Montreal vs Ottawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Montreal	Ottawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1928	$2133
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4433	$4730
🏠 One person rent	$992	$1249
🏘️ Family rent	$1658	$1952
🍽️ Food expenses	$585	$587
🚐 Transport expenses	$192	$172
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3005	$3871
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	11 km	6 km
🎓 Higher education	100	49
😀 Quality of life	96	92
🏙️ Population	1.8M	1.02M

The cost of living in Montreal is 10% less expensive than in Ottawa. Cities ranked 2284th and 1668th ($1928 vs $2133) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 58th and 27th in Canada.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Montreal compared to 1.8 months in Ottawa. Ranked 1st vs 10th best cities to live in Canada, and 11th vs 123rd among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Montreal vs Ottawa

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

	Montreal	Ottawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.8	$16.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$65.9	$62.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.9	$11
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.46	$5.87
☕ Cappuccino	$4.06	$4.25
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.04	$2.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1085	$1328
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$852	$1047
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1939	$2126
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1436	$1662
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$51.8	$96.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.4	$148
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.8	$48.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.47%	4.48%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5305	$4318
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4101	$3670
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.78	$2.99
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$76.6	$99.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.2	$15.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.13	$1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$2.38	$2.18
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.89	$2.68
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.92	$2.89
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.56	$3.59
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.3	$13
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.8	$13.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.1	$16.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.38	$4.13
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.24	$3.85
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.33	$4
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$2.57
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.43	$3.08
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.99	$1.05
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.49	$2.84
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.77	$2.74
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12	$13.8
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$12.8
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.44	$4.26
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.53	$1.99
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.54	$2.04
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.1	$44.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$11
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$117	$68.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$22.6	$16.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$55.6	$56.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$89.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$568	$882
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5550	$17337

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Montreal

Distance	City	Cost of living
3.6 km or 2.3 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1875
4.3 km or 2.7 mi	Westmount	$1862
4.4 km or 2.8 mi	Longueuil	$1923
6.4 km or 4 mi	Mount Royal	$1876
9.4 km or 5.9 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1893
9.9 km or 6.1 mi	Brossard	$2080
11 km or 7 mi	La Prairie	$1960
13 km or 8.3 mi	Boucherville	$1897
14 km or 8.9 mi	Candiac	$1940
16 km or 9.8 mi	Saint-Constant	$1910
16 km or 10 mi	Dorval	$1923
17 km or 10 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1918
17 km or 10 mi	Laval	$2047
20 km or 12 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1891
20 km or 12 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1944
20 km or 13 mi	Chateauguay	$1914
21 km or 13 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1920
22 km or 14 mi	Varennes	$1861
22 km or 14 mi	Terrebonne	$1907
23 km or 14 mi	Chambly	$1918
24 km or 15 mi	Boisbriand	$1934
25 km or 15 mi	Kirkland	$1930
26 km or 16 mi	Repentigny	$1846
26 km or 16 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1950
27 km or 17 mi	Mascouche	$1852
27 km or 17 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1948
29 km or 18 mi	Beloeil	$1838
31 km or 19 mi	Blainville	$1935
31 km or 20 mi	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu	$1857
38 km or 23 mi	L'Assomption	$1723
39 km or 24 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1924
41 km or 26 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1800
44 km or 27 mi	Mirabel	$1896
46 km or 28 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1864
49 km or 31 mi	Saint-Hyacinthe	$1642
53 km or 33 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1971
57 km or 35 mi	Joliette	$1458
66 km or 41 mi	Granby	$1142
68 km or 42 mi	Sorel-Tracy	$1589
91 km or 56 mi	Plattsburgh	$1805

Cities near Ottawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Gatineau	$1866
19 km or 12 mi	Kanata	$2229
87 km or 54 mi	Cornwall	$1703
94 km or 58 mi	Brockville	$1868
124 km or 77 mi	Salaberry-de-Valleyfield	$1971
128 km or 80 mi	Mirabel	$1896
130 km or 81 mi	Vaudreuil-Dorion	$1924
138 km or 86 mi	Saint-Jerome	$1864
141 km or 87 mi	Saint-Eustache	$1948
143 km or 89 mi	Kirkland	$1930
144 km or 89 mi	Blainville	$1935
146 km or 90 mi	Sainte-Therese	$1950
147 km or 91 mi	Pointe-Claire	$1920
147 km or 91 mi	Boisbriand	$1934
147 km or 91 mi	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	$1944
147 km or 91 mi	Kingston	$1476
150 km or 93 mi	Le Ray	$1927
152 km or 94 mi	Dorval	$1923
152 km or 94 mi	Chateauguay	$1914
153 km or 95 mi	Laval	$2047
157 km or 98 mi	Saint-Lin-Laurentides	$1800
158 km or 98 mi	Cote-Saint-Luc	$1893
160 km or 100 mi	Mount Royal	$1876
162 km or 101 mi	Watertown	$1733
163 km or 102 mi	Terrebonne	$1907
163 km or 102 mi	Westmount	$1862
166 km or 103 mi	Saint-Constant	$1910
167 km or 104 mi	Montreal	$1928
167 km or 104 mi	Mascouche	$1852
170 km or 106 mi	Saint-Lambert	$1875
170 km or 106 mi	Candiac	$1940
170 km or 106 mi	Longueuil	$1923
171 km or 106 mi	La Prairie	$1960
175 km or 109 mi	Brossard	$2080
176 km or 109 mi	Boucherville	$1897
177 km or 110 mi	Repentigny	$1846
178 km or 111 mi	Varennes	$1861
183 km or 114 mi	L'Assomption	$1723
183 km or 114 mi	Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville	$1918
185 km or 115 mi	Sainte-Julie	$1891