Cost of Living in Belgrade

If you are a foreigner looking to move to Belgrade, Serbia be aware that you either need to have at least several years of experience in medium to high-ranking white-collar jobs or to be able to work remotely for EU or US / Canada based company that same white-collar job.

If you don't fulfill those requirments and you are foreigner that works manual, blue-collar jobs you will struggle to financially survive current socio-economic climate in Belgrade.

For example, you would need to make montly net salary / income of at least 1650 € / 1880 $ as an single person (not having partner or children) to live barely comfortably, if you pay rent for your place.

If you can't achieve that, don't move to Belgrade because you will really, REALLY struggle financially.

Replying to Petar:

"No, that's not true.
I work in a restaurant in Belgrade Waterfront, which is currently a very exclusive place.
Lunch for two people does not exceed 50 euros.
But also you can spend i restoran on Belgrade 1000 euros of you wont."

As for the Serbian authorities, Serbia has a patriotic president but the country is open to cooperation with the whole world, that should be good and not bad as you wont to representin.
Also, Serbia is not a xenophobic country, there are many studies that rank Serbia at the top of the countries where there is no racism.
Serbia has its own traditions/rules and every foreigner who adapts to those rules and respects Serbia and the Serbian people, shows it to the Serbs, will be accepted and loved.
There are no caste societies in Serbia, like in India, where you come from.

As for Kosovo and Metohija, it is part of Serbia according to the Serbian constitution and according to the United Nations.
It is the stolen part of Serbia from the position of Albanian terrorists and the NATO organization, which they committed in 1999 by aggression against Serbia when they committed international crimes against the Serbian population.
Serbia is considered one of the safest countries in Europe.

These comments below, which want to repredent Serbia in a bad light, mostly come from people who do not like the president of Serbia and try in every way to portray him as a bad man and a bad president for Serbia, but the facts say otherwise.
Since his arrival, salaries in Serbia have increased more than 3 times, GDP of Serbia has increased 3 times, gold reserves of Serbia have increased more than 4 times, unemployment has decreased from 26% to 8%.
New roads, airports, high-speed railways are being built in Serbia, and Serbia is preparing to host the EXPO world exhibition next year.
The Serbian Army is stronger than ever and Serbia has friends in all corners of the world.
This is only a part of what has been achieved thanks to the policies of Aleksandar Vučić in the past ten years.
Aleksandar Vučić is perhaps the only president in the world who can talk to the presidents of Russia, China, USA and the most important Arab leader in a few days."

LOL as expected, you decided to totally ignore my positive comments and focus on negative ones.

It is clear that you have written in Serbian and used a translator to convert this to English.

The level of brainwashing in Balkans is unreal as it is, but you Serbs especially are on a whole different level.

Your life begins, continues, and ends with politics.

Literally Serbia has minimal relevance because you have a declining population, minimal natural resources, landlocked, and you think the entire world hates you.

You are exactly like a certain desert tribe in the Middle East that think they are G-d's chosen people, rest all are goyim cattle.

You are displaying a cult-like behavior which is reminiscent of Scientology or Mormons.

First of all, I have zero interest in who your president is/was/will be.

Neither do I care about legal status or army of Serbia.

I wrote my honest comments as a person who wanted to see the ground reality.

You are no different than Modi or Erdogan or Xi or Trump worshippers.

Living in your own bubble thinking everyone is your enemy, gaslighting, projecting, and behaving like a maniac.

The fact is that no one wants to work because your govt is giving them free money, plus they are living off of remittances from Europe relatives.

Also your govt is importing hordes of 3rd worlders to work food delivery, malls, taxi/bus drivers etc. because all your youth are running off to DE/AT/CH etc.

This site is for people to make a decision about where to travel, live, work, study, do business, or invest in property etc.

For you to make some high headed claims like food costs ONLY 50 eur (when average incomes are 900 eur, which means half of Serbs make less than that), or studies show that Serbia number 1 superpower (first hand real experience is only thing that matters) - is delusional cope.

Slavic culture, in particular South Slavs, have a deep seated fear and anxiety running through their lives from birth to death.

This coupled with communist brainwashing since 1945, has led to a severely close minded society.

I deliberately mentioned my Indian ethnicity to see if you would react as I intended, and you did LOL.

You ended up basically proving my point, and which is obvious because the only place I saw black and brown people in large numbers was actually in Albania.

BTW, I have 2 first world passports, have lived/worked/done business/dated women in 50+ countries in 6 continents.

But it is Balkan people and in general Serbs who are the most obnoxious towards everyone else.

From Australia to Canada, Germany to Thailand - your folk are notorious for getting drunk, putting loud ethno-nationalist songs, dancing with photos of dead warlords and clan chieftains in restaurants/pubs and trashing the whole place.

