Cost of Living inBergen, Norway
Image credit: Willem van Bergen from Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Norway: $91,105/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 6% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
7.3 / 10
#7 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 Norway; Bergen-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Good public schools
Assessment snapshot: 2022
Expat access
Resident families can use it
conditionalInstruction
Norwegian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
477
Near OECD avg
PISA 2022 · OECD avg ~480
Why this quality rating
Norway has a well-funded public system with solid PISA outcomes and a strong emphasis on equality. There is high teacher quality and relatively small class sizes.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident expat families can typically enroll in local public schools. Instruction is in Norwegian, though international classes are available in some cities.
✅ Homeschooling
Legal with notificationHomeschooling is legal in Norway. Parents must notify the municipality. The municipality is responsible for supervision but there are no mandatory tests. Education must be equivalent to public school standards.
Homeschool legality in Norway — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Bergen, Norway.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$2,400-$3,200
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$3,800-$4,700
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Bergen: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
International airport
Bergen Airport gives the city practical European coverage plus strong domestic links, even if Oslo remains Norway’s larger global gateway.
Urban transit
Light rail and bus
The Bybanen light rail plus buses make central Bergen workable without a car, even if the network is smaller and hillier than the strongest Nordic capitals.
Rideshare
Taxi-first, limited rideshare
Taxis remain the everyday fallback, with app-booking present but less central than in Uber-heavy markets.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Norway.
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
StrongHigh national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.
Public care
StrongBroad public coverage, strong public funding, and relatively low patient cost-sharing support this rating.
Private care
GoodA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
89/100
2023
Physicians
4.97/1k
2023
Hospital beds
3.30/1k
2023
Out of pocket
14%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
83.2 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
1/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
1.4/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Norway 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 Bergen, Norway · Source: SSB (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
working holiday
Working Holiday VisaQuick 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 Bergen compared with the US?
Your money goes about 1.1x further in Bergen than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Bergen cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Bergen is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 7% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Bergen.
How does rent in Bergen compare with New York City?
Rent in Bergen is about 71% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Bergen?
Groceries in Bergen are about 5% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 5% more expensive than the same benchmark.
About Bergen
Bergen sits on the southwestern coast of Norway between seven mountains and the fjords, the country's second city and the principal North Sea oil and gas administrative hub outside Stavanger. About 294,000 people live in a city anchored by Equinor and Aker BP offices, the University of Bergen, Haukeland University Hospital, and a deep-water port handling oil-service vessels and Hurtigruten coastal ships. Norwegian is the working language with English universal in professional settings. Bergen Airport Flesland offers direct flights to London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Oslo. The climate is wet maritime, since Bergen is among the rainiest cities in Europe, with mild winters. The city suits energy-sector professionals, academics, and EEA-mobile remote workers comfortable with rain and Nordic prices.
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