Cost of Living Comparison

GBP

COMPARED TO

USD

United States is 10.4% more expensive than United Kingdom.

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

pay 8.8% more for restaurants

	United Kingdom	United States
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.16 £12.48	$13.96	-13.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.92 £5.35	$7.62	+10.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.68 £1.29	$1.89	+12.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.21 £0.94	$1.53	+25.9%
Average			+8.8%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 65.1% more for groceries

	United Kingdom	United States
Bread 1 loaf	$1.25 £0.97	$2.71	+117.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.41 £2.63	$5.53	+62.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.29 £3.31	$3.25	-24.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.31 £1.79	$2.39	+3.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.25 £2.51	$4.11	+26.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.00 £0.77	$2.12	+112.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.63 £0.49	$0.75	+18.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.94 £0.73	$1.91	+103.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.98 £0.76	$1.93	+96.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 £0.54	$1.25	+78.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.58 £0.45	$1.28	+122.3%
Average			+65.1%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 19.8% less for transportation

	United Kingdom	United States
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.93 £4.58	$2.78	-53.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$84.80 £65.52	$63.20	-25.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,204.28 £17,928.09	$22,884.28	-1.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$16.12 £12.46	$16.24	+0.8%
Average			-19.8%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 32.2% more for housing

	United Kingdom	United States
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.52 £29.76	$66.60	+72.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$908.63 £702.02	$1,219.93	+34.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$748.70 £578.46	$1,023.89	+36.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$148.88 £115.03	$126.32	-15.2%
Average			+32.2%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 8.2% less for childcare

	United Kingdom	United States
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,074.80 £830.41	$892.01	-17.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,578.96 £11,264.00	$14,670.22	+0.6%
Average			-8.2%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.7% less for entertainment and sports

	United Kingdom	United States
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.35 £3.36	$4.57	+5.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.37 £2.60	$4.20	+24.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$12.61 £9.75	$7.61	-39.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$40.09 £30.97	$39.75	-0.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$12.14 £9.38	$11.82	-2.6%
Average			-2.7%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.9% less for clothing

	United Kingdom	United States
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.79 £53.92	$44.12	-36.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.44 £28.15	$36.26	-0.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$76.34 £58.98	$75.91	-0.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$76.93 £59.44	$97.00	+26.1%
Average			-2.9%

United Kingdom vs. United States - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: May 2020

More cost of living comparisons

United Kingdom vs. French Polynesia

United Kingdom vs. Canada

United Kingdom vs. Hong Kong

United States vs. Thailand

United States vs. Tanzania

United States vs. Iceland

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location (Ashburn, VA, United States) to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Contribute prices for United Kingdom

Contribute prices for United States

Narrow your comparison by city:

Select a city in United Kingdom:

Select a city in United States:

For example, try comparing the cost of living in London vs. Washington

HAVE A QUESTION? ASK THE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about United States. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.