Cost of Living Comparison

USD

COMPARED TO

EUR

Germany is 4.8% more expensive than United States.

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

pay 24.0% more for restaurants

	United States	Germany
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.02	$12.21 €10.71	-12.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.68	$9.19 €8.06	+19.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.89	$2.64 €2.31	+39.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.53	$2.29 €2.01	+49.9%
Average			+24.0%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 24.1% less for groceries

	United States	Germany
Bread 1 loaf	$2.69	$1.56 €1.37	-41.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.53	$4.64 €4.07	-16.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.20	$3.57 €3.13	+11.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.34	$2.51 €2.20	+7.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.12	$3.72 €3.26	-9.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.11	$1.18 €1.04	-43.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.77	$0.85 €0.75	+11.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.93	$0.99 €0.87	-48.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.97	$1.24 €1.09	-36.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.30	$0.65 €0.57	-50.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.29	$0.67 €0.59	-48.0%
Average			-24.1%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 52.3% more for transportation

	United States	Germany
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.62	$6.30 €5.53	+141.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$63.87	$78.83 €69.13	+23.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,180.29	$25,426.33 €22,296.37	+9.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.33	$23.42 €20.53	+35.1%
Average			+52.3%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 19.5% less for housing

	United States	Germany
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$67.35	$37.52 €32.91	-44.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,222.86	$734.30 €643.91	-40.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,029.07	$553.91 €485.72	-46.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$127.79	$194.90 €170.91	+52.5%
Average			-19.5%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 31.9% less for childcare

	United States	Germany
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$886.13	$344.14 €301.78	-61.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$15,193.33	$14,791.33 €12,970.53	-2.6%
Average			-31.9%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 6.6% less for entertainment and sports

	United States	Germany
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.50	$4.05 €3.55	-9.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.17	$3.19 €2.79	-23.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.76	$7.74 €6.78	-0.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.15	$35.60 €31.21	-9.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.52	$12.70 €11.14	+10.2%
Average			-6.6%

United States vs. Germany - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 39.5% more for clothing

	United States	Germany
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.40	$84.50 €74.10	+94.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.02	$41.41 €36.31	+14.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$75.12	$94.35 €82.74	+25.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$95.18	$116.93 €102.54	+22.9%
Average			+39.5%

United States vs. Germany - 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 2021

More cost of living comparisons

United States vs. Algeria

United States vs. French Polynesia

United States vs. Egypt

Germany vs. Cambodia

Germany vs. Ecuador

Germany vs. Tanzania

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 States

Contribute prices for Germany

Narrow your comparison by city:

Select a city in United States:

Select a city in Germany:

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

HAVE A QUESTION? ASK THE COMMUNITY

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