Cost of living comparison

Bulgaria

compared to

Serbia

Serbia vs. Bulgaria Cost of Living Summary

Serbia is 2.2% more expensive than Bulgaria overall.

Restaurants: pay 1.1% more in Serbia
Groceries: pay 16.0% less in Serbia
Transportation: pay 10.1% more in Serbia
Housing: pay 6.6% more in Serbia
Childcare: pay 13.6% less in Serbia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.6% less in Serbia
Clothing: pay 52.0% more in Serbia

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

Planning a move to Serbia? Get up to 5 free, no-obligation quotes from vetted international movers. Get free quotes →

Serbia vs. Bulgaria Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Serbia instead of Bulgaria, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 1.1% more for restaurants

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.15 BGN17.72	$8.70 RSD911	-14.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.64 BGN16.83	$9.63 RSD1,008	-0.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.44 BGN2.51	$2.05 RSD215	+42.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.01 BGN1.76	$1.58 RSD165	+56.7%
Average			+1.1%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 16.0% less for groceries

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Bread 1 loaf	$0.95 BGN1.66	$0.78 RSD81	-18.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.69 BGN8.19	$4.54 RSD476	-3.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.44 BGN11.25	$4.83 RSD506	-25.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.03 BGN5.30	$2.32 RSD243	-23.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.28 BGN5.72	$2.82 RSD296	-13.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.70 BGN1.22	$0.56 RSD59	-20.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.85 BGN1.48	$0.78 RSD81	-8.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.80 BGN1.39	$0.72 RSD75	-10.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.05 BGN1.83	$1.00 RSD105	-4.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.51 BGN0.89	$0.41 RSD43	-18.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.44 BGN0.77	$0.32 RSD34	-26.3%
Average			-16.0%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 10.1% more for transportation

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.06 BGN10.58	$6.92 RSD725	+14.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$23.17 BGN40.46	$25.68 RSD2,688	+10.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,114.16 BGN52,578.12	$29,965.17 RSD3M	-0.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$7.01 BGN12.23	$9.06 RSD949	+29.4%
Average			+10.1%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 6.6% more for housing

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$13.39 BGN23.37	$26.71 RSD2,796	+99.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$353.09 BGN616.49	$340.23 RSD35,616	-3.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$263.80 BGN460.58	$248.38 RSD26,001	-5.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$82.79 BGN144.56	$130.61 RSD13,672	+57.7%
Average			+6.6%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 13.6% less for childcare

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$384.45 BGN671.24	$258.66 RSD27,077	-32.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,445.67 BGN11,253.88	$7,159.32 RSD749K	+11.1%
Average			-13.6%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 4.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.06 BGN3.60	$2.55 RSD267	+23.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.17 BGN3.78	$1.92 RSD201	-11.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.64 BGN6.35	$4.33 RSD454	+19.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$31.52 BGN55.04	$29.21 RSD3,058	-7.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.19 BGN12.56	$5.57 RSD583	-22.6%
Average			-4.6%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 52.0% more for clothing

	Bulgaria	Serbia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$49.90 BGN87.13	$82.25 RSD8,610	+64.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$29.26 BGN51.09	$45.18 RSD4,729	+54.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.75 BGN135.76	$105.67 RSD11,062	+35.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$76.05 BGN132.77	$117.40 RSD12,290	+54.4%
Average			+52.0%

Bulgaria vs. Serbia - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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

Compare further: Bulgaria vs. Serbia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Serbia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 12 statistics

Be 2.0 times more likely to be unemployed in Serbia

Size Comparison · See true size

Bulgaria is about 1.4 times bigger than Serbia.

Moving from Bulgaria to Serbia · UN DESA 2020

1,155 people born in Bulgaria live in Serbia.

More cost comparisons

Bulgaria vs.

Romania

Bulgaria vs.

United Kingdom

Bulgaria vs.

Turkey

Bulgaria vs.

Germany

Bulgaria vs.

Spain

Bulgaria vs.

Greece

Bulgaria vs.

United States

Bulgaria vs.

Italy

Share this

Compare by city

For example, try comparing the cost of living in Sofia vs. Belgrade

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

Add prices for Bulgaria

Add prices for Serbia

Ask the Elsewhere Community

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