NOTE – This article was published in 2014. Costs may have changed since.

We do have a 2018 article comparing the cost of living in European cities.

One of the best and most cost-effective ways to see more of the world is to actually take yourself off and live somewhere. Not only will you get a more authentic experience and really get to know a city or country, you can also use it as a base for exploring a region.

Unless you are a student on an Erasmus program or have a lot of cash saved up you will probably need a job but finding work abroad is easier than you might think. Teaching English is a possibility pretty much anywhere and if you are a native speaker or even if you’re not (if you’re reading and understanding all of this in English then you should be fine) then you have a good shot at finding work. In some places you will need a TEFL qualification but you can get this in 4 weeks and can do it in a large number of destinations around the world.

You may have seen our budget travel table but it is important you realise that actually living somewhere is considerably cheaper than travelling there. Renting a room long-term should be cheaper than staying in a hostel. Eating and drinking is cheaper once you’ve got to know a city and know where the value is. You also won’t be forking out for long-distance bus or train tickets every few days.

Our budget is based on:

Student living costs around the world but you don’t have to be a student to live on a budget! Here is a guide to what we consider to be realistic on the figures below:

-renting a room in a shared 3/4 bedroom flat (including gas/water/wifi expenses) in a student area or reasonably cheap district but not one so dangerous where you will be risking your life on a daily basis.

-eating out perhaps a couple of times a week but primarily cooking at home in your flat.

-one big night out per week on average and a couple of other more casual evenings out.

-a bit of cash for entertainment each week (going to the cinema/gigs/museums etc).

-a bit of cash for other necessities (toiletries, toilet roll, cleaning stuff and things like that)

-a monthly travel pass on the cities transport network or the likely cost of travelling in the city most days in a month.

It works out as roughly that of a student budget or perhaps a little bit more in most cities. It should be useful for anyone wondering how much it costs to study abroad or curious about the living costs for Erasmus students in cities in Europe. For everyone else, it may help you decide where you can afford to live.

You can find out more precise info about how we calculated this table and how to more precisely work out how much YOU are likely to spend in any of these cities at the bottom of the page.

Student living costs around the world

(all figures are estimates and in Euros/month)

Oslo, Norway – the most expensive city to live.

OSLO €1590

LONDON €1530

SINGAPORE €1410

NEW YORK €1350

HONG KONG €1313

SYDNEY €1305

SAN FRANCISCO €1290

BRISBANE €1268

STOCKHOLM €1230

PARIS €1223

COPENHAGEN €1215

MELBOURNE €1200

WELLINGTON €1170

AMSTERDAM €1148

TOKYO €1140

HELSINKI €1133

HONOLULU €1133

AUCKLAND €1125

DUBLIN €1125

BIRMINGHAM (England) €1088

TORONTO €1043

REYKJAVIK €1035

MUNICH €1020

VANCOUVER €998

FRANKFURT €990

TEL AVIV €990

LOS ANGELES €983

CHICAGO €983

PHILADELPHIA €975

ABU DHABI €960

BRUSSELS €953

Brussels, Belgium – more expensive than 75% of the cities.

HAMBURG €953

MANCHESTER €953

OSAKA €953

RIO DE JANEIRO €945

SEOUL €945

ROME €938

MILAN €938

VIENNA €938

MIAMI €938

DOHA €938

MARSEILLE €930

DUBAI €923

GLASGOW €915

SAO PAULO €893

BEIRUT €893

MOSCOW €885

BERLIN €870

MONTREAL €863

SHANGHAI €863

MADRID €855

BARCELONA €840

LAGOS €840

NAPLES €833

HOUSTON €825

BAKU €773

ATHENS €773

BELO HORIZONTE €765

LISBON €750

SAINT PETERSBURG €735

PANAMA CITY €735

SAN JOSE (Costa Rica) €720

BEIJING €720

Beijing, China – the median city but on the up.

BOGOTA €713

VALENCIA €713

MONTEVIDEO €713

ISTANBUL €713

SEVILLE €690

TAIPEI €675

KUALA LUMPUR €668

DAR ES SALAAM €660

SALVADOR (Brazil) €653

JOHANNESBURG €645

ACCRA €645

GUANGZHOU €645

TALLINN €638

WARSAW €638

SANTIAGO (Chile) €630

FORTALEZA €630

RIGA €623

ZAGREB €623

BRATISLAVA €608

MEXICO CITY €608

NAIROBI €608

MANILA €608

MEDELLIN €593

JAKARTA €593

BANGKOK €593

ANKARA €585

ALGIERS €578

GUATEMALA CITY €570

LIMA €570

KINGSTON €563

BUDAPEST €548

Budapest, Hungary – cheaper than 75% of the cities.

