Cost of Living in Budapest
Summary about cost of living in Budapest, Hungary:
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are 2,355.5$ (867,839.7Ft) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are 678.3$ (249,899.2Ft) without rent.
- Budapest is 52.5% less expensive than New York (without rent, see our cost of living index).
- Rent in Budapest is, on average, 85.3% lower than in New York.
Restaurants |  Edit |
Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 9.50 $ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 43.43 $ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 6.79 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 2.17 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 2.44 $ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 2.00 $ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) | 1.29 $ | |
| Water (12 oz small bottle) | 1.05 $ | |
Markets | Edit |
|
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 5.07 $ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 1.29 $ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 0.96 $ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 3.08 $ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 5.40 $ | |
| Chicken Fillets (1 lb) | 2.34 $ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 4.99 $ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 0.69 $ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 0.83 $ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 0.86 $ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 1.61 $ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 0.51 $ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 0.56 $ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 1.34 $ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 0.45 $ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 5.43 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 0.99 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 1.51 $ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 5.70 $ | |
Transportation | Edit |
|
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 0.95 $ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 25.79 $ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 2.71 $ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 1.75 $ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 16.29 $ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 6.80 $ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 26,399.03 $ | |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 25,424.77 $ | |
Utilities (Monthly) | Edit |
|
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 155.76 $ | |
| 1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans) | 0.08 $ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 14.52 $ | |
Sports And Leisure | Edit |
|
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 50.68 $ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 13.65 $ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 6.79 $ | |
Childcare | Edit |
|
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 396.85 $ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 9,733.03 $ | |
Clothing And Shoes | Edit |
|
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 77.12 $ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 34.21 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 78.69 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 94.01 $ | |
Rent Per Month | Edit |
|
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 531.37 $ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 402.57 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 983.49 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 699.76 $ | |
Buy Apartment Price | Edit |
|
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 340.93 $ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 230.31 $ | |
Salaries And Financing | Edit |
|
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 1,074.43 $ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 9.10 |
Prices in Budapest
This city had 9462 entries in the past 12 months by 1029 different contributors.
Last update: March 2023
Last update: March 2023
Sources and References
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Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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Nearby cities:| Cost of Living in Budaörs (Budaors) | 6.22 miles |
| Cost of Living in Budakeszi | 6.63 miles |
| Cost of Living in Üröm | 8.34 miles |
| Cost of Living in Törökbálint | 10.23 miles |
| Cost of Living in Dunakeszi | 11.51 miles |
| Cost of Living in Halásztelek | 12.34 miles |
| Cost of Living in Szentendre | 12.89 miles |
| Cost of Living in Pomáz | 13.08 miles |
| Cost of Living in Érd | 18.53 miles |
| Cost of Living in Godollo | 20.02 miles |
This page in other languages:
 DeutschLebenshaltungskosten in Budapest
|
 PortuguêsCusto de Vida em Budapeste
|
 ItalianoCosto della Vita a Budapest
|
 FrançaisCoût de la Vie à Budapest
|
 EspañolCosto de Vida en Budapest
|
How much is the school , house other expenses??
Can anyone guide me on this please?
thanks
Thank you, I am grateful for any replies.
13.2M HUF gross is a good salary in Budapest for 5+ yrs of experience moving from India?
You will not earn 16 million in Hungary.
maybe 1,6 million which is very good, I only see thet chance to it if you are a consultant or programmer.
it is also expensive unless u r a foreigner. takes 100 years work to save enough to buy a modest apartment. city is drab oct through may.greed everywhere
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Budapest are 54.65% higher than in Antalya
Rent Prices in Budapest are 133.54% higher than in Antalya
Restaurant Prices in Budapest are 112.77% higher than in Antalya
Groceries Prices in Budapest are 68.96% higher than in Antalya
500k gross or net? I live on about 460k net a month and it's perfectly comfortable. I spend about 175k on a nice one bedroom including utilities on the buda side, close to mom park. Granted, that's not considered downtown, but many downtown areas have cheaper housing than the greener buda side. I do cook a lot myself, but I don't buy the cheapest groceries; lots of fresh vegetables, plant-based milk, nuts, conrflakes, nice chocolate, that kind of stuff. Basically, I buy whatever I feel like. And I go out for a coffee/dinner/beers about once a week.
Sure, you can't buy clothing from fancier brands on a regular basis. But if you just want to have a good appartment, go out moderately and not worry too much about your groceries, 500k net is very doable in Budapest.
