Cost of living comparison

Germany

compared to

Hungary

Budapest vs. Berlin Cost of Living Summary

Budapest is 30.3% cheaper than Berlin.

Restaurants: pay 25.2% less in Budapest
Groceries: pay 30.2% less in Budapest
Transportation: pay 34.1% less in Budapest
Housing: pay 46.2% less in Budapest
Childcare: pay 98.2% more in Budapest
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.7% less in Budapest
Clothing: pay 3.5% less in Budapest

Expenses including housing, transportation, groceries, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and clothing are lower in Budapest. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Budapest.

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Budapest vs. Berlin Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Budapest instead of Berlin, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 25.2% less for restaurants

	Berlin	Budapest
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.80 €14.95	$13.77 HUF4,451.76	-18.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$13.44 €11.96	$10.17 HUF3,289.36	-24.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.44 €3.06	$2.08 HUF673.49	-39.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$3.10 €2.76	$1.83 HUF591.19	-41.0%
Average			-25.2%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of restaurants

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pay 30.2% less for groceries

	Berlin	Budapest
Bread 1 loaf	$2.40 €2.14	$1.80 HUF580.67	-25.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.59 €7.65	$5.57 HUF1,802.14	-35.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.72 €4.20	$4.40 HUF1,421.11	-6.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.47 €3.98	$3.88 HUF1,253.03	-13.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.44 €4.84	$3.10 HUF1,003.00	-43.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.61 €1.43	$0.85 HUF274.62	-47.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.90 €0.81	$0.94 HUF303.05	+3.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.52 €1.35	$1.06 HUF341.51	-30.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.70 €1.51	$1.73 HUF558.38	+1.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.94 €0.84	$0.45 HUF144.57	-52.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.98 €0.87	$0.46 HUF147.52	-53.4%
Average			-30.2%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of groceries

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pay 34.1% less for transportation

	Berlin	Budapest
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$8.66 €7.71	$7.07 HUF2,284.96	-18.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$70.54 €62.79	$27.54 HUF8,903.52	-61.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,914.63 €29,295.20	$29,374.56 HUF9M	-10.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$30.29 €26.96	$14.14 HUF4,570.47	-53.3%
Average			-34.1%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of transportation

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pay 46.2% less for housing

	Berlin	Budapest
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$48.20 €42.90	$23.57 HUF7,621.57	-51.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,478.95 €1,316.32	$817.66 HUF264K	-44.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,114.14 €991.62	$631.44 HUF204K	-43.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$295.08 €262.63	$132.77 HUF42,926.20	-55.0%
Average			-46.2%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of housing

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pay 98.2% more for childcare

	Berlin	Budapest
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$144.45 €128.56	$539.65 HUF174K	+273.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$15,853.22 €14,109.93	$16,674.34 HUF5M	+5.2%
Average			+98.2%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Berlin	Budapest
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.43 €4.83	$3.67 HUF1,187.14	-32.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.34 €3.86	$3.35 HUF1,081.59	-22.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.53 €9.37	$7.96 HUF2,572.13	-24.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$40.06 €35.65	$67.07 HUF21,685.02	+67.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.68 €13.95	$9.33 HUF3,017.30	-40.5%
Average			-14.7%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 3.5% less for clothing

	Berlin	Budapest
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$95.44 €84.95	$100.01 HUF32,333.83	+4.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$47.03 €41.86	$42.98 HUF13,894.99	-8.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.60 €93.09	$113.36 HUF36,650.47	+8.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$141.17 €125.65	$118.19 HUF38,210.94	-16.3%
Average			-3.5%

Berlin vs. Budapest - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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Berlin is about 1.7 times bigger than Budapest.

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