Sunday, 1 February 2026
Prague has been identified as the most expensive city in Eastern Europe in terms of overall cost of living, according to data from the Numbeo. The ranking combines everyday household expenses with housing and rental costs, offering a broader view of the long-term financial demands of living in individual cities. Bratislava and Warsaw followed Prague in the regional comparison, while Budapest ranked noticeably lower.
The combined index reflects prices of food, services, transport, restaurants and energy, while also factoring in rent levels. By linking daily expenses with housing costs, the index aims to show how financially demanding it is to live in a city over time, rather than focusing solely on short-term consumer spending.
According to analysts, housing plays a decisive role in Prague’s position at the top of the ranking. David Eim, analyst at Cheetah Finance, pointed to the long-term shortage of new residential construction in Prague and other large cities, which has failed to keep pace with demand. This imbalance, he said, has driven up both property prices and rents, increasing pressure on household budgets.
While the differences in basic living costs across the region’s cities are relatively moderate, the inclusion of housing costs clearly pushes Prague ahead of its peers. Lukáš Raška, an analyst at Port, said that expensive housing and related costs account for a substantial share of household expenditure in the Czech capital. In his view, rents and property prices in Prague have risen faster than wages for a prolonged period, while the supply of new apartments remains limited. As a result, even households with comparatively higher incomes spend an above-average share of their budgets on housing.
Other Czech cities such as Brno, Ostrava and Plzeň ranked significantly lower than Prague in the combined index, suggesting that high living costs are concentrated primarily in the capital rather than across the country as a whole. Daniel Horňák, analyst at Bidli, noted that Prague has long been the most expensive city in the region in terms of both owner-occupied and rental housing. He also highlighted that four Czech cities appear among the twelve most expensive in Eastern Europe, underlining the strong concentration of price pressures in larger urban centres.
At the same time, Horňák added that the rental market in Prague may be approaching its limits for further growth, while other regions could still see room for increases.
Numbeo operates as a global database on the cost of living and quality of life, drawing on millions of price observations submitted by contributors worldwide. Its datasets cover housing prices, consumer costs, transport, healthcare and other indicators, allowing for international and regional comparisons.
Source: CTK