Anonymous police officer Budapest
On another note you are right about the living costs, 500k is more than enough for a single person to live(decently) in the city center.
This is simply a lie. Tho, you'll not be welcome in here if you behave shadily (shouting late in the evening for no reason, breaking stuff etc), which actually makes sense but some tourists tend to forget about it. It's holidays for you, it's home for others.
As for people saying you need 800k net to live in Budapest, I'd love to have a break down of their expenses. Even spending your food budget at Culinaris and have an expat-built flat, you will not even come close to this number. 500k is more than comfortable to live in the city center.
Definitely safer than West EU cities. Also, there is practically no gun violence, the french guy much have been high as a kite and confused them with fireworks or something.
Some districts not far outside the centre can seem seedy at night and there are homeless ppl making all kinds of noise but just walk past, don't make eye contact, and remember: homeless ppl are eveywhere in the world, especially in any big city.
I live in Toronto where there are shootings and stabbings almost everyday. It wasn't always like this, and no one I know has been shot or stabbed but it goes to show that it really depends where you are. Here, it can happen anywhere, and in BUD if it's going to happen, it's not likely to happen in some random place. Not to mention, shootings and stabbings are pretty rare.
BUD is an incredible city, and Hungary is beautiful! Even if your salary doesn't cover your monthly expenses, find a way to make it work or even just go for as long as you can last! BUD is that great~ I've been a few times and it's amazing!
We are now at 220k. Add 10k for the monthly pass for public transport. I did this on a 300k ft salary. No car. Single guy.
Even if i bump the numbers up to, let's say, 250k for the apartment, and 100k for the food, that's still well under the 500k ft (around 1400 euros) most people ask of here (unless ofc you're used to top luxury, which i'm not lol).
True, the closer you get to the heart of the city, and the more luxurious and less cheap the apartments get. But i still had leftover money to go to bars, concerts, do sports, ect.
The numbers on this site are fairly accurate.
As for safety: relatively safe, with a few places you should not go late at night (like Hős street, avoid even during the day :'D). But avoiding run-down places is generally a good idea, not a unique problem IMO.
Source: me, a born-and-raised resident of budapest.
There are no random groups of people going around shooting stuff. That is simply a lie and it's amazing how you can even write such things down. Contrary to popular belief, the cops aren't quite so bribable, as many of them are young and despise bribery. Use your common sense people, don't believe such egregious made up lies from people that never lived in the city.
I've lived in Budapest for 21 years now but I'm originally from Hampshire.€1300 would've been more than enough 10 years ago for all expenses including rent but not anymore.Fortunately I bought my house many years ago cheap in Budapest.€1300 would get you an efficiency unfurnished apartment quite far from downtown Budapest.Apartments average €2000 and up for a one bedroom apartment within 6km of the metro unfurnished.When I say unfurnished it's really unfurnished. A stove and refrigerator will be needed too which is normal.In answer to your question about €1300 being enough for two people to live the answer is NO.Thats not enough for one person,honestly.
My wife and I are moving to Budapest. Just us to. I met €1300 and she would still need to find work there.
Is it possible to survive on this?
A single can live in Budapeste with 546.000 HUF (net) montlhy? Including rent
I'm from Budapest and I know the costs of things.The only things that are accurate here are transportation via busses or taxies,and internet costs each month.Anyone can post anything online,however it's much different when one needs to budget for daily expenses as I do.
I am assuming that you will be making 2700 EUR net and your wife is not working. This is around 965,000 HUF, which puts you well into the top 3% of earners in Hungary. Generally, this amount of money is the combined earnings of both parents for a middle class family in Hungary.
Rent for a nice flat with two children will be about 250-300k HUF in a decent area, including bills.
Groceries for a family of four will be at least 150k, but if you want to eat healthy, then it is closer to 200-250k. If in addition you also want to eat out regularly, then around 300-350k will be needed.
Maintaining a car is relatively cheap, I think 50k a month should be enough if you only drive on weekends.
Entertainment and holidays are relative, so I'm not going to give numbers. Basically, once you pay for a good flat, decent food and a car, you'll have about 1000EUR left over for holidays, entertainment, etc.
If your wife doesn't work, you won't be exactly rich off of your salary, but it will be a good middle class life.
I hope this helps.
I am planning to move to Budapest with my wife and two daughters (2 and 5 y.o).
I'm trying to calculate if the salary around 2700 euro (net) would be enough to live comfortably.
