Dresden vs Zurich - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Dresden	Zurich
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1402	$3296
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3491	$8076
🏠 One person rent	$684	$1966
🏘️ Family rent	$1301	$3466
🍽️ Food expenses	$460	$863
🚐 Transport expenses	$138	$211
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$2953	$7242
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	65	81
😀 Quality of life	88	98
🏙️ Population	566K	449K

The cost of living in Dresden is 57% less expensive than in Zurich. Cities ranked 3862nd and 59th ($1402 vs $3296) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 512th and 2nd in Germany and Switzerland, respectively. Check Germany vs Switzerland comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2.1 months in Dresden compared to 2.2 months in Zurich. Dresden ranked 33rd best city to live in Germany vs Zurich ranked 1st in Switzerland, while ranked 217th and 5th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Dresden vs Zurich infographic

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Prices in Dresden vs Zurich

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

	Dresden	Zurich
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.9	$26
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$56.5	$111
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.93	$17.8
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.54	$8.89
☕ Cappuccino	$3.48	$6.48
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.58	$5.47
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$656	$2155
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$439	$1671
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1357	$4080
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$929	$2967
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$162	$148
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$248	$226
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39	$50.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.94%	2.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4831	$24070
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3685	$5867
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.14	$4.88
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$61.4	$94.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$21.2	$41.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.79	$2.08
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.09	$1.99
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.68	$2.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$3.45
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.22	$7.49
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$22
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.4	$22.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$45.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.82	$3.52
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$2.34
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$2.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$5.08
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$2.6
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$2.32
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.55	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.57	$3.38
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.07	$14.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$2.32
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.76	$10
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.35	$21.1
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.29	$5.47
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.3	$3.9
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.5	$4.01
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$29.7	$72.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.7	$21.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$48.2	$138
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$54.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$75.5	$120
👟 Brand Sneakers	$98.6	$124
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$323	$2498
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13167	$29610

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Dresden

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	Freital	$1347
7.7 km or 4.8 mi	Radebeul	$1351
14 km or 8.9 mi	Coswig	$1341
17 km or 11 mi	Pirna	$1352
22 km or 14 mi	Meissen	$1325
32 km or 20 mi	Freiberg	$1202
42 km or 26 mi	Riesa	$1309
44 km or 28 mi	Decin	$1048
44 km or 28 mi	Dobeln	$1278
47 km or 29 mi	Teplice	$880
48 km or 30 mi	Usti nad Labem	$971
50 km or 31 mi	Bautzen	$1420
51 km or 31 mi	Litvinov	$1314
55 km or 34 mi	Senftenberg	$1351
56 km or 35 mi	Hoyerswerda	$1373
61 km or 38 mi	Most	$942
62 km or 39 mi	Chemnitz	$1187
64 km or 40 mi	Litomerice	$1092
69 km or 43 mi	Ceska Lipa	$1081
69 km or 43 mi	Chomutov	$1033
72 km or 45 mi	Limbach-Oberfrohna	$1222
73 km or 45 mi	Spremberg	$1310
73 km or 46 mi	Annaberg-Buchholz	$1307
74 km or 46 mi	Grimma	$1353
76 km or 47 mi	Torgau	$1350
77 km or 48 mi	Zittau	$1352
87 km or 54 mi	Glauchau	$1147
88 km or 55 mi	Gorlitz	$1362
89 km or 55 mi	Cottbus	$1241
92 km or 57 mi	Altenburg	$1281
95 km or 59 mi	Zwickau	$1011
98 km or 61 mi	Liberec	$1030
98 km or 61 mi	Markkleeberg	$1452
100 km or 62 mi	Leipzig	$1516
101 km or 63 mi	Werdau	$1118
104 km or 65 mi	Kladno	$1216
107 km or 66 mi	Jablonec nad Nisou	$950
108 km or 67 mi	Mlada Boleslav	$1092
110 km or 68 mi	Karlovy Vary	$979
111 km or 69 mi	Delitzsch	$1419

Cities near Zurich

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Altstetten	$3037
6.4 km or 4 mi	Dubendorf	$2988
11 km or 6.6 mi	Dietikon	$2934
14 km or 8.6 mi	Horgen	$2976
14 km or 8.6 mi	Uster	$2974
16 km or 9.7 mi	Bulach	$2873
19 km or 12 mi	Wettingen	$2970
19 km or 12 mi	Wadenswil	$2960
19 km or 12 mi	Winterthur	$3032
20 km or 13 mi	Wetzikon	$2893
20 km or 13 mi	Baden	$3059
20 km or 13 mi	Baar	$3099
23 km or 15 mi	Zug	$3426
28 km or 17 mi	Rapperswil-Jona	$2861
33 km or 21 mi	Frauenfeld	$2379
36 km or 22 mi	Schaffhausen	$2419
37 km or 23 mi	Waldshut-Tiengen	$1472
37 km or 23 mi	Aarau	$2252
38 km or 24 mi	Emmen	$2897
40 km or 25 mi	Wil	$2262
40 km or 25 mi	Lucerne	$2931
43 km or 27 mi	Kriens	$2891
48 km or 30 mi	Singen	$1555
51 km or 32 mi	Radolfzell	$1609
56 km or 35 mi	Kreuzlingen	$2614
57 km or 36 mi	Konstanz	$1731
60 km or 37 mi	Rheinfelden	$1447
63 km or 39 mi	St. Gallen	$2464
63 km or 39 mi	Uberlingen	$1641
64 km or 40 mi	Donaueschingen	$1382
70 km or 44 mi	Riehen	$3234
71 km or 44 mi	Tuttlingen	$1453
71 km or 44 mi	Lorrach	$1434
74 km or 46 mi	Weil am Rhein	$1442
74 km or 46 mi	Basel	$2643
76 km or 47 mi	Villingen-Schwenningen	$1267
77 km or 48 mi	Saint-Louis	$1286
77 km or 48 mi	Friedrichshafen	$1656
77 km or 48 mi	Schaan	$2352
78 km or 48 mi	Allschwil	$2717