Cost of living comparison

Serbia

compared to

Romania

Romania vs. Serbia Cost of Living Summary

Romania is 1.4% cheaper than Serbia overall.

Restaurants: pay 5.5% less in Romania
Groceries: pay 0.7% less in Romania
Transportation: pay 9.9% less in Romania
Housing: pay 0.1% less in Romania
Childcare: pay 36.3% more in Romania
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.4% more in Romania
Clothing: pay 25.1% less in Romania

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

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Romania vs. Serbia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Romania instead of Serbia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 5.5% less for restaurants

	Serbia	Romania
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.70 RSD909	$9.82 RON46.44	+12.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.63 RSD1,006	$7.22 RON34.13	-25.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.05 RSD215	$1.87 RON8.86	-8.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.58 RSD165	$1.57 RON7.43	-0.3%
Average			-5.5%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of restaurants

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pay 0.7% less for groceries

	Serbia	Romania
Bread 1 loaf	$0.78 RSD81	$1.10 RON5.19	+41.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.54 RSD475	$3.76 RON17.78	-17.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.83 RSD505	$5.36 RON25.36	+11.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.32 RSD242	$2.91 RON13.77	+25.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.82 RSD295	$2.69 RON12.72	-4.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.56 RSD58	$0.51 RON2.42	-8.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.78 RSD81	$0.67 RON3.18	-13.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 RSD75	$0.65 RON3.08	-9.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.00 RSD104	$0.89 RON4.19	-11.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.41 RSD43	$0.35 RON1.66	-15.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.32 RSD34	$0.36 RON1.70	+11.0%
Average			-0.7%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.9% less for transportation

	Serbia	Romania
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.92 RSD724	$6.55 RON30.98	-5.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$25.68 RSD2,684	$23.38 RON110.58	-9.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,965.17 RSD3M	$27,083.66 RON128K	-9.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.06 RSD947	$6.64 RON31.43	-26.7%
Average			-9.9%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of transportation

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pay 0.1% less for housing

	Serbia	Romania
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$26.71 RSD2,792	$8.56 RON40.50	-68.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$340.23 RSD35,559	$371.73 RON1,758.50	+9.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$248.38 RSD25,959	$281.26 RON1,330.53	+13.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$130.61 RSD13,650	$107.14 RON506.84	-18.0%
Average			-0.1%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of housing

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pay 36.3% more for childcare

	Serbia	Romania
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$258.66 RSD27,033	$482.75 RON2,283.68	+86.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,159.32 RSD748K	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	-0.5%
Average			+36.3%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Serbia	Romania
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.55 RSD267	$2.18 RON10.31	-14.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.92 RSD200	$2.45 RON11.57	+27.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.33 RSD453	$5.71 RON27.03	+31.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$29.21 RSD3,053	$38.73 RON183.19	+32.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$5.57 RSD582	$7.13 RON33.75	+28.1%
Average			+19.4%

Serbia vs. Romania - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 25.1% less for clothing

	Serbia	Romania
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$82.25 RSD8,596	$62.00 RON293.30	-24.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$45.18 RSD4,721	$35.53 RON168.09	-21.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$105.67 RSD11,044	$77.18 RON365.11	-27.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$117.40 RSD12,270	$85.19 RON402.98	-27.4%
Average			-25.1%

Serbia vs. Romania - 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: Serbia vs. Romania

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Romania?

Quality of Life Comparison · 13 statistics

Make 47.7% more money in Romania

Size Comparison · See true size

Serbia is about 3.1 times smaller than Romania.

Moving from Serbia to Romania · UN DESA 2020

2,926 people born in Serbia live in Romania.

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