Including house bills, grocery, entertainment, rent apartment, driving on the weekends, Preschool/Kindergarten for children and medicine, holidays, etc
Thanks
Thanks
- https://www.profession.hu/en
- https://www.cvonline.hu/en
- https://dreamjo.bs/en
- https://www.workania.hu/en/
- https://jobline.hu/
Please help me on below points -
1. How I can apply for Jobs in Budapest (any specific website)
2. Cost of living for 2 Adults and 2 Kids below 10 years
3. Scope of teacher (English Language) in Budapest
Thanks
I am planning to move to Budapest with my family (Me, wife and 2 years old baby).
We both are planning to work and from what I can see we can bring home roughly 600/650k HUF net per month.
My question is... Do you think a family of 3 can live ok (without luxury) with 600k HUF?
Thanks in advance.
So you consider this thread updated for 2020, whereas you do not take care of your data at all..
Anyways I tried to dig out the latest data regarding the salaries for Budapest.
These are official data from the Statistical Office for Q1-Q3 in 2019, you can see the regional figures here. (Since, there is a general salary hike in the country and the CEE region, this will be higher for the whole year.)
https://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xstadat/xstadat_evkozi/e_qli029b.html
So average gross salary was around 450 000 HUF in Budapest in the aforementioned period. In net terms:300 000 HUF. Quite a difference..
Well, you may survive, but with full family, I would not count for a long run. A flat minimum 200 000 from that, plus additional costs. As a start, may be good, but long run, not the most safeties. Much more, what Hungarians are earning there, so you should feel lucky anyway
What u actually highlight that would rather reflect to the net average of the country as a whole but the salaries are a lot higher in the capital.
Please,correct this mistake.
Cheers
gretings.
I am in contact with an organization in Budapest for a position of Software Engineer and the interviews are in progress, they are asking me to tell them my expected salary. But i am confused to tell them a figure.
I am from Pakistan and if everything goes well, I will relocating alone. I am single but I have family to support here in Pakistan.
Can anyone tell me what should be my ask, keeping in view that I have to live in Budapest and support my family back in Pakistan?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
After 2yrs of living in Budapest- i can share you some basic things I figured. We are a family of 3.
We live in the Buda side- 2nd District
Property type: 2bedroom, 1 kitchen dining, living room, bath, toilet, 95sqm flat in an old but
Maintained building, double glazed not carpeted
For the common cost: 24,500
Electric: (summer-no AC with occasional use of 2blowers) average of 15,000
Electric During winter: 18,000
•we have 2 fridge freezer and the normal appliances constantly running; washing machine, electric hob /oven, microwave, toaster, kettle, dishwasher etc.
Gas (summer) average 7,000
Winter: 22,000
We run hot water all year and during winter it heating is on all day maintaining a room temperature of 21degrees
Monthly pass for 2 adults: 9,500 each (19,000 both)
1child month pass: 3,450
UPC family bundle 300mbps w/ tv and landline: 9,990 mo ty
Grocery: this varies depends on what I obviously cook or prepare. Ours is between 280-380k in a month. We are a mix household and I cater for 2picky eater! My main diet is seafood (thus increases the budget a lot) i order from a supplier with an average cost of 18,000 weekly spent on seafood alone. Hubby loves red meat and daughter is in between. This also includes things such laundry and cleaning materials etc and other household stuff
Eating out: again varies every month. Range from 60-80k in a month
Recreational: we dont have any gym membership or such but we do go out to see movie, concerts, circus, exhibitions regularly. This can be between 50-100k a month depends what you want to watch or see
School: our daughter is bilingual. She attends a bilingual program and it cost just about 800,000 in a year or a monthly instalment for 90k extra on her tuition alone. This is A LOT cheaper than international schools that can cost as little as 1.8m to 7m in a year! This does not included school meal of which is approx 12,000 a month, class money 20,000 in a year, field trips 80,000 a year etc
Extras: for 2hour violin lesson cost us 12,000
Private tutoring per hour 3,500 (math, Hungarian)
Holidays: we go for 3holidays in a year during summer break, autumn break and winter break
I do not work in Budapest but has an income from abroad. I was offered a job here but turned it down coz wage was a joke! 350k net for a full time in Finance sector and was an insult when got an offer in education sector for 180,00”net. It would cost me more to hire somebody to look after our daughter and run the household with our crazy routine and schedules. Hubby works in aviation and we can’t complain with how much they give as a wage.
