Cost of living comparison
compared to
Iowa vs. Russia Cost of Living Summary
Iowa is 83.4% more expensive than Russia overall.
Iowa vs. Russia Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Iowa instead of Russia, you would:
pay 81.5% more for restaurants
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$10.83
RUB894.72
|
$17.44
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$6.39
RUB528.16
|
$10.71
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$1.16
RUB95.62
|
$2.66
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$0.60
RUB49.27
|
$1.93
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of restaurants
pay 89.3% more for groceries
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$0.77
RUB63.38
|
$2.86
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$5.51
RUB455.14
|
$5.29
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.39
RUB362.53
|
$3.19
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$1.57
RUB129.78
|
$3.35
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$2.44
RUB201.91
|
$4.87
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$0.84
RUB69.40
|
$2.11
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.80
RUB66.30
|
$0.65
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$0.81
RUB67.22
|
$2.01
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$1.33
RUB109.55
|
$1.93
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$0.35
RUB29.18
|
$1.07
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$0.28
RUB23.52
|
$1.29
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of groceries
pay 27.6% more for transportation
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.08
RUB254.77
|
$3.52
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$24.17
RUB1,997.57
|
$34.83
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$32,081.81
RUB3M
|
$32,592.26
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$5.45
RUB450.28
|
$15.02
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of transportation
pay 2.4 times more for housing
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$8.47
RUB700.03
|
$67.97
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$496.53
RUB41,028.91
|
$1,095.70
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$335.29
RUB27,705.54
|
$867.32
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$92.30
RUB7,626.55
|
$143.75
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of housing
pay 2.3 times more for childcare
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$402.75
RUB33,279.52
|
$1,080.37
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$9,958.40
RUB823K
|
$19,409.87
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of childcare
pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$2.06
RUB170.10
|
$4.61
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$2.73
RUB225.71
|
$5.52
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$2.85
RUB235.62
|
$9.16
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$37.43
RUB3,092.83
|
$61.55
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$6.26
RUB517.18
|
$13.85
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 26.6% less for clothing
|
Russia
|
Iowa
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$83.60
RUB6,907.85
|
$51.95
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$55.20
RUB4,561.14
|
$38.14
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$125.97
RUB10,408.90
|
$88.30
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$111.42
RUB9,206.92
|
$107.49
|
|
Russia vs. Iowa - 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 Russia vs. United States.
This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Russia and United States.
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