Cost of living comparison

Hungary

compared to

Portugal

Lisbon vs. Budapest Cost of Living Summary

Lisbon is 27.4% more expensive than Budapest.

Restaurants: pay 13.4% more in Lisbon
Groceries: pay 9.2% more in Lisbon
Transportation: pay 23.6% more in Lisbon
Housing: pay 69.9% more in Lisbon
Childcare: pay 13.0% more in Lisbon
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.0% less in Lisbon
Clothing: pay 0.1% less in Lisbon

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

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Lisbon vs. Budapest Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 13.4% more for restaurants

	Budapest	Lisbon
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$13.77 HUF4,451.76	$16.80 €14.95	+22.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.17 HUF3,289.36	$11.20 €9.97	+10.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.08 HUF673.49	$2.30 €2.05	+10.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 HUF591.19	$1.70 €1.51	-7.0%
Average			+13.4%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.2% more for groceries

	Budapest	Lisbon
Bread 1 loaf	$1.80 HUF580.67	$1.87 €1.67	+4.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.57 HUF1,802.14	$6.43 €5.72	+15.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.40 HUF1,421.11	$4.34 €3.87	-1.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.88 HUF1,253.03	$3.94 €3.51	+1.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.10 HUF1,003.00	$3.60 €3.21	+16.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 HUF274.62	$1.01 €0.90	+18.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.94 HUF303.05	$0.78 €0.69	-17.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.06 HUF341.51	$0.83 €0.74	-21.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.73 HUF558.38	$1.14 €1.01	-34.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.45 HUF144.57	$0.82 €0.73	+84.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.46 HUF147.52	$0.91 €0.81	+100.5%
Average			+9.2%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of groceries

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pay 23.6% more for transportation

	Budapest	Lisbon
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.07 HUF2,284.96	$8.43 €7.50	+19.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$27.54 HUF8,903.52	$44.79 €39.86	+62.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,374.56 HUF9M	$33,640.22 €29,941.00	+14.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.14 HUF4,570.47	$12.52 €11.14	-11.4%
Average			+23.6%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of transportation

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pay 69.9% more for housing

	Budapest	Lisbon
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$23.57 HUF7,621.57	$32.72 €29.12	+38.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$817.66 HUF264K	$1,595.62 €1,420.16	+95.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$631.44 HUF204K	$1,189.97 €1,059.12	+88.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$132.77 HUF42,926.20	$126.43 €112.53	-4.8%
Average			+69.9%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of housing

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pay 13.0% more for childcare

	Budapest	Lisbon
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$539.65 HUF174K	$678.84 €604.19	+25.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,674.34 HUF5M	$16,935.72 €15,073.40	+1.6%
Average			+13.0%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Budapest	Lisbon
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.67 HUF1,187.14	$3.36 €2.99	-8.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.35 HUF1,081.59	$3.03 €2.69	-9.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.96 HUF2,572.13	$6.72 €5.98	-15.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$67.07 HUF21,685.02	$46.25 €41.16	-31.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.33 HUF3,017.30	$9.66 €8.60	+3.5%
Average			-13.0%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 0.1% less for clothing

	Budapest	Lisbon
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$100.01 HUF32,333.83	$102.78 €91.47	+2.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$42.98 HUF13,894.99	$45.72 €40.69	+6.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$113.36 HUF36,650.47	$99.13 €88.23	-12.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$118.19 HUF38,210.94	$123.02 €109.49	+4.1%
Average			-0.1%

Budapest vs. Lisbon - 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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Budapest is about 5 times bigger than Lisbon.

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