Cost of living comparison
compared to
Boulder vs. Manhattan Cost of Living Summary
Boulder is 40.0% more expensive than Manhattan.
Boulder vs. Manhattan Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Boulder instead of Manhattan, you would:
pay 25.7% more for restaurants
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$15.00
|
$20.00
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$12.00
|
$13.00
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.00
|
$2.71
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$1.50
|
$2.25
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of restaurants
pay 8.1% less for groceries
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$3.12
|
$3.23
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$5.79
|
$5.88
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$3.23
|
$3.58
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$4.58
|
$5.60
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$3.84
|
$5.00
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$3.10
|
$2.50
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.97
|
$0.63
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$2.69
|
$2.02
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$1.94
|
$2.14
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$1.58
|
$1.12
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.70
|
$1.16
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of groceries
pay 28.7% more for transportation
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.34
|
$4.04
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$60.00
|
$150.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$36,054.00
|
$35,405.00
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$19.91
|
$13.68
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of transportation
pay 97.8% more for housing
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$65.33
|
$74.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$916.67
|
$2,396.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$987.50
|
$1,812.00
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$110.50
|
$153.05
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of housing
pay 2.3 times more for childcare
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$823.33
|
$1,601.39
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$11,440.00
|
$30,700.00
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of childcare
pay 6.9% more for entertainment and sports
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$5.00
|
$6.00
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$5.50
|
$5.50
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$9.80
|
$10.67
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$75.00
|
$81.86
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$15.00
|
$15.00
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 11.4% more for clothing
|
Manhattan
|
Boulder
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$48.00
|
$58.36
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$35.00
|
$35.00
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$89.00
|
$92.00
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$117.25
|
$143.75
|
|
Manhattan vs. Boulder - Cost of clothing
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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