Cost of living comparison
compared to
California vs. Netherlands Cost of Living Summary
California is 21.0% more expensive than Netherlands overall.
California vs. Netherlands Cost Breakdown
If you lived in California instead of Netherlands, you would:
pay 6.8% less for restaurants
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$22.24
€19.80
|
$22.31
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$13.74
€12.23
|
$12.78
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$3.60
€3.21
|
$2.96
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.95
€2.62
|
$2.26
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of restaurants
pay 39.6% more for groceries
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$2.06
€1.84
|
$4.33
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$6.70
€5.96
|
$7.51
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$5.08
€4.52
|
$4.92
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$4.71
€4.19
|
$5.18
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$6.35
€5.65
|
$6.10
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$1.16
€1.03
|
$2.32
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$1.07
€0.95
|
$0.94
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.91
€0.81
|
$2.02
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$1.94
€1.73
|
$2.60
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.83
€0.74
|
$1.61
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.86
€0.76
|
$1.39
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of groceries
pay 28.8% less for transportation
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$9.11
€8.11
|
$5.53
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$95.45
€84.95
|
$64.45
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$40,608.58
€36,143.10
|
$35,604.61
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$27.41
€24.40
|
$20.97
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of transportation
pay 54.4% more for housing
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$48.29
€42.98
|
$69.16
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,426.76
€1,269.87
|
$2,414.89
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$1,174.28
€1,045.15
|
$2,061.17
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$196.24
€174.66
|
$172.98
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of housing
pay 63.8% more for childcare
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$1,884.17
€1,676.98
|
$1,659.26
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$10,083.31
€8,974.51
|
$30,706.19
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of childcare
pay 19.8% more for entertainment and sports
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$6.25
€5.56
|
$7.15
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$4.16
€3.70
|
$5.63
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$13.60
€12.11
|
$11.42
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$40.62
€36.16
|
$65.06
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$15.51
€13.81
|
$15.07
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 12.7% less for clothing
|
Netherlands
|
California
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$89.45
€79.61
|
$58.89
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$43.43
€38.65
|
$43.96
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$100.67
€89.60
|
$91.63
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$136.42
€121.42
|
$130.37
|
|
Netherlands vs. California - 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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Compare countries by overall cost of living
See the
cost of living in Netherlands vs. United States.
This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Netherlands and United States.
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