Point is: depends on your lifestyle and cost will change. If we would eat salami everyday and kifli then we would save loads but we are quite happy how we live here compare to the pressure we had back when living in London.
I know families of 3 that lives on a 380k a month but they are a proper Hungarian household that eats only if not mainly Hungarian diet. That is good for them but for us it won’t work.
Please i just want to know the cost of living for a single person. I got an offer in budapest for a restaurant manager for 1200 euros is it good if I'm single?
Thanks in advance.
one small flat with utility rate + 2 monthly ticket for publick transport is around 200k.
the food price in supermarkat is little bit cheaper or similar like wet EU. If you are cooking it can be stop 100-150k. So you can alive :)
Hi,
Me and my husband are thinking to move to Budapest. I am an SAP developer, and I got an offer 395k HUF net. My husband is a mechanical engineer, and he is also looking for a job, and lets say he will start 2 months later. Is that 395k enough for us to live a normal life for 2 or 3 months. (Of course we will rent an apartment, and according to my reasearch it's around 160k.) Some of them said that 500k HUF is not enough to live in Budapest, some of them said you can live normally in Budapest with 400k (I mean 2 person). We are confused about these comments. What would you recommend?
Thank you in advance
To "#Anonymous on Jul 26, 2019":
Rent prices have increased a lot since 8 years. Also HUF lost a lot to EUR (sitting around 330 HUF/EUR). Regarding the job it really depends on you area of expertise. For example with junior IT jobs its not uncommon to get 350k HUF after taxes, but I'm not familiar with other jobs. For a start you could check https://www.profession.hu/ for job search. It is used here in Hungary. Also LinkedIn is popular, so you can get up to relevant job offerings there. Also you can check Hays salary guide 2019:
https://www.hays.hu/cs/groups/hays_common/@hu/@content/documents/digitalasset/hays_2396534.pdf
The estimations are a bit high (10-20 percent depending on different areas) but the relation to of wages to each other are fair. Hope it was helpful!
I am a British / Hungarian nationality who is planing to move to Budapest. Is there any advise one how to look for a job which pays at least 350000.00 HUF/PCM ? I used to the London wages and I know that it will be a big difference in between the lifestyle I used to but if I make at least a £1000.00 I think it is good to start but I haven't lived there over 8 years and I am clueless how things work over there.
I am happy for any advise
To answer the recent questions about the living costs in Hungary: it really depends on your needs. If you live prudently, Budapest is a very cheap city despite the increasing rent prices. but if you want to enjoy the bars, restaurants and various programmes, want to eat healthily and so on, you will need more money. Expect good places to rent above 500EUR plus costs. Apart from that 500Eur per person should cover any basic needs. Of course if you want to enjoy the city to its full you'll need a higher salary. A gross salary of ~12 mil a year will allow you a fantastic life here.
I got an offer of 11,500,000 forints gross (annual). Is it ok to move to Budapest along with wife and 6 years old child? Can there be any savings? Thank you.
I have been offered 600000 HUF after tax is good salary in Budapest?, Myself and my wife going to live and we need to rent a apartment also there, Kindly suggest
Thanks
we are a couple in 60' hoping to retire into Budapest , please advise what will be the cost of living and how much will it cost to buy an apartment in possible city ?
Very good salary. An average Tesco or Audi worker salary is around 700-1000 euro. Three thousand enough to rent a quality apartment + utilities, quality international school for the kid and you have left around 1700 euro.
Please find one of the biggest estate site here: https://realestatehungary.hu/reszleteskereso
3000 EUR gross is a pretty good salary in Hungary, but it isn't the heaven. It highly depends how do you define good life. :) You can check here how much you will have after taxes: https://www.nexon.hu/en/salary-calculator.
It's around 650.000 HUF. You can compare it with the expenses above. Assuming that you are one income family, you won't have huge saving potential, but you can cover all your expenses for sure.
Also it's recommended to double check, if you will have health insurance. In Hungary it is included in your taxes, but you get state health service for that. In average it's much better than state services in other countries and worse, than private health services. Beside some languege support, you'll have to know how the system works.
Hope this helps.
My husband is an engineer in telecomunication and he has offer abot 3000euro gross.we have a child and she has 6 years and she is going to school .Can we have a good life in budapest?We should rent aparment there,but we dont have any information about price & location there .please help me.
Thanks.