Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Austin vs Copenhagen

One person needs about €2,411 a month in Austin and €2,563 in Copenhagen, rent included — Austin is 6% cheaper overall.

🇺🇸
Austin
United States · 980K pop
vs
🇩🇰
Copenhagen
Denmark · 1.3M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,600€1,700
6% pricier
Groceries / mo
€400€400
0% pricier
Eating out (meal)
€17€20
18% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€55€38
31% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€6,500€5,300
18% lower
Coworking / mo
€280€300
7% pricier
AustinCopenhagen
Rent€1,600€1,700
Groceries€400€400
Transport€40€85
Utilities€180€180

Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle

Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.

To live in Copenhagen the way you live in Austin on €3,000, you need

€3,189/ month net

6% more than today (+€189)

Austin today
Basket €2,411 · left over €589 (20%)
Copenhagen at the matched salary
Basket €2,563 · left over €626 (20%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 207% over in Copenhagen (strong) vs 270% in Austin. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇺🇸 Austin

No state income tax and a real tech market, with car costs baked in.

Monthly budget: €2,411

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

🇩🇰 Copenhagen

Cycling city with high taxes that buy genuinely good public services.

Monthly budget: €2,563

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

Should you move to Austin or Copenhagen?

On salary, Austin pays more for tech roles (€6,500 versus €5,300 a month), so the money left over after costs is €4,089 in Austin at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €1,600 in Austin against €1,700 in Copenhagen. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Austin at 73 and Copenhagen at 70 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Austin comparisons

More Copenhagen comparisons