Why Your Grocery Bill Is So Much Lower in Budapest

Budapest ranks as one of the most affordable cities in Europe for grocery shopping, according to Deutsche Bank’s latest Grocery Index.

Based on data compiled from Numbeo, the index compares the cost of a typical basket of everyday food items — including bread, milk, eggs, meat, and fruit — across major global cities, using New York as the baseline (set at 100), writes Euronews.

With a score of 37, Budapest ties with Warsaw as the cheapest city in Europe for supermarket shopping, meaning groceries in the Hungarian capital are 63% cheaper than in New York.

For comparison, a basket that costs €100 in New York would cost just €37 in Budapest.

This positions Budapest well below Western European capitals such as Paris (71), London (62), and Berlin (55), and even cheaper than Southern European cities like Rome (51), Madrid (46), and Lisbon (44). Only Cairo, globally, recorded a lower index score than Budapest.

Despite rising inflation and cost-of-living pressures across much of Europe, Hungary remains a budget-friendly destination for essential goods, at least when it comes to supermarket shopping.

The findings are consistent with previous trends showing Central and Eastern European cities generally offer lower consumer prices compared to their Western counterparts.

Meanwhile, Geneva and Zurich top the list as the most expensive European cities, with scores of 106 and 103 respectively — even higher than New York.

Other pricey cities include Oslo (78) and Paris, where groceries cost 54% more than in Madrid, and 29% more than in Berlin.

The index does not take local purchasing power into account, meaning affordability from a resident’s perspective may differ. However, for travelers and expatriates, Budapest offers some of the best value-for-money grocery prices on the continent.

Consumer Prices Still on the Rise