Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Kraków vs Berlin

One person needs about €1,260 a month in Kraków and €2,258 in Berlin, rent included — Kraków is 79% cheaper overall.

🇵🇱
Kraków
Poland · 800K pop
vs
🇩🇪
Berlin
Germany · 3.7M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€780€1,500
92% pricier
Groceries / mo
€250€350
40% pricier
Eating out (meal)
€9€15
67% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€16€40
150% pricier
Avg salary (tech)
€2,800€4,600
64% higher
Coworking / mo
€120€250
108% pricier
KrakówBerlin
Rent€780€1,500
Groceries€250€350
Transport€22€58
Utilities€120€190

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 Berlin the way you live in Kraków on €3,000, you need

€5,376/ month net

79% more than today (+€2,376)

Kraków today
Basket €1,260 · left over €1,740 (58%)
Berlin at the matched salary
Basket €2,258 · left over €3,118 (58%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 204% over in Berlin (strong) vs 222% in Kraków. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇵🇱 Kraków

Warsaw salaries in a smaller, cheaper, prettier city.

Monthly budget: €1,260

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

🇩🇪 Berlin

Highest tech salaries on this list, offset by heating bills and a brutal rental market.

Monthly budget: €2,258

Sources: Destatis + Eurostat, HICP & Mietspiegel (2025) · 377 community reports

Should you move to Kraków or Berlin?

On salary, Berlin pays more for tech roles (€4,600 versus €2,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,342 in Berlin at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €780 in Kraków against €1,500 in Berlin. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Kraków at 81 and Berlin at 76 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

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