Cost of Living in Sofia
Summary of cost of living in Sofia, Bulgaria:
- A family of four estimated monthly costs are 2,486.0$ (4,611.0лв) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are 705.2$ (1,308.1лв) without rent.
- Sofia is 39.9% less expensive than Columbus (without rent, see our cost of living index).
- Rent in Sofia is, on average, 63.5% lower than in Columbus.
Restaurants |  Edit |
Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 10.78 $ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 46.37 $ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 8.09 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 2.70 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 2.70 $ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 2.29 $ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) | 1.47 $ | |
| Water (12 oz small bottle) | 1.01 $ | |
Markets | Edit |
|
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 6.50 $ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 1.01 $ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 0.94 $ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 3.53 $ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 4.86 $ | |
| Chicken Fillets (1 lb) | 3.52 $ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 5.65 $ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 0.79 $ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 0.83 $ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 0.80 $ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 1.09 $ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 0.50 $ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 0.47 $ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 1.02 $ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 0.68 $ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 7.01 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 1.03 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 1.69 $ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 3.34 $ | |
Transportation | Edit |
|
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 0.86 $ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 26.96 $ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 1.35 $ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 1.22 $ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 12.62 $ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 5.57 $ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 29,452.53 $ | |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 25,618.99 $ | |
Utilities (Monthly) | Edit |
|
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 141.68 $ | |
| Mobile Phone Monthly Plan with Calls and 10GB+ Data | 17.65 $ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 13.40 $ | |
Sports And Leisure | Edit |
|
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 36.65 $ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 20.49 $ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 8.63 $ | |
Childcare | Edit |
|
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 543.37 $ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 6,557.75 $ | |
Clothing And Shoes | Edit |
|
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 67.82 $ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 32.95 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 98.63 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 104.04 $ | |
Rent Per Month | Edit |
|
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 575.61 $ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 430.80 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 1,098.24 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 748.91 $ | |
Buy Apartment Price | Edit |
|
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 290.45 $ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 190.06 $ | |
Salaries And Financing | Edit |
|
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 1,415.25 $ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 3.16 |
Prices in Sofia
This city had 5479 entries in the past 12 months by 508 different contributors.
Last update: November 2024
Last update: November 2024
Sources and References
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Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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Nearby cities:| Cost of Living in Dupnica | 40.45 miles |
| Cost of Living in Blagoevgrad | 60.12 miles |
| Cost of Living in Plovdiv | 89.49 miles |
| Cost of Living in Pleven | 102.21 miles |
| Cost of Living in Veliko Tarnovo | 138.42 miles |
| Cost of Living in Vidin | 155.77 miles |
| Cost of Living in Sliven | 185.51 miles |
| Cost of Living in Ruse | 193.95 miles |
This page in other languages:
 DeutschLebenshaltungskosten in Sofia
|
 PortuguêsCusto de Vida em Sófia
|
 ItalianoCosto della Vita a Sofia
|
 FrançaisCoût de la Vie à Sofia
|
 EspañolCosto de Vida en Sofía
|
If you genuinely believe you can generalize, as you did, about any group of human beings, your IQ is most likely under 40. Also, be careful with joking about death because life is unpredictable.
You sound just like a mentally retarded Bulgarian but all Bulgarians will never amount to anything. Actually the most important day of their miserable lives is when they die one less Bulgarian to hear
I have to agree with some of commentators that living here is not comfortable without knowledge of Bulgarian language. From time to time I face situations where even manager staff don't know simple English (Glovo delivery, for example) and with regular staff it even worse. Sometimes I have feeling that they don't want speak English in purpose.
Also, not too often, but still sometimes I face not friendly looks from the service staff, as if I offended someone. Idk why this happens. I'm always friendly and polite in public and I give extra tips to staff. You bulgarians should be more friendly to foreigners, especially when they buy smth and support your economic. But despite the toxic service, outside of shopping, people are quite friendly here. They smile often, joke and laugh out loud.
Personally, I don't find Sofia city inspiring at all. It doesn't have inspiring architecture, people miss the USSR, food is often mediocre here. Yeah, you can go in mountains, but I'm not a big fan of such pastime. Don't want to make Sofia look bad. The city is just fine. You can find here a lot of restaurants, bars, gyms, clubs, theaters, go to the cinema. But something is missing here and I don't feel inspired.
