Dresden vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Dresden	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1531	$1013
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3749	$2476
🏠 One person rent	$706	$502
🏘️ Family rent	$1209	$806
🍽️ Food expenses	$528	$272
🚐 Transport expenses	$159	$151
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3314	$491
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	65	95
😀 Quality of life	92	67
🏙️ Population	566K	6.21M

The cost of living in Dresden is 51% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 3968th and 5559th ($1531 vs $1013) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 536th and 2nd in Germany and Brazil, respectively. Check Germany vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.2 months in Dresden compared to 0.5 months in Rio de Janeiro. Dresden ranked 19th best city to live in Germany vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 4th in Brazil, while ranked 117th and 4845th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/dresden/rio-de-janeiro.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Dresden vs Rio de Janeiro infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/dresden/rio-de-janeiro" target="_blank">Dresden vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Dresden vs Rio de Janeiro

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

	Dresden	Rio de Janeiro
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.3	$6.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.9	$31.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$6.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.29	$2.13
☕ Cappuccino	$4.08	$2.56
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.91	$1.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$716	$574
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$462	$353
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1275	$959
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$840	$578
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$154	$85.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$243	$133
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.8	$19.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.93%	11.13%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5211	$2256
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3268	$1317
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.75	$1.07
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$72.9	$48
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$8.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.01	$1.17
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.25	$1.14
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.89	$1.62
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.74	$2.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$9.04
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12	$4.28
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23	$8.72
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.41	$2.43
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.65
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.21	$1.65
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.31	$1.53
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.18
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$1.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.78	$0.4
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.8	$1.73
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.68	$7.51
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.05	$1.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.19	$2.27
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$3.86
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.57	$3.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.47	$1.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$1.06
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36	$27.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.4	$7.13
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$55	$48.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.9	$7.96
👖 Brand Jeans	$90.6	$44.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$111	$76.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$390	$550
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16803	$13739

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 Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$792
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$648
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$681
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$851
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$632
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$782
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$537
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$614
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$482
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$576
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$600
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$579
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$733
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$533
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$600
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$548
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$652
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$679
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$672
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$565
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$709
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$678
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$625
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$684
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$585
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$568
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$564
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$656
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$565
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$667
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$645
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$643
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$679
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$594
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$679
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$702
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$562
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$505
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$877
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$631