Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

Netherlands

Netherlands vs. United States Cost of Living Summary

Netherlands is 0.1% cheaper than United States overall.

Restaurants: pay 20.0% more in Netherlands
Groceries: pay 19.1% less in Netherlands
Transportation: pay 60.2% more in Netherlands
Housing: pay 11.6% less in Netherlands
Childcare: pay 26.7% less in Netherlands
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.2% less in Netherlands
Clothing: pay 23.7% more in Netherlands

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

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Netherlands vs. United States Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 20.0% more for restaurants

	United States	Netherlands
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.86	$22.24 €19.86	+12.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.42	$13.74 €12.27	+20.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.67	$3.60 €3.22	+35.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.05	$2.95 €2.63	+43.8%
Average			+20.0%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of restaurants

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pay 19.1% less for groceries

	United States	Netherlands
Bread 1 loaf	$3.63	$2.06 €1.84	-43.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.52	$6.70 €5.98	+2.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.98	$5.08 €4.53	+27.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.30	$4.71 €4.20	+9.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.46	$6.35 €5.67	+16.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.34	$1.16 €1.04	-50.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.80	$1.07 €0.95	+34.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.02	$0.91 €0.82	-54.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.19	$1.94 €1.73	-11.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.34	$0.83 €0.74	-38.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.39	$0.86 €0.77	-38.0%
Average			-19.1%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of groceries

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pay 60.2% more for transportation

	United States	Netherlands
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.01	$9.11 €8.14	+127.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$66.70	$95.45 €85.23	+43.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$34,164.82	$40,608.58 €36,259.28	+18.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.02	$27.41 €24.48	+52.1%
Average			+60.2%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of transportation

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pay 11.6% less for housing

	United States	Netherlands
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$70.22	$48.29 €43.12	-31.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,681.01	$1,426.76 €1,273.95	-15.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,404.28	$1,174.28 €1,048.51	-16.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$157.64	$196.24 €175.22	+24.5%
Average			-11.6%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of housing

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pay 26.7% less for childcare

	United States	Netherlands
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,450.99	$1,884.17 €1,682.37	+29.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$24,361.50	$10,083.31 €9,003.35	-58.6%
Average			-26.7%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of childcare

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pay 4.2% less for entertainment and sports

	United States	Netherlands
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$6.25 €5.58	+4.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.31	$4.16 €3.71	-21.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.42	$13.60 €12.15	+30.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.68	$40.62 €36.27	-19.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.95	$15.51 €13.85	+11.2%
Average			-4.2%

United States vs. Netherlands - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 23.7% more for clothing

	United States	Netherlands
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.15	$89.45 €79.87	+68.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.88	$43.43 €38.78	+3.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.76	$100.67 €89.89	+12.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$114.01	$136.42 €121.81	+19.7%
Average			+23.7%

United States vs. Netherlands - 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 States vs. Netherlands

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 16 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

United States is about 237 times bigger than Netherlands.

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5,729 people moved from United States to Netherlands.

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