You must drink your pills regularly. Excluding the resorts, prices are much lower in Bulgaria than pretty many places on this Earth.
People don't understand this perception because many come with the rich foreign currency (US dollar, GBP, Euro), which is doubled and sometimes almost tripped for them (e.g. 500 pounds is 1,100 in BG currency). The prices of food and necessary goods in Bulgaria are insane. You can look at the statistics above. Everything is converted from Euro, as majority of goods are imported, even the most of basics - milk, rice, fruits and vegetables. Clear examples of this is - you won't see the iPhone costing 2600 euros in another EU country, or pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) for 150 euros. These things are 2-3 times cheaper in the developer west.
Let's say you go to a website and want to buy clothes from Sweden that has their prices in Euro. You select your items and your total is 200 Euros for 3-4 items. This for a Bulgarian would convert as double price due to the currency, labor market economy. Imagine that tomorrow you wake up and your milk from 1 euro is now 3 euros, jeans are from 40 euros to 80 euros, gas prices from 1.50 are 4 euros.
The explanation is very simple, at least in my opinion. The Bulgarian labor, especially in the IT sector, is considered one of the cheapest in the world, while at the same time of very high standard, quality and education. India comes first. Many companies from the US and rich west come in Sofia because an engineer or developer would cost half of the price than if they go to Barcelona, Stockholm or Amsterdam. This is nothing new as we already know the advantages abused of such economies, same as in India. This is causing a major problem because the world and Bulgaria has made itself a reputation of cheap labor, which is to nobody's advantage to ever become costly, ever in the future. It's a matter of time until young people and skilled professionals realize that they could migrate and utilize their labor for way higher salaries anywhere else in Europe.
This is why the population in Bulgaria is shrinking and with no surprise. Now after covid, with many people switched to full-remote work, come in Bulgaria and abuse the cheap economy, while their salaries remain in Euro. This causes further inflation, as this is poured into the economy, tricking it to believe the cost and standard of living have jumped but this is not the case. You can see apartment owners raise their rent prices 3 times as they are hoping a foreigner would come to rent it with their European salary.
If you are living in Sofia and you follow the prices of basic food supplies - you can see that the inflation is well above 20%. For example eggs are close to 1 BGN a piece. Milk is 3 BGN litter.
Prices of apartments are well above the declared averages. For example this
https://www.bulgarianproperties.com/Apartments_(various_types)_in_Bulgaria/AD80196PL198892BG_Apartments_(various_types)_for_sale_in_Sofia.html
It is shitty location, the living space - without walls, terraces, common parts - will be max 120 sq meter - so it is 3000 euro per meter.
If you are looking for real info - don't be fooled by this data.
Anonymous on November 30, 2022
Apparently you have a pig mentality if you don't find in Bulgaria what you don't find in your homeland.
Stay in your country of birth.
There is hardly a perfect city on earth.
Otherwise, there are many good things here, as well as not so good things, but Sofia still remains the cheapest in the EU. Many Black Sea and ski resorts and spa hotels are available.
It's a pig pen just like Bulgarian pigs living there.
the idea of "service" is take it or leave it without a smile. English speakers can get by but of course, if you plan to stay in Bulgaria over 6 months, it is very limiting without Bulgarian. Most signs are in Cyrillic alphabet.
Sidewalks are unwalkable and pollution is terrible because the smog can't clear the mountain.
I prefer Austria and Switzerland but if you like "down market" places then go ahead and live in Sofia.
Ottomans controlled Bulgaria for a very long time.Bulgarians begged Russia to save Bulgarians.I visited Bulgaria once several years ago they are a smoke show with their mouth nothing more lot's of wind and they run away quickly when confronted physically.
No worries though the UK government handed pensioner's their asses on Monday telling them you're on your own meaning no more pensions
I prefer Sofia before 2020. It's definitely gotten more congested and with the official inflation of 20%, it's not a "budget" destination anymore.
Good things come to an end sometimes.
