Cost of Living inDebrecen, Hungary
Image credit: Darinko
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Hungary: $40,687/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 51% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
6.0 / 10
#55 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Hungary; Debrecen-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Possible, not easy for expats
hardInstruction
Hungarian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Hungary’s public schools can work for local families, but expat fit is weaker and quality feels less consistent than top-tier EU systems.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident enrollment is possible, but Hungarian-medium instruction makes the public route a hard sell for most foreign families.
📋 Homeschooling
Legal with school supervisionHomeschooling (magántanulói jogviszony) is legal. Students must be registered with a school and take exams. The student can study at home but the school provides supervision and assessment.
Homeschool legality in Hungary — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in Hungary.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$950
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$1,900
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Debrecen is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Hungary.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
StrongGood national coverage, strong doctor availability, and solid hospital-bed capacity support this rating.
Public care
MixedBroad public coverage and strong public funding support this rating.
Private care
LimitedSelf-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
80/100
2023
Physicians
3.46/1k
2022
Hospital beds
6.63/1k
2022
Out of pocket
23%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
76.7 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
12/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
2.1/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedPrice transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
Pricing transparency
LimitedPublished self-pay prices are scarce weigh on this rating.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Hungary yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Debrecen, Hungary · Source: KSH (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can stay up to 90 days without a visa.
Long-Term Visa Programs
digital nomad
White Card (Digital Nomad)
Migrated from legacy digital_nomad_visas row 8
investment
Hungary Guest Investor FundQuick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Debrecen compared with the US?
Your money goes about 2.0x further in Debrecen than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Debrecen cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Debrecen is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 51% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Debrecen.
How does rent in Debrecen compare with New York City?
Rent in Debrecen is about 84% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Debrecen?
Groceries in Debrecen are about 51% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 53% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Debrecen
Debrecen is the second-largest city in Hungary, in the eastern Hajdú-Bihar county on the Great Hungarian Plain, with about 202,000 residents. It is the historic capital of Hungarian Calvinism, anchored by the large reformed Great Church on the central square, and remains one of the country's principal university towns, with the University of Debrecen drawing a large international student body, particularly in medicine, from across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The economy is built on a fast-growing automotive cluster, with a new BMW assembly plant under commissioning, the existing BHE Bonn medical-equipment and tobacco manufacturing base, and IT services. Hungarian is universal. The continental climate produces cold, dry winters and hot, dry summers, more extreme than western Hungary. Direct intercity trains reach Budapest in about three hours; Debrecen International Airport handles low-cost flights across Europe.
See the full breakdown — free
No password needed. Takes ~30 seconds.