Despite being more expensive to live in than 60% of Eastern European cities, Budapest is still very affordable. Below we get into some of the costs of living to give you a better idea of what to expect if you move to Budapest to study or to work.
What is the average salary in Budapest?
The average salary in Budapest is around 1900€ per month before tax. If you want to know more about the median wage as well as the salaries for different jobs, check out this website.
What is the average rent in Budapest?
Budapest is one of the cheaper capitals in Europe but even then, the prices of rentals depend largely on the size of the apartment and on its placement within the city. One-bedroom apartment in the city centre is about 480€ and 350€ on the outskirts whilst a three-bedroom apartment in the centre is 900€ and about 620€ on the periphery.
How much money do you need to live comfortably in Budapest?
This is a hard question to answer in a simple way because it all depends on your individual needs and wants. Some people spend more money on transport whilst others on food. So the best thing to do is to look at the different areas of spending and see how they’re priced.
After housing, food is one of the largest expenses on many people’s budget. Depending on whether you’re used to eating in restaurants or mostly cooking at home, this expense will change drastically. A meal in an inexpensive restaurant can be about 5€, whilst a fancier three-course dinner can begin at 30€. On the other hand, if you’re planning on cooking, groceries are very reasonably priced. Twelve large eggs are only about 1,75€ and a litre of milk is around 0,7€. This makes cooking at home much better for your wallet.
The next item on one’s budget is usually transportation. If you have a car, you’ll be mostly dependent on gas prices, which are now at about 1,2€ per litre. If that’s too much, there’s always public transport, which will cost you about 29€ monthly. The most expensive option is using taxi service, which in Budapest is about 11€ per 5 kilometres in normal traffic. You can also decide that you don’t want to use any motorized vehicles at all, in which case you might be interested in bike rentals/sharing. We wrote a whole article on that here.
Another important aspect of one’s life is entertainment. There is simply no comfort without a nice outing with friends or a good film from time to time. The prices are pretty good when it comes to alcohol, as an average beer in a pub will cost you about 1,7€, and a cocktail in a club is roughly 6€. Cinemas and theatres are also pretty reasonable, being about 11€ and 44€ respectively.
Overall, there are some estimates which say that one person needs about 1100€ per month and a family of four needs about 2250€ per month, but they need to be taken with a grain of salt. There is a lot to consider, so the best way of calculating how much money you might need is comparing the prices of what you usually buy at home with the prices of equivalent products in Budapest.
What is the cost of living for a student in Budapest?
As a student, it’s hard to afford a lot of things so knowing how to drive down the costs of living is essential. One definitely has to make sure to cook at home most of the time and to either have tickets for public transport or be ok with riding around Budapest on a bike. But the general estimate when it comes to the cost of living for a student, is between 500€ and 600€. By far the largest factor is accommodation, with either dormitories or shared flats being the best option.
