Cost of living in Austria
84.8 with the United States at 100
Prices in Austria are 15% cheaper than the United States, and it ranks 41st of 204 countries by price level (dearest first). Figures are for 2025.
Against New Zealand it is 5% cheaper.
Two agencies agree. For 2024, the World Bank's figure works out at 78.0 and Eurostat's at 81.3 — a gap of 3.3 points. Two independent programmes landing within 5 points is the strongest evidence available that the level is right.
Compared with its region
Austria against the Europe & Central Asia countries closest to it on price level.
- Austria 84.8
- San Marino 83.0
- Netherlands 86.7
- France 82.8
- Belgium 87.2
- Greenland 87.3
- Germany 81.2
- Sweden 90.5
- Finland 90.6
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
What is dear and what is cheap
Eurostat prices 19 spending categories separately for Austria (2024), again with the United States at 100. This is where a national average stops being one number: a country can be cheap to eat in and expensive to drive in.
- Education 162.8
- Health 148.4
- Fish 125.8
- Meat 120.1
- Bread and cereals 120.0
- Recreation and culture 118.3
- Housing, water, electricity and fuel 113.3
- Communication 111.9
- Furnishings and household equipment 110.6
- Food and non-alcoholic drinks 110.5
- Restaurants and hotels 110.0
- Transport 109.1
- Non-alcoholic drinks 107.6
- Clothing and footwear 105.7
- Fruit and vegetables 103.1
- Milk, cheese and eggs 102.8
- Tobacco 90.2
- Alcoholic drinks 89.7
- Overall consumption (incl. government-funded services) 80.2
SOURCE·Eurostat — purchasing power parities (prc_ppp_ind)·Price level indices by consumption category, published on an EU27=100 basis and rebased here to US=100. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
What this figure is, and is not
- It is an index, not a price. 84.8 means the general level of consumer prices, with the US at 100. It is not a shopping bill and this site never quotes one.
- It is national, not city. Vienna is almost certainly dearer than this. National averages cannot answer a city question.
- It is not your budget. What you actually spend depends on rent, transport and habits far more than on the national average.
How the price level is worked out
- The World Bank publishes a purchasing power parity for household consumption — how much local currency buys the same basket as one US dollar — and the official market exchange rate for the same year.
- The price level is simply PPP ÷ exchange rate × 100. If a basket needs 1.50 New Zealand dollars per US dollar of purchasing power but the market hands you 1.65 New Zealand dollars for that dollar, New Zealand's prices sit at 1.50 ÷ 1.65 = 91% of the US level.
- Nothing is modelled, smoothed or estimated. You can reproduce every number on this site from two public figures.
- Where Eurostat also publishes a price level for the same country and year, the two are compared and the gap is printed — including when they disagree.
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
SOURCE·World Bank ICP PPPs + Eurostat price level indices·price levels derived as PPP ÷ exchange rate, see method·REVIEWED AUG 2026