Prague vs Berlin, Vienna and Warsaw: how to compare living costs fairly

Somebody on a forum has declared that Prague is cheaper than Vienna by exactly 31 per cent. Somebody else has a spreadsheet that says the reverse. Both can be right, because one is pricing a student in a shared flat and the other a couple with a car and a taste for the restaurant on the corner.

If you are choosing between four capitals for a job or a degree, you do not need a winner. You need your own sums, and they take an evening.

Why the rankings disagree

City tables average a basket of goods for an imagined person. That person eats out more or less than you, rents in a district you may not want and never buys a monthly pass. Three distortions turn up again and again.

• Tourist prices leak in. A hotel room and a beer on the main square are not what residents pay.
• Rents are for new tenants. Someone who has lived in a flat for ten years pays differently from you, and the rules that protect them differ by country.
• Pay is ignored. A cheaper city with lower wages can be harder to live in than a dearer one with higher wages.

That is why this page has no table of prices. A number without a date and a source is decoration.

The comparison, in order

What does not change from week to week

Currency is the quiet one. Earn in euros and live in Prague, and the koruna's drift changes your real budget even when nothing in the shop moves. Earn in koruna and travel to Vienna, and it works in reverse. The Czech National Bank publishes daily rates, so you can see what the last year did.

Housing then decides most of the gap. In Prague a deposit is capped at three months' rent (as of 2026; check the Civil Code), and who pays what in a Prague rental shows what sits on top of the rent. Other cities have their own rent rules and lease traditions, so read them before you trust any average. If owning is a possibility one day, the buy or rent calculator on Hypoteky.com runs the long-run numbers with your own assumptions.

Transport, food and the salary side

Compare the monthly or annual pass on each city's operator site, never from a secondhand table. For Prague, how Prague public transport tickets work explains the options, and monthly transport costs puts them in a budget.

Food has two layers. Supermarket shopping compares directly. Eating out depends on habit, and Prague's weekday set lunch (the denní menu, see Czech lunch menus) makes a midday meal a different animal from dinner. Eat out twice a week or twelve times and the answer flips.

Cost only means something against income. Gross vs net in Czechia shows how a Czech offer becomes take-home pay; do the same for each city's offer with its tax authority's own calculator. For the Prague budget itself, start with how the budget is built, and if you only want the verdict on the city, is Prague expensive gives it.

Test the result

When each city has a number, ask whether you could live that way. A budget that leaves no room for a flight home or a bad month is not a budget, so add a buffer to each city before you compare. Then ask what the money buys: a shorter commute, a bigger flat, a stronger job market. Cost is only one side of the decision.

Frequently asked questions

Is Prague cheaper than Vienna?

It depends on the category and the household. Build the comparison from real rent listings and your own spending, then check Eurostat price levels for the wider picture.

Which currency should I compare in?

One currency, converted on the same day. The Czech National Bank publishes daily koruna rates.

Where is reliable price-level data?

Eurostat for cross-country comparisons, and each national statistics office for its own figures.

Pick one flat size tonight, find five real listings in each city and write the rents on one page. It will tell you more than any ranking.