CAPE TOWN €548

ADDIS ABABA €548

BELGRADE €540

CASABLANCA €540

DURBAN €540

BUENOS AIRES €533

PRAGUE €533

BUCHAREST €533

MARRAKECH €525

KRAKOW €525

GUADALAJARA (Mexico) €525

QUITO €510

TEHRAN €503

TBILISI €495

PHNOM PENH €488

SOFIA €480

HANOI €480

DHAKA €465

CAIRO €458

HO CHI MINH CITY €458

LA PAZ (Bolivia) €435

SAN PEDRO SULA €428

COLOMBO €420

CHIANG MAI €420

KATHMANDU €405

MUMBAI €390

DELHI €360

KIEV €345

CORDOBA (Argentina) €338

CHENNAI €323

KOLKATA €255

Kolkata, India – the cheapest city to live.

How we calculated the estimated Cost of Living for each city

We started off with a strong idea of the cost of living in a couple of cities in which we have lived in the past couple of years. From there we used this excellent living costs comparison tool (based on the experiences of 1000’s of people around the world) to work out the percentage difference between those cities and others which we haven’t lived. From there we could calculate an estimate of the cost of living in each of these 125 world cities.

Obviously this isn’t an exact science but we hope you find the info useful.

You can convert Euros to your own currency here.

How to calculate YOUR likely monthly living costs in any city

Obviously do your research and consult as many different sources as possible. For example this post on the cost of student living in Medellin would be a big help in forming your budget if you’re planning to move to Colombia.

However everyone has different spending habits so dig out your calculator and use this useful trick to calculate your probable expenditure across the world. First decide if you have lived in any of these cities long enough and recently enough to get an idea of how much you spent each month.

If you live or have lived in any of these cities fairly recently

1) Think about what your average monthly expenditure is or was.

2) Compare it to the figure we have quoted for that city.

3) Divide your actual monthly living costs by our estimated living costs to give you a figure (it should be fairly close to 1).

4) Write this figure down somewhere. Do it to at least two decimal places.

5) To calculate your likely living expenses in any of the cities on this page you just need to multiply our estimate by the number you have just written down.

Example

You lived in Hamburg and your average expenditure was only €800 and not the €953 we have.

800/953 = 0.84

You want to know what your likely living expenses in Bangkok might be. Our table has Bangkok as €593.

0.84 x €593 = €498

Therefore you’re project monthly expenses in Bangkok would be €498.

If you haven’t lived in any of these cities recently

1) Use the comparison tool to compare the living costs in your current city (or one in which you have lived recently) to one on our list that you think might have similar living costs to yours (for the purpose of this tutorial we will choose Lisbon).

2) You will get a percentage difference between the costs in that city and Lisbon.

3) Convert that percentage into a decimal.

i.e. for positive differences +1% will be 1.01, +10% will be 1.1, +25% will be 1.25

for negative differences -1% will be 0.99, -10%will be 0.9, -25% will be 0.75.

4) Using your decimal see where your city would rank in our scale.

Estimated costs in Lisbon x Your decimal = Estimated cost of living in your city.

5) Now decide what your actual average monthly living expenses are/were in the city you chose.

6) Compare it to the figure you calculated in step 3.

7) Divide your actual monthly living costs by the estimated living costs to give you a figure (it should be fairly close to 1).

8) Write this figure down somewhere. Do it to at least two decimal places.

9) To calculate your likely living expenses in any of the cities on this page you just need to multiply our estimate by the number you have just written down.

Example

You are from Leeds but Leeds isn’t featured in our list however it is close to Manchester and probably has a similar cost of living.

The comparison tool says that Leeds is 1% more expensive than Manchester.

+1% gives us a decimal of 1.01 and our estimated costs in Manchester are 953 Euros.

953 x 1.01 = 963 so imagine Leeds is now in our table at 963 Euros per month.

However in your experience you actually spend 1100 Euros per month in Leeds.

actual living costs/estimated living costs is 1100/963 = 1.14.

You want to know what your likely living expenses in Bangkok might be. Our table has Bangkok as €593.

1.14 x 593 = €676

So in Bangkok your estimated living costs would be €676.