Cost of living comparison

compared to

Urbana vs. Berlin Cost of Living Summary

Urbana is 20.2% cheaper than Berlin.

Restaurants
pay 22.6% less in Urbana
Groceries
pay 5.7% less in Urbana
Transportation
pay 38.1% less in Urbana
Housing
pay 35.6% less in Urbana
Childcare
pay 3.0 times more in Urbana
Entertainment and Sports
pay 3.5% less in Urbana
Clothing
pay 17.9% less in Urbana

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

Urbana vs. Berlin Cost Breakdown

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

pay 22.6% less for restaurants

 
Berlin
Urbana
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $16.80
€15.07
$15.00
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$13.44
€12.05
$10.00
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $3.44
€3.09
$2.20
 

Improve prices ·

pay 5.7% less for groceries

 
Berlin
Urbana
Bread
1 loaf
$2.40
€2.15
$3.12
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $8.59
€7.71
$6.06
 
Milk (1 gallon) $4.72
€4.23
$3.06
 

Improve prices ·

pay 38.1% less for transportation

 
Berlin
Urbana
Gasoline (1 gallon) $8.66
€7.77
$4.31
 
Monthly public transit pass $70.54
€63.29
??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $32,914.63
€29,529.36
$35,000.00
 

Improve prices ·

pay 35.6% less for housing

 
Berlin
Urbana
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$48.20
€43.24
$61.13
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,478.95
€1,326.84
$850.00
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,114.14
€999.55
$750.00
 

Improve prices ·

pay 3.0 times more for childcare

 
Berlin
Urbana
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $144.45
€129.59
$1,000.00
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $15,853.22
€14,222.71
$20,000.00
 

Improve prices ·

pay 3.5% less for entertainment and sports

 
Berlin
Urbana
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.43
€4.87
$5.50
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $4.34
€3.89
$4.81
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$10.53
€9.44
$10.16
 

Improve prices ·

pay 17.9% less for clothing

 
Berlin
Urbana
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$95.44
€85.62
$48.67
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$47.03
€42.19
$51.67
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$104.60
€93.84
$99.58
 

Improve prices ·

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

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Germany vs. United States. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Germany and United States.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Urbana or Berlin. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.