The cheapest countries in the EU to live in: 2025 prices and pay

In 2025, Bulgaria had the lowest consumer price level of the 27 EU countries: 62.5, where the EU average is 100. Romania and Poland came next. At the other end, Denmark was the most expensive at 139.7, followed by Ireland and Luxembourg. These are Eurostat's price level indices for household consumption, published in June 2026.

A low price level is only half of the story. In the same countries, what an average worker takes home is lower still. Who gains from cheap prices depends on where your income comes from.

The ranking

The tables combine two Eurostat datasets for the same year, 2025. The price level index compares what a comparable basket of consumer goods and services costs in each country, with the EU average at 100. Net earnings are the annual take home pay, in euros, of a single person without children earning the average wage of that country, after income tax and employee social security contributions.

The scope is the 27 EU countries. Eurostat's price comparison also covers Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and EU candidate countries, some of them cheaper than Bulgaria, but its 2025 net earnings figures cover the EU only.

The ten cheapest EU countries, 2025

The five most expensive EU countries, 2025

Eurostat itself says these indices are not meant to rank countries strictly. Countries a few points apart, such as Lithuania and Latvia, have similar price levels.

Cheap prices, lower pay

In all ten of the cheapest countries, net pay is further below the EU figure than prices are. Romania's price level is 65.1, but the net pay of an average single worker there, €13,877, is less than half of the EU figure of €29,954. Hungary's price level is 77.5, and its net pay is about half of the EU figure.

The pattern turns around at the top. Luxembourg's price level is 131.5, but its net pay, €55,877, is more than 1.8 times the EU figure.

Eurostat notes that its price comparisons are not adjusted for differences in income or wages. That is why the two columns belong together.

What the index measures, and what it does not

• A national average. Rents and many services in a capital or a large city can be well above the national figure, and the index does not show by how much.
• Household consumption, not rent alone. It covers what households buy, from food to restaurants and housing. Housing, which in Eurostat's figures also includes water, electricity, gas and other fuels, has its own index and can tell a different story. Czechia's overall price level is 89.4, below the EU average, but its housing index is 107.1, above it. Housing reaches 189.7 in Ireland and 40.6 in Bulgaria.
• Average pay, not your pay. The net earnings column is for one household type at the average wage. A different salary or family changes the result.
• A new series for earnings. Up to 2023, the net earnings data were calculated by the OECD. From 2024 they are calculated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, and Eurostat marks a break in the series. The 2025 figures compare countries with each other, but should not be compared with older editions.

If your income comes from abroad

If you are paid by an employer, clients or a pension outside the country where you live, the price level is the column that matters most. The basket that costs 100 on average in the EU costs 62.5 in Bulgaria and 139.7 in Denmark, more than twice as much. An income fixed abroad goes further in the countries at the top of the first table.

Two cautions. Outside the euro area, exchange rates change what your income is worth locally. And residence permits and the taxation of foreign income depend on the country and on your status. Our guide to digital nomad visas covers some of the routes.

If you will earn a local salary

Then both columns matter. The countries with the lowest prices also have some of the lowest net pay, and cheap prices help less when pay is even further below the EU figure. Compare a job offer with local net pay and local rents, not with the price level alone.

How to use this ranking

1. Use it to shortlist, not to decide. Eurostat warns that differences of a few points may not be meaningful.
2. Check rent in the city you have in mind. The national index does not show it.
3. Match the column to your income. Price level for income from abroad, both columns for a local job.
4. Then run your own numbers. The cost of living calculator estimates net income and living costs for your profession in all 50 countries on this site.

Country profiles: Romania, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland and Denmark.