I was going to retire in Bulgaria until I found out Bulgaria has a 10% flat tax rate on retirement pensions no matter where they come from. To be considered a tax resident one who stays more than 183 days per year is a tax resident. It doesn't matter if any country has a tax treaty with Bulgaria there's no exemption for retired expats living in Bulgaria.
From my end my net yearly retirement income would be a tax of $3,300 usd. Regardless of what anyone says online it's a mandatory 10% tax on annual income. This information came from a tax lawyer in Bulgaria.
Just a heads up
Irina/ Sofia Bul.
Bye
About the prices yes they are correct almost . You can get lower prices by walking around the small grocerie stores and small restaurants. Rent wise depends which neighborhood you want. It ranges from 400 to 2000 leva.
If you get around 2000 3000 leva you will be alright. Ideally you want 4000 5000 but hey we want that wage too. It's rarely. Average is 2000 levs. The minimal wage is 640 leva. People do survive with that money here so you make your judgments. As I said tuff people we are .
Hope that's helped.
As for foreigners if you plan to come here because of an offer just make sure that this offer is good and that it's worth it, do your research in advance. If you're not pretentious and you're alone the absolute minimum that you'll need for a basic living is approximately 1200-1400lv, 500-600lv for rent, 100-200 for utilities, 400-600 for food and transportation. That's just a rough calculation of course, but it's a close one. As for the attitude towards you from the locals you'll see a better attitude from the younger generation under 40, rather than the older one, because the older generation grew up during the socialism and they've been through hard times, so don't be surprised if you see grumpy old people here and there. It's nothing personal :)
PS: Don't forget to reply back as soon as possible and to turn this personal. I know that you'll be following this page on a daily basis. Come on.
Foreigners are treated badly by Bulgarians is all I ever experienced and other foreigners that lived in Bulgaria. We had an expat group of 53 in Sofia.We met often to discuss difficulties dealing with Bulgarians and their lazy nature workwise.Some of us foreigners like myself owned business that employed people. Mine alone employed 37.Skills are severely lacking ie motivation even though they are trained properly. In all 31 of us owned businesses in Sofia. We all closed our businesses in 2018 through 2019 and we all left Bulgaria. Only 2 or 3 expats stayed in Sofia since they were married to Bulgarians. What can I say Bulgarians are very difficult to communicate with overall even though we speak Bulgarian which we learned.
To any future foreigners intending to live or open businesses in Bulgaria just don't you'll regret it
- Bulgaria is NOT the “most unhappy” country in the world. Check the last World Happiness report – we are pretty much in the middle. The negativity of Bulgarian people is mostly in the shape of skepticism and criticism and mostly directed against the government. Regarding the attitude towards foreign people, Bulgarians in general are very hospitable, interested, accepting and accommodating. Plus, Sofia is a capital of an EU country and is a part of a common civilizing, cultural and economic processes. When I walk the streets in the center quite often I hear more foreign speech (English, Spanish, Italian, French) than Bulgarian, because of all support jobs available here and all the tourists.
- “Rude” is a totally inappropriate term for Bulgarians. Call them “mildly sour” for their own reasons, but people are, at least the overwhelming majority, nice and very nonviolent. For example street violence, quite common in the most developed western countries, is very, very diminished in Sofia, almost nonexistent. It feels safe to walk the streets and it is safe.
- During my humble life I have witnessed a great improvement in peoples’ body odor in Sofia. The people (man+women) take a bath regularly and smell immaculately.
I can affirmatively say that as an expat in SOFIA you can live a pretty decent life, not just because of assumed good ratio between your salary and the prices, but mostly because of the attitude – there are great men and women who will appreciate you not just because of your qualities but additionally from the fact that you are foreign – it is still somehow exotic, unlike in the much more multicultural west. In other words, you can feel BIG in Sofia.
The digits here in Numbeo, are almost entirely correct.
Local cheese for 5 Euro/kg? This used to be 15 years ago. Currently, be ready to pay 10-12 Euro.
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment: If you want a good location, 2000 Euro is the minimum.
Same for most of the other prices.
Numbeo figures are totally wrong.