Cost of living comparison

Portugal

compared to

Hungary

Budapest vs. Lisbon Cost of Living Summary

Budapest is 21.5% cheaper than Lisbon.

Restaurants: pay 11.8% less in Budapest
Groceries: pay 8.5% less in Budapest
Transportation: pay 19.1% less in Budapest
Housing: pay 41.1% less in Budapest
Childcare: pay 11.5% less in Budapest
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.9% more in Budapest
Clothing: pay 0.1% more in Budapest

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

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Budapest vs. Lisbon Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 11.8% less for restaurants

	Lisbon	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	$11.20 €9.97	$10.17 HUF3,289.36	-9.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.30 €2.05	$2.08 HUF673.49	-9.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.70 €1.51	$1.83 HUF591.19	+7.5%
Average			-11.8%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of restaurants

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pay 8.5% less for groceries

	Lisbon	Budapest
Bread 1 loaf	$1.87 €1.67	$1.80 HUF580.67	-4.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.43 €5.72	$5.57 HUF1,802.14	-13.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.34 €3.87	$4.40 HUF1,421.11	+1.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.94 €3.51	$3.88 HUF1,253.03	-1.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.60 €3.21	$3.10 HUF1,003.00	-13.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.01 €0.90	$0.85 HUF274.62	-15.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.78 €0.69	$0.94 HUF303.05	+20.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.83 €0.74	$1.06 HUF341.51	+26.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.14 €1.01	$1.73 HUF558.38	+51.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.82 €0.73	$0.45 HUF144.57	-45.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.91 €0.81	$0.46 HUF147.52	-50.1%
Average			-8.5%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of groceries

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pay 19.1% less for transportation

	Lisbon	Budapest
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$8.43 €7.50	$7.07 HUF2,284.96	-16.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$44.79 €39.86	$27.54 HUF8,903.52	-38.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,640.22 €29,941.00	$29,374.56 HUF9M	-12.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.52 €11.14	$14.14 HUF4,570.47	+12.9%
Average			-19.1%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of transportation

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pay 41.1% less for housing

	Lisbon	Budapest
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$32.72 €29.12	$23.57 HUF7,621.57	-27.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,595.62 €1,420.16	$817.66 HUF264K	-48.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,189.97 €1,059.12	$631.44 HUF204K	-46.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$126.43 €112.53	$132.77 HUF42,926.20	+5.0%
Average			-41.1%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of housing

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pay 11.5% less for childcare

	Lisbon	Budapest
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$678.84 €604.19	$539.65 HUF174K	-20.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,935.72 €15,073.40	$16,674.34 HUF5M	-1.5%
Average			-11.5%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Lisbon	Budapest
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.36 €2.99	$3.67 HUF1,187.14	+9.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.03 €2.69	$3.35 HUF1,081.59	+10.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.72 €5.98	$7.96 HUF2,572.13	+18.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$46.25 €41.16	$67.07 HUF21,685.02	+45.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.66 €8.60	$9.33 HUF3,017.30	-3.4%
Average			+14.9%

Lisbon vs. Budapest - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 0.1% more for clothing

	Lisbon	Budapest
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$102.78 €91.47	$100.01 HUF32,333.83	-2.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$45.72 €40.69	$42.98 HUF13,894.99	-6.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$99.13 €88.23	$113.36 HUF36,650.47	+14.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$123.02 €109.49	$118.19 HUF38,210.94	-3.9%
Average			+0.1%

Lisbon 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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Lisbon is about 5 times smaller than Budapest.

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