Riga vs Saint Petersburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Riga	Saint Petersburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1270	$971
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3141	$2348
🏠 One person rent	$619	$502
🏘️ Family rent	$1049	$876
🍽️ Food expenses	$445	$258
🚐 Transport expenses	$81.8	$127
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1509	$1116
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	61	82
😀 Quality of life	82	71
🏙️ Population	605K	5.65M

The cost of living in Riga is 31% more expensive than in Saint Petersburg. Cities ranked 4556th and 5813th ($1270 vs $971) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 4th in Latvia and Russia, respectively. Check Latvia vs Russia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Riga compared to 1.1 months in Saint Petersburg. Riga ranked 1st best city to live in Latvia vs Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd in Russia, while ranked 625th and 3397th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Riga vs Saint Petersburg infographic

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

Prices in Riga vs Saint Petersburg

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

	Riga	Saint Petersburg
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$13.8	$7.62
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.4	$34.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.27	$5.3
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.71	$2.77
☕ Cappuccino	$3.99	$2.26
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.96	$1.02
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$547	$654
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$378	$370
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$965	$1172
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$691	$665
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$189	$68
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$285	$103
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$18.3	$7.03
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.59%	24.54%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3110	$3928
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1956	$2610
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.75	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$35.4	$38.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9.86	$9.04
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.81	$0.72
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.4	$1.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.52	$0.7
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.3	$1.14
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.19	$1.62
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13	$9.78
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.08	$4.39
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$10.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.63
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.9	$1.75
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.58	$1.83
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.54	$2.78
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$0.8
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$0.64
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.65	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.7	$1.3
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.86	$8.16
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.94	$0.95
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.81	$2.52
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.06	$1.46
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.4	$1.09
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.21	$1.04
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.51	$1.06
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.9	$32.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.9	$5.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$47.8	$14
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.4	$3.52
👖 Brand Jeans	$78.9	$86.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.9	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$530	$402
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$16726	$10534

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Riga

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Jurmala	$1419
34 km or 21 mi	Ogre	$1046
40 km or 25 mi	Jelgava	$889
103 km or 64 mi	Valmiera	$928
118 km or 74 mi	Jekabpils	$894
123 km or 77 mi	Siauliai	$967
129 km or 80 mi	Mazeikiai	$864
137 km or 85 mi	Panevezys	$988
161 km or 100 mi	Ventspils	$968
161 km or 100 mi	Parnu	$1184
174 km or 108 mi	Kuressaare	$1192
181 km or 112 mi	Viljandi	$1041
186 km or 115 mi	Utena	$974
190 km or 118 mi	Daugavpils	$929
195 km or 121 mi	Liepaja	$1034
203 km or 126 mi	Rezekne	$840
209 km or 130 mi	Jonava	$865
223 km or 138 mi	Tartu	$1174
228 km or 142 mi	Kaunas	$1334
229 km or 142 mi	Klaipeda	$1057
262 km or 163 mi	Vilnius	$1414
270 km or 168 mi	Marijampole	$920
271 km or 168 mi	Pskov	$680
279 km or 174 mi	Tallinn	$1601
283 km or 176 mi	Alytus	$883
286 km or 178 mi	Maardu	$1372
298 km or 185 mi	Rakvere	$999
327 km or 203 mi	Suwalki	$1113
330 km or 205 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1089
335 km or 208 mi	Kaliningrad	$829
339 km or 211 mi	Raseborg	$1566
347 km or 215 mi	Sillamae	$1064
353 km or 219 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1737
357 km or 222 mi	Visby	$1485
361 km or 225 mi	Narva	$1083
362 km or 225 mi	Helsinki	$1947
364 km or 226 mi	Espoo	$1937
365 km or 227 mi	Grodno	$349
365 km or 227 mi	Elk	$1125
367 km or 228 mi	Lohja	$1383

Cities near Saint Petersburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
135 km or 84 mi	Narva	$1083
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1064
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1477
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$734
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1454
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1089
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1516
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1516
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1561
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1265
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$999
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1386
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1561
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$680
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1174
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1618
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1611
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1145
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1783
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1881
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1580
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1655
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$745
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1947
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1372
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1642
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1546
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1937
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1394
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1601
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1041
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1737
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1444
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1383
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1503
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1500
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1524
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1570
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1184
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1566