I experienced this personally in Bar, Sutomore, Budva, Kotor - Montenegro is pretty much a slave state of Serbia.

Serbs were staring at me non stop, I was denied entry to 2 bar and restaurants, and while walking on the beach filming with my phone, a SERBIAN policeman stopped me for bribe and passport. In another country!

I visited all 5 countries - Bosnia+Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo as well.

Perhaps you have not, since you are so proud to stay in your country, but my comments were for others who want to travel/move to Serbia.

In terms of quality of life, and the general behavior of people - it resembles more Central America.

People, not just women, but even, are totally emotional and knee jerk reaction - as evidenced by your reply.

in general, grumpy, anxious, and frustrated all the time for no reason.

It seems you are not living in 2026, or even 1999, but 1389.

Everyone is proud of their ethnicity/religion/language/heritage etc. but South Slavs and especially Serbs are living in the past.

Even with my negative experiences I believe some Serbs are good hearted and truly follow Christian principles, because I am not close minded, racist, and not everyone is like you.

Unfortunately, virtue signaling and acting religious is the last stand of a morally dishonest and crooked person.

As for India's caste system, it's the same as Balkans - MONEY IS THE ONLY RELIGION AND CASTE in the world today.

Hopefully someday you can save enough money to see the world and wake up from your cult dream.

Would suggest you to TRY to be a true Orthodox Christian and follow in the footsteps of your Sveti Sava, Lazar, Nemanja and many more and try to meditate and serve in one of the numerous monasteries across Serbia and the Balkans.

@Giorgio

First, you should clarify what poor quality meat means to you.
In Serbia, the production of GMO meat, which is produced in the EU, America and many other western countries, is prohibited by law.
Matijević meat is meat grown in Serbia.
Beef from 1,500 dinars in Serbia is premium quality in the West and can cost twice as much.
Bread that costs 1 euro in Serbia can cost up to 3 euros in the EU.
Fruits and vegetables are cheaper in Serbia than in most European countries.
It is also incorrect that gas is the most expensive in Serbia.
Serbia has the lowest gas price in Europe, fuel is more expensive than the European average but not as much as it is presented, per 100 liters of fuel it is about 20-30 euros more expensive in Serbia, although this is not the case at the moment because fuel in Europe has become more expensive due to the war in the Middle East.

Data on rent and salary are also misleading.
In Belgrade, a 1.0 apartment in the city center costs around 600-700 euros, and the average salary in that part of the city is around 1600 euros afte tax.
The average salary of the city of Belgrade is around 1300 euros and you can also find a apartment in some part of city for 300-400 euros.

There is also a state program where young people up to the age of 35 in Serbia can buy their first property with a 1,000 euro loan.
Both students and the unemployed can buy such apartment.
Such a thing is not possible in any country in Europe.

It is also misleading that life in Belgrade is worse than before.
The salary is 3 times higher since the current president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić came.
There is a lot of work and there is a lack of workers, so for the first time in history workers are being brought in from abroad.
A cook in a restaurant in Belgrade has a salary of around 1400-1500 euros.
Bus driver around 1100-1200 euros.
No connection is required to do this as workers are wanted.

@Milan
No, that's not true, the data is public and available to everyone.
The minimum wage of 550 euros in Serbia is received by 4% of employees. That number is realistically even lower because some employers pay the minimum salary to the employee's bank account, and the rest of the salary is given to him personally and that part is not taxed.
Only the taxed part of the salary is counted in the salary statistics.

Also, more is being invested in the development of Belgrade today than at any time in the last 50 years.
Ten years ago, the budget of the city of Belgrade was 80 billion dinars, and today it is over 200 billion dinars.
In the last few years, 2 museums have been opened in Belgrade and 6 more are under construction. A new railway station, a bus station, a new airport building, 200km/h tracks have been opened, new trams and buses have been purchased, several squares and hundreds of streets have been renovated, several hospitals have been built and are being built, a new national stadium, the largest in the Balkans, a new fairground, new bridges, the construction of the subway has begun and many other projects.
Belgrade is being built more than ever and is taking on the appearance of a world metropolis.
The average salary in Belgrade today is around 150,000 dinars after taxes, and ten years ago it was around 50,000.
These are verifiable facts.

Visited Serbia for 2 weeks in the Fall 2025.

As an Indian visiting SE Europe and Balkans for the first time, I started my journey here.

Numbeo started from and is based in Belgrade, so I was curious to experience the city and country where this whole project started.

The cost of living for products and services is quite accurate, except for the rents and salaries (both are way higher and way lower respectively).

Russians and Turks are pumping insane amounts of money into residential developments, especially the riverfront area near Gallerija Mall where huge towers are being built at a fast pace.

