Cost of living comparison

Russia

compared to

Bulgaria

Bulgaria vs. Russia Cost of Living Summary

Bulgaria is 4.1% cheaper than Russia overall.

Restaurants: pay 20.8% more in Bulgaria
Groceries: pay 17.8% more in Bulgaria
Transportation: pay 26.1% more in Bulgaria
Housing: pay 20.2% less in Bulgaria
Childcare: pay 21.4% less in Bulgaria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9% less in Bulgaria
Clothing: pay 39.6% less in Bulgaria

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

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Bulgaria vs. Russia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 20.8% more for restaurants

	Russia	Bulgaria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.83 RUB894.72	$10.15 BGN17.66	-6.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.39 RUB528.16	$9.64 BGN16.77	+50.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.16 RUB95.62	$1.44 BGN2.50	+24.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 RUB49.27	$1.01 BGN1.75	+68.6%
Average			+20.8%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.8% more for groceries

	Russia	Bulgaria
Bread 1 loaf	$0.77 RUB63.38	$0.95 BGN1.65	+23.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.51 RUB455.14	$4.69 BGN8.16	-14.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.39 RUB362.53	$6.44 BGN11.21	+46.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.57 RUB129.78	$3.03 BGN5.28	+93.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.44 RUB201.91	$3.28 BGN5.70	+34.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.84 RUB69.40	$0.70 BGN1.22	-16.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.80 RUB66.30	$0.85 BGN1.47	+5.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.81 RUB67.22	$0.80 BGN1.39	-2.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.33 RUB109.55	$1.05 BGN1.82	-20.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.35 RUB29.18	$0.51 BGN0.89	+44.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.28 RUB23.52	$0.44 BGN0.77	+54.5%
Average			+17.8%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of groceries

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pay 26.1% more for transportation

	Russia	Bulgaria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.08 RUB254.77	$6.06 BGN10.54	+96.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$24.17 RUB1,997.57	$23.17 BGN40.33	-4.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,081.81 RUB3M	$30,114.16 BGN52,407.07	-6.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.45 RUB450.28	$7.01 BGN12.19	+28.6%
Average			+26.1%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of transportation

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pay 20.2% less for housing

	Russia	Bulgaria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$8.47 RUB700.03	$13.39 BGN23.30	+58.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$496.53 RUB41,028.91	$353.09 BGN614.48	-28.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$335.29 RUB27,705.54	$263.80 BGN459.09	-21.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$92.30 RUB7,626.55	$82.79 BGN144.08	-10.3%
Average			-20.2%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of housing

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pay 21.4% less for childcare

	Russia	Bulgaria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$402.75 RUB33,279.52	$384.45 BGN669.05	-4.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,958.40 RUB823K	$6,445.67 BGN11,217.27	-35.3%
Average			-21.4%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Russia	Bulgaria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.06 RUB170.10	$2.06 BGN3.59	+0.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.73 RUB225.71	$2.17 BGN3.77	-20.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.85 RUB235.62	$3.64 BGN6.33	+27.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.43 RUB3,092.83	$31.52 BGN54.86	-15.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.26 RUB517.18	$7.19 BGN12.52	+14.9%
Average			-2.9%

Russia vs. Bulgaria - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 39.6% less for clothing

	Russia	Bulgaria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$83.60 RUB6,907.85	$49.90 BGN86.85	-40.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.20 RUB4,561.14	$29.26 BGN50.92	-47.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$125.97 RUB10,408.90	$77.75 BGN135.31	-38.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$111.42 RUB9,206.92	$76.05 BGN132.34	-31.7%
Average			-39.6%

Russia 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: Russia vs. Bulgaria

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Bulgaria?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 2.9 times more likely to live below the poverty line in Bulgaria

Size Comparison · See true size

Russia is about 154 times bigger than Bulgaria.

Moving from Russia to Bulgaria · UN DESA 2020

32,789 people born in Russia live in Bulgaria.

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