Milwaukee vs Philadelphia - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Milwaukee	Philadelphia
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2078	$2597
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5083	$5854
🏠 One person rent	$1194	$1514
🏘️ Family rent	$1948	$2239
🍽️ Food expenses	$591	$740
🚐 Transport expenses	$118	$187
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3809	$4328
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	11 km
🎓 Higher education	81	100
😀 Quality of life	89	92
🏙️ Population	577K	1.6M

The cost of living in Milwaukee is 20% less expensive than in Philadelphia. Cities ranked 1833rd and 742nd ($2078 vs $2597) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1456th and 648th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Milwaukee compared to 1.7 months in Philadelphia. Ranked 70th vs 14th best cities to live in the United States, and 260th vs 87th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Milwaukee vs Philadelphia

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

	Milwaukee	Philadelphia
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.5	$23.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$60.5	$89.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.91	$12.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.7	$6.02
☕ Cappuccino	$5.12	$5.15
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.01	$2.9
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1421	$1612
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$908	$1201
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2353	$2399
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1538	$1810
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$121	$158
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$185	$238
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$72.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.44%	6.52%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2254	$3762
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1645	$1992
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.7	$95.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16	$15.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.86	$0.84
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.86	$1.41
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.87	$4.2
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.24	$8.74
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.58	$4.6
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.8	$15.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.7	$17.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.4	$6.15
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$1.94
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.62	$4.78
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.34	$5.7
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$3
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.49	$3.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.57	$1.6
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.32	$3.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.2	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.81	$2.24
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.5	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.34	$9.25
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.34	$6.94
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.57	$3.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.85	$2.37
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.7	$60.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.6	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$166	$85.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$16.8	$29.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$48.1	$49
👟 Brand Sneakers	$85.1	$93.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1835	$2195
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24369	$17603

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Milwaukee

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	West Allis	$1962
6.3 km or 3.9 mi	Wauwatosa	$1986
10 km or 6.4 mi	Greenfield	$1965
13 km or 8.3 mi	Brookfield	$1924
15 km or 9.4 mi	New Berlin	$1963
17 km or 11 mi	South Milwaukee	$2040
17 km or 11 mi	Menomonee Falls	$1997
17 km or 11 mi	Franklin	$1997
19 km or 12 mi	Oak Creek	$2028
19 km or 12 mi	Mequon	$2020
22 km or 14 mi	Muskego	$1966
23 km or 14 mi	Waukesha	$1812
27 km or 17 mi	Caledonia	$2037
37 km or 23 mi	Mount Pleasant	$2079
38 km or 24 mi	Racine	$2070
46 km or 28 mi	West Bend	$1971
53 km or 33 mi	Kenosha	$2034
57 km or 36 mi	Pleasant Prairie	$2092
64 km or 40 mi	Watertown	$1990
67 km or 42 mi	Zion	$2381
74 km or 46 mi	Fort Atkinson	$1814
76 km or 47 mi	Round Lake Beach	$2365
76 km or 47 mi	Gurnee	$2379
77 km or 48 mi	Waukegan	$2435
78 km or 49 mi	Grayslake	$2354
80 km or 50 mi	Sheboygan	$1746
81 km or 51 mi	North Chicago	$2403
84 km or 52 mi	McHenry	$2437
85 km or 53 mi	Libertyville	$2410
87 km or 54 mi	Mundelein	$2131
90 km or 56 mi	Fond du Lac	$1844
91 km or 57 mi	Woodstock	$2229
91 km or 57 mi	Vernon Hills	$2402
96 km or 60 mi	Janesville	$1784
97 km or 60 mi	Crystal Lake	$2504
97 km or 60 mi	Highland Park	$2398
98 km or 61 mi	Buffalo Grove	$2371
101 km or 63 mi	Lake in the Hills	$2519
102 km or 63 mi	Wheeling	$2434
103 km or 64 mi	Northbrook	$2415

Cities near Philadelphia

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Camden	$2612
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Pennsauken Township	$2604
12 km or 7.1 mi	Cherry Hill	$2699
12 km or 7.7 mi	West Deptford Township	$2636
16 km or 9.9 mi	Fox Chase	$2412
16 km or 9.9 mi	Deptford Township	$2632
19 km or 12 mi	Moorestown	$2572
21 km or 13 mi	Gloucester Township	$2626
21 km or 13 mi	Chester	$2493
22 km or 14 mi	Mount Laurel	$2549
25 km or 15 mi	Evesham Township	$2609
25 km or 16 mi	Willingboro Township	$2600
31 km or 19 mi	Medford	$2612
35 km or 22 mi	Levittown	$2350
35 km or 22 mi	Winslow Township	$2639
36 km or 23 mi	Monroe Township	$2639
38 km or 23 mi	West Chester	$2793
40 km or 25 mi	Wilmington	$2445
46 km or 28 mi	Trenton	$2392
46 km or 29 mi	Ewing Township	$2541
50 km or 31 mi	Hamilton Township	$2520
52 km or 32 mi	Pottstown	$2315
54 km or 33 mi	Lawrence Township	$2668
56 km or 35 mi	Vineland	$2603
58 km or 36 mi	Newark	$2207
59 km or 36 mi	Bridgeton	$2648
62 km or 38 mi	Princeton	$3077
63 km or 39 mi	Millville	$2609
64 km or 39 mi	East Windsor Township	$2740
65 km or 40 mi	Plainsboro Township	$2802
67 km or 42 mi	Montgomery Township	$2835
67 km or 42 mi	Manchester Township	$2714
71 km or 44 mi	Jackson Township	$2753
72 km or 45 mi	South Brunswick	$2835
77 km or 48 mi	Allentown	$2301
77 km or 48 mi	Bethlehem	$2323
77 km or 48 mi	Hillsborough Township	$2933
78 km or 48 mi	Reading	$2171
78 km or 49 mi	Barnegat Township	$2684
79 km or 49 mi	Manalapan Township	$2801