Cost of living comparison

Macedonia

compared to

Bulgaria

Bulgaria vs. Macedonia Cost of Living Summary

Bulgaria is 17.9% more expensive than Macedonia overall.

Restaurants: pay 43.7% more in Bulgaria
Groceries: pay 29.6% more in Bulgaria
Transportation: pay 3.0% less in Bulgaria
Housing: pay 20.6% more in Bulgaria
Childcare: pay 45.1% more in Bulgaria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.2% more in Bulgaria
Clothing: pay 17.6% less in Bulgaria

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

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Bulgaria vs. Macedonia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 43.7% more for restaurants

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.53 MKD358.14	$10.15 BGN17.66	+55.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.60 MKD306.88	$9.64 BGN16.77	+72.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 MKD88.84	$1.44 BGN2.50	-11.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.16 MKD63.63	$1.01 BGN1.75	-13.4%
Average			+43.7%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of restaurants

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pay 29.6% more for groceries

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Bread 1 loaf	$0.71 MKD38.75	$0.95 BGN1.65	+34.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.67 MKD201.39	$4.69 BGN8.16	+27.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.67 MKD256.29	$6.44 BGN11.21	+37.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.26 MKD123.77	$3.03 BGN5.28	+34.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.91 MKD159.35	$3.28 BGN5.70	+12.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.50 MKD27.49	$0.70 BGN1.22	+39.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.63 MKD34.55	$0.85 BGN1.47	+34.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.57 MKD31.16	$0.80 BGN1.39	+40.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.80 MKD43.84	$1.05 BGN1.82	+31.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.40 MKD21.80	$0.51 BGN0.89	+28.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.40 MKD22.03	$0.44 BGN0.77	+9.5%
Average			+29.6%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.0% less for transportation

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.60 MKD306.85	$6.06 BGN10.54	+8.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$28.04 MKD1,537.62	$23.17 BGN40.33	-17.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,276.49 MKD2M	$30,114.16 BGN52,407.07	-9.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.79 MKD317.47	$7.01 BGN12.19	+21.0%
Average			-3.0%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of transportation

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pay 20.6% more for housing

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$17.88 MKD980.35	$13.39 BGN23.30	-25.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$264.34 MKD14,495.35	$353.09 BGN614.48	+33.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$198.42 MKD10,880.86	$263.80 BGN459.09	+32.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$99.81 MKD5,473.34	$82.79 BGN144.08	-17.0%
Average			+20.6%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of housing

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pay 45.1% more for childcare

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$287.04 MKD15,740.45	$384.45 BGN669.05	+33.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$4,102.29 MKD225K	$6,445.67 BGN11,217.27	+57.1%
Average			+45.1%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.05 MKD112.36	$2.06 BGN3.59	+0.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.69 MKD92.77	$2.17 BGN3.77	+28.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.13 MKD171.51	$3.64 BGN6.33	+16.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$29.36 MKD1,609.84	$31.52 BGN54.86	+7.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$5.90 MKD323.66	$7.19 BGN12.52	+21.9%
Average			+14.2%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 17.6% less for clothing

	Macedonia	Bulgaria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$61.13 MKD3,351.93	$49.90 BGN86.85	-18.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$35.04 MKD1,921.63	$29.26 BGN50.92	-16.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.54 MKD4,855.41	$77.75 BGN135.31	-12.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$98.76 MKD5,415.92	$76.05 BGN132.34	-23.0%
Average			-17.6%

Macedonia vs. Bulgaria - 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

Compare further: Macedonia vs. Bulgaria

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Bulgaria?

Quality of Life Comparison · 16 statistics

Make 93.8% more money in Bulgaria

Size Comparison · See true size

Macedonia is about 4.3 times smaller than Bulgaria.

Moving from Macedonia to Bulgaria · UN DESA 2020

4,614 people born in Macedonia live in Bulgaria.

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