Iceland vs. Svalbard Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Iceland instead of Svalbard, you would:

pay (unknown) more for restaurants

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant ?? $28.88
ISK3,527
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
?? $22.83
ISK2,789
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) ?? $3.25
ISK396

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pay (unknown) more for groceries

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Bread
1 loaf
?? $3.55
ISK434
Local cheese (8 oz) ?? $10.11
ISK1,235
Milk (1 gallon) ?? $7.79
ISK952

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Gasoline (1 gallon) ?? $8.09
ISK988
Monthly public transit pass ?? $80.58
ISK9,843
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) ?? $48,967.53
ISK6M

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pay (unknown) more for housing

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
?? $98.24
ISK12,000
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area ?? $2,335.24
ISK285K
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center ?? $1,824.40
ISK223K

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly ?? $833.66
ISK102K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters ?? $27,752.37
ISK3M

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pay (unknown) more for entertainment and sports

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) ?? $11.37
ISK1,389
Cappuccino in mid-range area ?? $5.90
ISK720
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
?? $13.85
ISK1,692

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

 
Svalbard
Iceland
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
?? $134.47
ISK16,425
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
?? $63.25
ISK7,726
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
?? $159.03
ISK19,425

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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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