Cost of living comparison

Dominican Republic

compared to

Romania

Bucharest vs. Santiago Cost of Living Summary

Bucharest is 32.2% more expensive than Santiago.

Restaurants: pay 76.5% more in Bucharest
Groceries: pay 4.1% less in Bucharest
Transportation: pay 9.3% more in Bucharest
Housing: pay 27.9% more in Bucharest
Childcare: pay 3.3 times more in Bucharest
Entertainment and Sports: pay 72.7% more in Bucharest
Clothing: pay 48.6% more in Bucharest

The cost of childcare, restaurants, entertainment and sports, clothing, housing, and transportation in Bucharest are more expensive than in Santiago. Notably, childcare and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Bucharest.

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Bucharest vs. Santiago Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bucharest instead of Santiago, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 76.5% more for restaurants

	Santiago	Bucharest
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.29 DOP509.30	$14.64 RON69.25	+76.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.05 DOP432.90	$7.32 RON34.63	+3.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.70 DOP42.78	$2.42 RON11.44	+247.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.39 DOP24.19	$2.25 RON10.65	+471.9%
Average			+76.5%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of restaurants

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pay 4.1% less for groceries

	Santiago	Bucharest
Bread 1 loaf	$1.51 DOP93.03	$1.32 RON6.24	-12.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.15 DOP193.81	$4.36 RON20.63	+38.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.50 DOP276.65	$6.22 RON29.40	+38.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.48 DOP90.65	$3.67 RON17.35	+148.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.63 DOP99.87	$3.05 RON14.45	+87.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.45 DOP88.96	$0.57 RON2.70	-60.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.37 DOP22.53	$0.72 RON3.43	+97.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.24 DOP75.89	$0.69 RON3.25	-44.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.83 DOP51.09	$1.15 RON5.42	+37.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 DOP56.14	$0.36 RON1.73	-60.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.00 DOP61.45	$0.34 RON1.62	-65.8%
Average			-4.1%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.3% more for transportation

	Santiago	Bucharest
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.35 DOP328.96	$7.45 RON35.25	+39.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.28 DOP1,860.04	$20.91 RON98.93	-30.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$14,922.51 DOP917K	$28,531.98 RON135K	+91.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.39 DOP1,252.87	$5.65 RON26.71	-72.3%
Average			+9.3%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of transportation

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pay 27.9% more for housing

	Santiago	Bucharest
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$36.30 DOP2,230.04	$9.27 RON43.83	-74.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$676.34 DOP41,549.82	$677.15 RON3,203.34	+0.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$271.33 DOP16,668.79	$451.32 RON2,135.02	+66.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$70.91 DOP4,356.44	$147.83 RON699.33	+108.5%
Average			+27.9%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of housing

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pay 3.3 times more for childcare

	Santiago	Bucharest
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$149.23 DOP9,167.36	$627.11 RON2,966.59	+320.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,471.59 DOP336K	$14,371.87 RON67,987.54	+162.7%
Average			+232.2%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of childcare

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pay 72.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Santiago	Bucharest
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.49 DOP152.79	$3.76 RON17.81	+51.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.80 DOP110.35	$3.51 RON16.59	+95.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.81 DOP295.39	$6.43 RON30.42	+33.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$24.87 DOP1,527.89	$49.22 RON232.83	+97.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.97 DOP305.58	$8.37 RON39.57	+68.2%
Average			+72.7%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 48.6% more for clothing

	Santiago	Bucharest
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$26.53 DOP1,629.75	$88.76 RON419.90	+234.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$45.60 DOP2,801.14	$38.43 RON181.80	-15.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$62.18 DOP3,819.73	$77.83 RON368.20	+25.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$66.32 DOP4,074.38	$91.69 RON433.74	+38.2%
Average			+48.6%

Santiago vs. Bucharest - 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

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