Riga vs Saint Petersburg - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Riga	Saint Petersburg
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1254	$1139
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3163	$2793
🏠 One person rent	$592	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1001	$1013
🍽️ Food expenses	$454	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$86.7	$160
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1555	$1316
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	17 km
🎓 Higher education	59	85
😀 Quality of life	80	71
🏙️ Population	595K	5.65M

The cost of living in Riga is 10% more expensive than in Saint Petersburg. Cities ranked 4631st and 4898th ($1254 vs $1139) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th 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 1.2 months in Saint Petersburg. Riga ranked 1st best city to live in Latvia vs Saint Petersburg ranked 2nd in Russia, while ranked 657th and 3542nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

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/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	$9.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$56	$33.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.15	$6.37
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.81	$2.62
☕ Cappuccino	$3.91	$3.01
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.69	$1.36
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$564	$738
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$372	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1006	$1362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$669	$765
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$162	$78.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$245	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$19.4	$8.01
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	4.56%	20.67%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3243	$4926
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2218	$3068
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.75	$1.17
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$35	$47.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$11.4	$11.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.91	$0.89
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.44	$0.86
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.2	$1.38
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.69	$1.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$12
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.49	$5.69
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.9	$12.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$1.84
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.91	$1.87
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.52	$1.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.71	$3.21
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$0.74
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$0.66
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.64	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.07	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.74	$8.78
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.95	$1.22
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.76	$3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$1.91
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.76	$1.43
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.2	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.55	$1.38
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$46.7	$40.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.8	$6.09
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$51.8	$17.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.5	$4.25
👖 Brand Jeans	$68.8	$94.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.7	$132
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$607	$502
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$18197	$13865

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	$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

Cities near Saint Petersburg

Distance	City	Cost of living
135 km or 84 mi	Narva	$1081
156 km or 97 mi	Sillamae	$1079
162 km or 101 mi	Imatra	$1467
168 km or 104 mi	Veliky Novgorod	$766
170 km or 105 mi	Lappeenranta	$1448
181 km or 112 mi	Kohtla-Jarve	$1104
185 km or 115 mi	Hamina	$1490
195 km or 121 mi	Kotka	$1478
223 km or 139 mi	Kouvola	$1383
227 km or 141 mi	Savonlinna	$1312
232 km or 144 mi	Rakvere	$1085
254 km or 158 mi	Mikkeli	$1445
262 km or 163 mi	Porvoo	$1521
263 km or 164 mi	Pskov	$758
269 km or 167 mi	Tartu	$1220
280 km or 174 mi	Lahti	$1533
293 km or 182 mi	Kerava	$1673
294 km or 183 mi	Varkaus	$1428
294 km or 183 mi	Jarvenpaa	$1759
295 km or 183 mi	Vantaa	$1843
296 km or 184 mi	Joensuu	$1550
297 km or 184 mi	Tuusula	$1698
299 km or 186 mi	Petrozavodsk	$834
300 km or 186 mi	Helsinki	$1970
302 km or 188 mi	Maardu	$1455
310 km or 192 mi	Nurmijarvi	$1644
310 km or 193 mi	Hyvinkaa	$1531
315 km or 196 mi	Espoo	$1974
317 km or 197 mi	Riihimaki	$1419
318 km or 197 mi	Tallinn	$1594
322 km or 200 mi	Viljandi	$1054
328 km or 204 mi	Kirkkonummi	$1684
342 km or 213 mi	Hameenlinna	$1436
348 km or 216 mi	Lohja	$1391
349 km or 217 mi	Jamsa	$1492
354 km or 220 mi	Jyvaskyla	$1403
356 km or 221 mi	Kuopio	$1525
373 km or 232 mi	Valkeakoski	$1578
374 km or 233 mi	Parnu	$1179
383 km or 238 mi	Raseborg	$1597