Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Dublin vs Istanbul

One person needs about €3,040 a month in Dublin and €963 in Istanbul, rent included — Istanbul is 68% cheaper overall.

🇮🇪
Dublin
Ireland · 1.2M pop
vs
🇹🇷
Istanbul
Türkiye · 15.5M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€2,100€550
74% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€400€230
43% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€20€7
65% cheaper
Internet (100mbps)
€50€12
76% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€5,200€1,600
69% lower
Coworking / mo
€330€110
67% cheaper
DublinIstanbul
Rent€2,100€550
Groceries€400€230
Transport€140€25
Utilities€190€90

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 Istanbul the way you live in Dublin on €3,000, you need

€950/ month net

68% less than today (-€2,050)

Dublin today
Basket €3,040 · left over -€40 (-1%)
Istanbul at the matched salary
Basket €963 · left over -€13 (-1%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 166% over in Istanbul (comfortable) vs 171% in Dublin. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇮🇪 Dublin

Big-tech salaries almost entirely absorbed by a chronic housing shortage.

Monthly budget: €3,040

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

🇹🇷 Istanbul

Enormous, cheap in euro terms, but inflation reprices everything every few months.

Monthly budget: €963

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

Should you move to Dublin or Istanbul?

On salary, Dublin pays more for tech roles (€5,200 versus €1,600 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,160 in Dublin at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €2,100 in Dublin against €550 in Istanbul. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Dublin at 63 and Istanbul at 70 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Dublin comparisons

More Istanbul comparisons