Raleigh vs Reykjavik - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Raleigh	Reykjavik
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2388	$2938
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5530	$5875
🏠 One person rent	$1484	$1801
🏘️ Family rent	$2447	$2674
🍽️ Food expenses	$625	$827
🚐 Transport expenses	$94.8	$90.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4749	$3761
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	82	53
😀 Quality of life	88	89
🏙️ Population	468K	140K

The cost of living in Raleigh is 19% less expensive than in Reykjavik. Cities ranked 972nd and 200th ($2388 vs $2938) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 892nd and 1st in the United States and Iceland, respectively. Check the United States vs Iceland comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 2 months in Raleigh compared to 1.3 months in Reykjavik. Raleigh ranked 51st best city to live in the United States vs Reykjavik ranked 1st in Iceland, while ranked 221st and 194th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Raleigh vs Reykjavik infographic

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/raleigh/reykjavik.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Raleigh vs Reykjavik infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/raleigh/reykjavik" target="_blank">Raleigh vs Reykjavik - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Raleigh vs Reykjavik

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

	Raleigh	Reykjavik
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$17.1	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$75.6	$137
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.74	$17.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.88	$10.8
☕ Cappuccino	$5.37	$5.37
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.31	$3.09
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1468	$1839
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1216	$1650
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2614	$2869
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2029	$2456
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$149	$42.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$232	$64.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68.4	$71.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.51%	9.41%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6077	$6649
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2879	$5599
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.01	$4.52
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$58.4	$75.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$26.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.84	$2.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$1.66
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.8	$3.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.45	$3.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.83	$5.94
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$15.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.1	$20.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.9	$37
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.48	$2.94
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.38	$2.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.38	$2.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.04	$4.73
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.1	$3.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.81	$2.11
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.5	$1.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.46	$2.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$21.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.82	$3.26
🚬 Cigarette pack	$7.69	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4	$5.23
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.38	$4.55
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.7	$3.2
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$39.1	$73.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.3	$15.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$158	$82.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.9	$45.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$52	$128
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$162
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1481	$279
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21914	$2532

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2281
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2616
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1836
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2229
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2335
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2315
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2290
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2140
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2309
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2169
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$2184
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2073
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$2052
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1733
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2144
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2100
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2091
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1764
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2011
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2117
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2076
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2014
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1934
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2058
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2169
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$2100
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2136
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2098
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$1952
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1819
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2117
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2136
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1752
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$2147
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1976
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2144
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2332
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2182
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2269
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1682

Cities near Reykjavik

Distance	City	Cost of living
6.8 km or 4.2 mi	Kopavogur	$2802
9.8 km or 6.1 mi	Hafnarfjorur	$2817
38 km or 24 mi	Keflavik	$2355
247 km or 153 mi	Akureyri	$2678
795 km or 494 mi	Torshavn	$1828
1204 km or 748 mi	Inverness	$1722
1230 km or 764 mi	Elgin	$1393
1300 km or 808 mi	Derry	$1390
1309 km or 813 mi	Greenock	$1601
1321 km or 821 mi	Aberdeen	$1614
1325 km or 823 mi	Perth	$1500
1328 km or 825 mi	Stirling	$1604
1331 km or 827 mi	Paisley	$1765
1333 km or 828 mi	Alloa	$1649
1337 km or 831 mi	Glasgow	$2011
1339 km or 832 mi	Dundee	$1482
1340 km or 833 mi	Omagh	$1562
1341 km or 833 mi	Cumbernauld	$1475
1342 km or 834 mi	Irvine	$1551
1348 km or 838 mi	East Kilbride	$1763
1349 km or 838 mi	Kilmarnock	$1480
1351 km or 839 mi	Dunfermline	$1692
1353 km or 841 mi	Hamilton	$1699
1357 km or 843 mi	Ayr	$1404
1360 km or 845 mi	Kirkcaldy	$1610
1365 km or 848 mi	Livingston	$1608
1372 km or 852 mi	Edinburgh	$2140
1382 km or 859 mi	Newtownabbey	$1692
1387 km or 862 mi	Belfast	$1755
1390 km or 864 mi	Bangor	$1382
1391 km or 864 mi	Lisburn	$1713
1401 km or 871 mi	Alesund	$1603
1413 km or 878 mi	Galway	$2297
1425 km or 886 mi	Dundalk	$1767
1431 km or 889 mi	Dumfries	$1246
1433 km or 891 mi	Nuuk	$2031
1441 km or 895 mi	Molde	$1813
1454 km or 903 mi	Kristiansund	$1700
1455 km or 904 mi	Drogheda	$2628
1455 km or 904 mi	Bergen	$2006