Cost of living comparison

Romania

compared to

Turkey

Istanbul vs. Bucharest Cost of Living Summary

Istanbul is 13.5% more expensive than Bucharest.

Restaurants: pay 15.3% less in Istanbul
Groceries: pay 9.9% less in Istanbul
Transportation: pay 48.2% more in Istanbul
Housing: pay 23.7% more in Istanbul
Childcare: pay 71.7% more in Istanbul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.4% more in Istanbul
Clothing: pay 4.6% less in Istanbul

The cost of childcare, transportation, housing, and entertainment and sports in Istanbul are more expensive than in Bucharest. Expenses including restaurants, groceries, and clothing are lower in Istanbul.

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Istanbul vs. Bucharest Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Istanbul instead of Bucharest, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 15.3% less for restaurants

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.64 RON69.25	$12.19 TRY603.79	-16.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.32 RON34.63	$9.35 TRY462.91	+27.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.42 RON11.44	$1.73 TRY85.71	-28.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.25 RON10.65	$0.58 TRY28.65	-74.3%
Average			-15.3%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.9% less for groceries

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.32 RON6.24	$0.92 TRY45.58	-30.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.36 RON20.63	$5.28 TRY261.28	+21.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.22 RON29.40	$4.69 TRY231.97	-24.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.67 RON17.35	$2.41 TRY119.39	-34.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.05 RON14.45	$2.54 TRY125.71	-16.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.57 RON2.70	$0.85 TRY42.16	+49.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.72 RON3.43	$1.03 TRY50.86	+41.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 RON3.25	$0.57 TRY28.34	-16.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.15 RON5.42	$0.84 TRY41.37	-27.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.36 RON1.73	$0.31 TRY15.36	-14.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RON1.62	$0.29 TRY14.17	-16.4%
Average			-9.9%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of groceries

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pay 48.2% more for transportation

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.45 RON35.25	$5.43 TRY269.03	-27.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$20.91 RON98.93	$67.03 TRY3,318.85	+220.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,531.98 RON135K	$50,810.11 TRY3M	+78.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.65 RON26.71	$8.40 TRY416.09	+48.8%
Average			+48.2%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of transportation

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pay 23.7% more for housing

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.27 RON43.83	$16.15 TRY799.42	+74.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$677.15 RON3,203.34	$996.85 TRY49,357.64	+47.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$451.32 RON2,135.02	$647.83 TRY32,076.47	+43.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$147.83 RON699.33	$68.87 TRY3,410.06	-53.4%
Average			+23.7%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of housing

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pay 71.7% more for childcare

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$627.11 RON2,966.59	$1,021.62 TRY50,584.39	+62.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,371.87 RON67,987.54	$25,999.20 TRY1M	+80.9%
Average			+71.7%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.76 RON17.81	$4.78 TRY236.49	+26.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.51 RON16.59	$4.31 TRY213.63	+23.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.43 RON30.42	$2.34 TRY115.73	-63.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.22 RON232.83	$76.22 TRY3,773.70	+54.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.37 RON39.57	$8.13 TRY402.53	-2.8%
Average			+9.4%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.6% less for clothing

	Bucharest	Istanbul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$88.76 RON419.90	$53.35 TRY2,641.33	-39.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.43 RON181.80	$39.62 TRY1,961.62	+3.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.83 RON368.20	$99.91 TRY4,947.03	+28.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.69 RON433.74	$95.52 TRY4,729.71	+4.2%
Average			-4.6%

Bucharest vs. Istanbul - 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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Size Comparison · See true size

Bucharest is about 24 times smaller than Istanbul.

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