Groningen

Cost of Living inGroningen, Netherlands

Groningen, Netherlands245KHigh income

Purchasing Power vs. United States

Your money goes 1.41x further

Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Netherlands: $70,499/capita.

How Far Your Money Goes

Prices are 31% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Overall
1.4x further
Prices are 31% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Rent
3.9x further
Prices are 75% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Groceries
1.5x further
Prices are 32% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Restaurants
1.3x further
Prices are 23% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Income Category

High
World Bank GNI

Happiness

7.3 / 10

#6 globally

GDP per Capita

$70,499
PPP, International $

City Population

245K

Monthly Costs

Rent

1BR City Center$1,285/mo
3BR City Center$1,992/mo

Food

Cheap Meal$19
Milk (1L)$1.53
Eggs (12)$4.64

Transport

Monthly Pass$69
Gasoline (1L)$2.28

Utilities

Basic (85mยฒ apt)$238/mo
Internet (60+ Mbps)$49/mo

Education

Preschool$1,829/mo

Child Education

Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.

Public schools

Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Netherlands; Groningen-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.

Good public schools

Quality

Good public schools

Expat access

Available to residents

conditional

Instruction

Dutch

Language fit is more manageable.

PISA / outcomes

Qualitative only

Using curated quality notes for now.

Why this quality rating

The Netherlands has a strong public-school system and a real resident-schooling path, especially for families staying long enough to integrate.

Why the expat-access rating looks like this

Resident families can generally enroll, and newcomer support exists in some places, but the long-term public path still depends on Dutch.

โš ๏ธ Homeschooling

Legal with strict exemptions only

Dutch law requires school attendance. Exemptions exist for religious/philosophical objections (Article 5a) or if no suitable school exists within travel distance. Lifestyle or pedagogical preference is not sufficient grounds. Most worldschooling families cannot legally homeschool in the Netherlands.

Homeschool legality in Netherlands โ€” check current regulations before committing.

Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)

Childcare & Domestic Help

Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in Netherlands.

Full-time nanny (5 days)

$2,400-$3,150

Estimate-only country fallback

Live-in / 24-7 nanny

$3,600-$4,700

Estimate-only country fallback

Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)

Getting Around

Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Groningen is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.

Healthcare

System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Netherlands.

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.

158 facilities tracked
Facilities updated 2 months ago

Healthcare system

Strong

High national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.

Public care

Good

Broad public coverage and relatively low patient cost-sharing help, but the tracked facility mix leans away from public providers.

Private care

Mixed

A clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.

UHC coverage

85/100

2023

Physicians

3.88/1k

2022

Hospital beds

2.42/1k

2022

Out of pocket

12%

2024

Outcome signals

Life expectancy

82.0 yrs

2024

Maternal mortality

4/100k

2023

Neonatal mortality

2.6/1k

2024

International patient readiness

Mixed

A visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.

Pricing transparency

Limited

Multiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.

Facility coverage

Dentist: 56Doctor: 47Pharmacy: 21Physiotherapy: 20Clinic: 7Laboratory: 4Hospital: 3

Self-pay pricing visibility

No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Netherlands yet.

This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.

Notable facilities

Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen
Hospital ยท Emergency
Website
Martini Ziekenhuis
Hospital ยท Emergency
Website
UMCG-Beatrixoord
Hospital ยท Emergency
Eyescan Groningen (OMC HanzeKliniek)
Clinic
Website
ophthalmology
HartKliniek
Clinic
Website
cardiology
ADHDcentraal Groningen
Clinic
Website
psychiatry

System metrics: World Bank WDI ยท Updated 2026-06-01

Safety & Governance

Street Safety

Safety Index76/100
Crime Index24/100

Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.

Political Stability

Political Stability+0.84

World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.

Wages by Sector

SectorMedian
Administrative & Support Servicesโ€”
Agriculture & Farmingโ€”
Arts, Entertainment & Recreationโ€”
Constructionโ€”
Educationโ€”
Finance & Insuranceโ€”
Healthcare & Social Workโ€”
Hospitality & Food Serviceโ€”
Information & Technologyโ€”
Manufacturingโ€”
Mining & Quarryingโ€”
Other Servicesโ€”
Professional & Scientific Servicesโ€”
Public Administration & Defenceโ€”
Real Estateโ€”
Retail & Wholesale Tradeโ€”
Transport & Logisticsโ€”
Utilitiesโ€”

2024 annual wages in Groningen, Netherlands ยท Source: CBS (region-adjusted)

Price Comparison vs. US

beer
$5.50Estimated29% cheaper
budget hotel
$26.25Estimated28% cheaper
childcare preschool
$1828.53Estimated18% more
cinema
$13.00Estimated21% cheaper
coca cola
$2.00Estimated7% cheaper
eggs dozen
$4.64Estimated4% cheaper
gasoline liter
$2.28Estimated121% more
inexpensive meal
$19.18Estimated9% cheaper
internet 60mbps
$49.06Estimated28% cheaper
iphone
$1149.00Estimated15% more
jeans
$82.00Estimated60% more
latte
$3.90Estimated27% cheaper
luxury hotel
$337.50Estimated29% cheaper
mcmeal
$10.00Estimated1% cheaper
milk liter
$1.53Estimated25% more
monthly pass
$68.58Estimated1% cheaper
nike shoes
$90.00Estimated1% cheaper
rent 1br
$1284.85Estimated29% cheaper
rent 2br
$2600.00Estimated40% cheaper
rent 3br
$1991.50Estimated37% cheaper
subway fare
$3.20Estimated33% more
utilities basic
$237.59Estimated11% more

Visa Information (US passport)

Short-stay entry

visa freeUp to 90 days

US passport holders can stay up to 90 days without a visa.

Long-Term Visa Programs

12 months

Quick comparison FAQ

Structured from the deltas already shown on this page โ€” no invented facts, no extra data sources.

How far does your money go in Groningen compared with the US?

Your money goes about 1.4x further in Groningen than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.

Is Groningen cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?

Groningen is cheaper overall than New York City โ€” overall living costs are about 31% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Groningen.

How does rent in Groningen compare with New York City?

Rent in Groningen is about 75% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).

How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Groningen?

Groceries in Groningen are about 32% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 23% cheaper than the same benchmark.

About Groningen

Groningen is the largest city in the northern Netherlands and the capital of Groningen province, sitting on the Reitdiep and Hunze waterways about 200 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. It functions as the regional capital of the country's north, anchored by the University of Groningen, one of Europe's oldest, and the University Medical Center, which together make it one of the youngest cities in the Netherlands by demographics. The local economy combines higher education and medical research, gas-sector legacy industry from the Groningen field whose production has been wound down due to induced seismicity, IT services, and substantial agricultural processing. Climate is temperate oceanic with mild wet winters and cool summers typical of the Dutch coast. Dutch is the language alongside widely used English in academic settings, and the euro is the currency. Direct trains to Amsterdam in about two hours anchor connectivity.