Melbourne vs Riga - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Melbourne	Riga
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2543	$1254
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6242	$3163
🏠 One person rent	$1414	$592
🏘️ Family rent	$2478	$1001
🍽️ Food expenses	$607	$454
🚐 Transport expenses	$361	$86.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4489	$1555
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	100	59
😀 Quality of life	100	80
🏙️ Population	5.35M	595K

The cost of living in Melbourne is 103% more expensive than in Riga. Cities ranked 829th and 4631st ($2543 vs $1254) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in Australia and Latvia, respectively. Check Australia vs Latvia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Melbourne compared to 1.2 months in Riga. Melbourne ranked 1st best city to live in Australia vs Riga ranked 1st in Latvia, while ranked 1st and 657th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/melbourne/riga.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Melbourne vs Riga infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/melbourne/riga" target="_blank">Melbourne vs Riga - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Melbourne vs Riga

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

	Melbourne	Riga
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.5	$13.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$67.1	$56
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$9.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$9.51	$5.81
☕ Cappuccino	$4.02	$3.91
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.15	$1.69
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1557	$564
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1162	$372
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2836	$1006
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2092	$669
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$122	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$186	$245
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$51.2	$19.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	5.58%	4.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6978	$3243
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6027	$2218
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.85	$1.75
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$140	$35
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.7	$11.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.42	$1.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.67	$1.44
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.28	$2.2
🥚 Eggs, x12	$5.94	$3.69
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.76	$8.49
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$1.91
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$2.52
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.07	$3.71
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.08	$1.06
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.76	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$0.64
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.68	$3.07
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.3	$8.74
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.54	$1.95
🚬 Cigarette pack	$26	$6.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.98	$5.76
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.14	$2.2
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.17	$3.55
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$55.5	$46.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.4	$10.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$56.8	$51.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$28	$17.5
👖 Brand Jeans	$80.1	$68.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$123	$88.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2326	$607
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22313	$18197

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Melbourne

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.2 km or 2 mi	South Yarra	$1834
24 km or 15 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1847
25 km or 16 mi	Tarneit	$1813
29 km or 18 mi	Dandenong	$1913
34 km or 21 mi	Sunbury	$1933
37 km or 23 mi	Melton	$1896
40 km or 25 mi	Frankston	$1889
41 km or 25 mi	Berwick	$1915
42 km or 26 mi	Cranbourne	$1810
54 km or 34 mi	Pakenham	$1936
65 km or 40 mi	Geelong	$2179
102 km or 64 mi	Ballarat	$1606
134 km or 83 mi	Bendigo	$1493
144 km or 90 mi	Traralgon	$2000
164 km or 102 mi	Shepparton	$1816
226 km or 140 mi	Warrnambool	$1876
367 km or 228 mi	Mount Gambier	$1880
369 km or 230 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1608
392 km or 244 mi	Devonport	$1868
404 km or 251 mi	Griffith	$1825
444 km or 276 mi	Launceston	$1728
466 km or 290 mi	Canberra	$2258
477 km or 296 mi	Mildura	$1905
546 km or 339 mi	Goulburn	$1795
597 km or 371 mi	Hobart	$2364
628 km or 390 mi	Orange	$1460
643 km or 399 mi	Bathurst	$1701
651 km or 405 mi	Wollongong	$1695
655 km or 407 mi	Adelaide	$2355
700 km or 435 mi	Blacktown	$1709
702 km or 436 mi	Dubbo	$1855
703 km or 437 mi	Parramatta	$2481
707 km or 440 mi	Kellyville	$2040
713 km or 443 mi	Sydney	$2844
728 km or 452 mi	Dee Why	$2354
822 km or 511 mi	Newcastle	$1995
891 km or 554 mi	Whyalla	$2133
1015 km or 631 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
1021 km or 634 mi	Armidale	$1273
1123 km or 698 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2132

Cities near Riga

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Jurmala	$1374
34 km or 21 mi	Ogre	$1000
40 km or 25 mi	Jelgava	$893
103 km or 64 mi	Valmiera	$938
118 km or 74 mi	Jekabpils	$895
123 km or 77 mi	Siauliai	$964
129 km or 80 mi	Mazeikiai	$860
137 km or 85 mi	Panevezys	$982
161 km or 100 mi	Ventspils	$932
161 km or 100 mi	Parnu	$1179
174 km or 108 mi	Kuressaare	$1225
181 km or 112 mi	Viljandi	$1054
186 km or 115 mi	Utena	$974
190 km or 118 mi	Daugavpils	$938
195 km or 121 mi	Liepaja	$1040
203 km or 126 mi	Rezekne	$835
209 km or 130 mi	Jonava	$859
223 km or 138 mi	Tartu	$1220
228 km or 142 mi	Kaunas	$1258
229 km or 142 mi	Klaipeda	$1077
262 km or 163 mi	Vilnius	$1434
270 km or 168 mi	Marijampole	$928
271 km or 168 mi	Pskov	$758
279 km or 174 mi	Tallinn	$1594
283 km or 176 mi	Alytus	$881
286 km or 178 mi	Maardu	$1455
298 km or 185 mi	Rakvere	$1085
327 km or 203 mi	Suwalki	$1114
330 km or 205 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1104
335 km or 208 mi	Kaliningrad	$1016
339 km or 211 mi	Raseborg	$1597
347 km or 215 mi	Sillamae	$1079
353 km or 219 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1684
357 km or 222 mi	Visby	$1498
361 km or 225 mi	Narva	$1081
362 km or 225 mi	Helsinki	$1970
364 km or 226 mi	Espoo	$1974
365 km or 227 mi	Grodno	$445
365 km or 227 mi	Elk	$1170
367 km or 228 mi	Lohja	$1391