Cost of living comparison

United Kingdom

compared to

France

France vs. United Kingdom Cost of Living Summary

France is 16.8% cheaper than United Kingdom overall.

Restaurants: pay 1.5% more in France
Groceries: pay 21.8% more in France
Transportation: pay 16.8% less in France
Housing: pay 37.2% less in France
Childcare: pay 43.6% less in France
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.0% less in France
Clothing: pay 11.4% more in France

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

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France vs. United Kingdom Cost Breakdown

If you lived in France instead of United Kingdom, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 1.5% more for restaurants

	United Kingdom	France
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$21.32 £16.13	$17.55 €15.92	-17.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.25 £7.76	$12.68 €11.50	+23.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.54 £1.92	$3.10 €2.81	+22.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.79 £1.36	$1.94 €1.76	+8.4%
Average			+1.5%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.8% more for groceries

	United Kingdom	France
Bread 1 loaf	$1.67 £1.27	$1.96 €1.77	+16.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.62 £3.50	$9.38 €8.51	+102.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.01 £4.55	$5.01 €4.54	-16.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.96 £3.00	$4.05 €3.67	+2.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.93 £2.98	$5.80 €5.26	+47.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.32 £1.00	$1.38 €1.25	+4.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 £0.55	$1.06 €0.96	+45.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.21 £0.91	$1.28 €1.16	+6.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.51 £1.14	$1.60 €1.45	+6.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 £0.58	$0.93 €0.84	+21.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.72 £0.54	$1.01 €0.92	+40.8%
Average			+21.8%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of groceries

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pay 16.8% less for transportation

	United Kingdom	France
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.59 £5.74	$8.00 €7.26	+5.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$99.20 £75.08	$53.34 €48.39	-46.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,629.43 £28,479.08	$33,426.60 €30,322.94	-11.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$23.43 £17.73	$20.80 €18.87	-11.2%
Average			-16.8%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of transportation

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pay 37.2% less for housing

	United Kingdom	France
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$41.42 £31.35	$31.99 €29.02	-22.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,299.59 £983.57	$816.57 €740.75	-37.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,069.01 £809.06	$649.54 €589.23	-39.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$239.96 £181.61	$153.65 €139.39	-36.0%
Average			-37.2%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of housing

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pay 43.6% less for childcare

	United Kingdom	France
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,589.10 £1,202.68	$901.10 €817.44	-43.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,025.39 £17,426.31	$12,924.68 €11,724.62	-43.9%
Average			-43.6%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.0% less for entertainment and sports

	United Kingdom	France
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.50 £4.92	$7.05 €6.40	+8.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.66 £3.53	$3.64 €3.30	-21.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$22.34 £16.91	$13.52 €12.26	-39.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.72 £37.63	$38.05 €34.51	-23.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$14.11 £10.68	$12.82 €11.63	-9.1%
Average			-16.0%

United Kingdom vs. France - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 11.4% more for clothing

	United Kingdom	France
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$85.37 £64.61	$93.79 €85.08	+9.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.93 £34.01	$44.21 €40.10	-1.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$95.35 £72.16	$102.75 €93.21	+7.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$98.21 £74.33	$129.67 €117.63	+32.0%
Average			+11.4%

United Kingdom vs. France - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: United Kingdom vs. France

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Quality of Life Comparison · 13 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

United Kingdom is about 2.3 times smaller than France.

Moving from United Kingdom to France · OECD 2023

3,645 people moved from United Kingdom to France.

City Size Comparison · See true size

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