In general the cost of living is the highest of all the ex YU countries and SE Europe, even more than Tirana.

People are closed off to any social interactions even if they do speak English, or if you try to speak Serbian.

This is typical of all Slavic cultures, but is worsened here by the ultra nationalistic government and of course the ethnic tensions/war.

Novi Sad and Nis are the 2nd and 3rd cities, connected to Belgrade by bus and train.

You can also travel down to Montenegro by train

On the positive side, I believe the entire public transit of buses and trams is totally free (like Tallinn and Luxembourg).

It is the biggest city in Europe without a subway/metro though.

Food is delicious, but again the most expensive in Balkans - some fine dine restaurants can cost upto RSD 10,000 per meal which is like 100 euros for 2 people which is almost par with many cities in Western Europe.

Finally for someone looking to move here or settle down/retire, would not recommend it because ultimately it's a xenophobic culture.

The Kosovo issue is still fresh in the hearts and minds, and given their cosying up to Russia and China, and NATO presence over in Kosovo, it would not be a good decision if things go south (think Ukraine/Russia pt. 2)

All food prices in different markets in Serbia can be checked on the website:
cenoteka.rs

Today on November 8, 2025.
The price of 1 kg of whole chicken in the Matijević store, which is available in every town in Serbia, is 2 euros.
The price of 1 kg of potatoes in MAXI stores is 0.7 euros
The price of 1 kg of cucumbers in LIDL is 0.8 euros
The price of 500g of Sava white bread is 0.5 euro in all stores in Serbia

One person who prepares food at home can eat quality food with a variety of food for 300 euros per month.
The average salary in Belgrade is currently around 1150 euros.

I have lived and worked in Belgrade for 28 years and I claim that life in Belgrade is better today than ever before.

In Belgrade, you can prepare a family lunch for 4 people for 10 euros.
baked:
2kg of Whole chicken-5euros
1kg of potatoes-1euro
salad:
500g of tomatoes-0.6euros
500g of cucumbers-0.4euros
500g of paprika-1euro
250g of feta cheese-1.5euros
bread:
500g of white bread-0,5euro
Prijatno!

The average salary in Belgrade is 80.000-90.000

Serbia is just rock bottom. Tech prices are insane, food prices are higher than in the EU. Everything around is rundown, full of slums. It’s extremely expensive with terrible service. One of the worst countries I’ve ever been to.

Serbia government survives on taxing foreigners everyway imaginable truth be known. However the Serbia government won't tell you until you pass the 183 days you live in Serbia. Corruption runs rampid throughout Serbia. Pick a different country save your money instead of giving it away.

The average salary in Belgrade is around 120.000. The 96.000 figure is the national average for Serbia.

Overall Serbia government is notorious for harboring drug dealers just as long as they get side cash to look the other way which happens quite often.Serbia is a dangerous drug ridden country a fact.

Average sallary in Belgrade is around 115.000 Serbian dinars or 1.000 euros.
The sallary is not updated. The sallary of 88.000 dinars is average level in whole Serbia(not Belgrade).

I said again after short thinking regarding real estate pricing renting and housing.PRices are made probably by real estate agents in order to profit more than market prices are.1 bedroom apartmant in Belgrade 30-35 m2 outside city center you can find for 150 euro if you speak serbian .2 bedroom apartmant 200 eura you can choose among thousands of offers.These prices here regarding renting of flats are overpriced.Horribly.150-200 euro a month that is the real price of renting 1 or 2 bedroom fully furnished apartmant in Belgrad not in center but in some suburbs with 15 minutes bus drive to the city center.Period.

rent is very expensive for such city and such salary!

Love serbian food & happy-minded and admirable serbians to all international guests, good luck and prosperity to the nation

Americans have an old saying its only mind over matter because you don't matter to us.

Real average net salary in Belgrade is 350-400e (41000-50000din.)

Serbia has been on a downward spiral for years now and it isn't getting any better I'm from Belgrade.The amounts of money given by people aren't correct. If the Serbian government would care enough to understand the pay scale overall isn't adequate to live comfortably things would be much better for everyone.

Average net salary for Belgrade was 75649 RSD in november 2020 and not 61617 RSD.

No matter what country anyone is from there'll never be peace amoung people because they want to represent their ideals of their country upon others and expect them to agree which will never happen.Many people may think the pandemic worldwide is a terrible thing and it is in certain ways.But one thing is for certain it has forcefully made people around the world to distance themselves from each other.Travel has been highly restricted worldwide too.No matter where anyone is from or what their status is in life another thing is a reality. The pandemic has truly alienated people and cultures from each other which is just the beginning of the new normal.Although costs of living are important to everyone throughout life there's a new need presented it's called survival.