468K

The cost of living in Dresden is 34% less expensive than in Raleigh. Cities ranked 3968th and 1246th ($1531 vs $2317) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 536th and 1054th in Germany and the United States, respectively. Check Germany vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.2 months in Dresden compared to 1.9 months in Raleigh. Dresden ranked 19th best city to live in Germany vs Raleigh ranked 64th in the United States, while ranked 117th and 245th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Dresden vs Raleigh

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

	Dresden	Raleigh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.3	$18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.9	$72.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.29	$5.67
☕ Cappuccino	$4.08	$6.02
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.91	$2.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$716	$1562
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$1149
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1275	$2603
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$840	$1919
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$154	$133
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$243	$207
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$65.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.93%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5211	$3603
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3268	$2208
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.75	$1.68
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72.9	$48.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$16.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.01	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.25	$0.97
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.89	$3.39
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$2.78
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.74	$4.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$14.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$10.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23	$16.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.41	$5.47
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.26
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$4.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$5.45
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$2.68
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$3.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$1.46
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.8	$2.63
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.68	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.05	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.19	$8.71
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$10.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.57	$4.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.47	$3.97
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$2.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36	$44.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$137
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.9	$28.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$90.6	$54.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$390	$1374
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16803	$24650

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	$1478
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1476
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1473
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1476
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1460
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1305
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1462
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1227
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1454
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$1006
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$1093
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1494
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1525
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1502
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1474
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$1103
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1497
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1280
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1273
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1200
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1478
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1464
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1479
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1510
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1488
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1472
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1334
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1468
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1382
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1401
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1146
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1188
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1576
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1652
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1276
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1375
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$1188
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1244
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$1196
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1553

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736