Aberdeen

Cost of Living inAberdeen, United Kingdom

Scotland, United Kingdom199KHigh income

Image credit: Ragazzi99

Purchasing Power vs. United States

Your money goes 2.46x further

Based on GDP per capita (PPP). United Kingdom: $52,621/capita.

How Far Your Money Goes

Prices are 29% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Overall
1.4x further
Prices are 29% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Rent
4.2x further
Prices are 76% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Groceries
1.5x further
Prices are 35% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Restaurants
1.4x further
Prices are 27% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Income Category

High
World Bank GNI

Happiness

6.8 / 10

#20 globally

GDP per Capita

$52,621
PPP, International $

City Population

199K

Monthly Costs

Rent

1BR City Center$856/mo
3BR City Center$1,626/mo

Food

Cheap Meal$21
Mid-Range (2 people)$36
Milk (1L)$1.66
Eggs (12)$4.16

Transport

Monthly Pass$36
Gasoline (1L)$1.82

Utilities

Basic (85mΒ² apt)$409/mo
Internet (60+ Mbps)$49/mo

Education

Preschool$36/mo
Intl Primary School$36/yr

Child Education

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

Public schools

Public-schooling rules are set nationally for United Kingdom; Aberdeen-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.

Good public schools

Quality

Good public schools

Expat access

Resident route is viable

conditional

Instruction

English

Language fit is more manageable.

PISA / outcomes

Qualitative only

Using curated quality notes for now.

Why this quality rating

The UK state-school system can be very good, but quality varies materially by catchment and local authority.

Why the expat-access rating looks like this

Resident families can generally enroll in state schools, but catchment, available places, and local council assignment still matter.

βœ… Homeschooling

Legal, no registration required

Homeschooling (called "elective home education") is a long-established legal right in England and Wales. No registration is required, though local authorities can make informal inquiries. Scotland has similar provisions. Northern Ireland requires notification.

Homeschool legality in United Kingdom β€” 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 United Kingdom.

Full-time nanny (5 days)

$2,400-$5,600

Estimate-only country fallback

Live-in / 24-7 nanny

$2,825-$5,000

Estimate-only country fallback

Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)

Getting Around

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

Healthcare

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

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.

113 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

Strong

Broad public coverage, strong public funding, and relatively low patient cost-sharing support this rating.

Private care

Limited

Self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.

UHC coverage

88/100

2023

Physicians

3.30/1k

2023

Hospital beds

2.42/1k

2022

Out of pocket

15%

2024

Outcome signals

Life expectancy

81.4 yrs

2024

Maternal mortality

8/100k

2023

Neonatal mortality

3.0/1k

2024

International patient readiness

Mixed

Multiple facilities have websites and country-level outcomes are comparatively strong 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

Pharmacy: 35Dentist: 27Clinic: 26Doctor: 14Hospital: 9Physiotherapy: 2

Self-pay pricing visibility

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

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

Notable facilities

City Hospital
Hospital Β· Emergency
Website
Albyn Hospital
Hospital Β· Emergency
Website
Roxburghe House
Hospital Β· Emergency
Website
palliative
Woodend Hospital
Hospital Β· Emergency
Royal Cornhill Hospital
Hospital Β· Emergency
Dee View Court
Hospital Β· Emergency
communityphysiotherapyneurology

System metrics: World Bank WDI Β· Updated 2026-06-01

Safety & Governance

Street Safety

Safety Index64/100
Crime Index37/100

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

Political Stability

Political Stability+0.08

World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.

Wages by Sector

SectorMedian
all_industriesΒ£36,478/yr
Administrative & Support Servicesβ€”
Agriculture & Farmingβ€”
Arts, Entertainment & Recreationβ€”
Constructionβ€”
Educationβ€”
Finance & Insuranceβ€”
Healthcare & Social Workβ€”
Hospitality & Food Serviceβ€”
Information & Technologyβ€”
Manufacturingβ€”
Mining & Quarryingβ€”
Other Servicesβ€”
Professional & Scientific Servicesβ€”
Public Administration & Defenceβ€”
Real Estateβ€”
Retail & Wholesale Tradeβ€”
Transport & Logisticsβ€”
Utilitiesβ€”

2025 annual wages in Aberdeen, United Kingdom Β· Source: ONS ASHE, ONS ASHE (sector-adjusted)

Price Comparison vs. US

beer
$6.50Estimated16% cheaper
big mac
$7.11Estimated16% more
bread 500g
$2.17Estimated36% cheaper
budget hotel
$31.50Estimated13% cheaper
childcare preschool
$36.00Estimated98% cheaper
cinema
$15.00Estimated9% cheaper
coca cola
$1.75Estimated19% cheaper
eggs dozen
$4.16Estimated14% cheaper
gasoline liter
$1.82Estimated77% more
inexpensive meal
$21.34Estimated1% more
internet 60mbps
$48.90Estimated28% cheaper
iphone
$1099.00Estimated10% more
jeans
$70.00Estimated37% more
latte
$4.40Estimated17% cheaper
luxury hotel
$550.00Estimated15% more
mcmeal
$8.00Estimated21% cheaper
milk liter
$1.66Estimated36% more
monthly pass
$36.00Estimated48% cheaper
nike shoes
$90.00Estimated1% cheaper
rent 1br
$855.60Estimated53% cheaper
rent 2br
$3500.00Estimated19% cheaper
rent 3br
$1626.15Estimated49% cheaper
subway fare
$3.30Estimated37% more
taxi km
$2.30Estimated23% more
utilities basic
$408.61Estimated91% more

Visa Information (US passport)

Short-stay entry

eta

US passport holders need advance travel authorization or a visa before entry.

Long-Term Visa Programs

24 months

Quick comparison FAQ

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

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

Your money goes about 2.5x further in Aberdeen than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.

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

Aberdeen is cheaper overall than New York City β€” overall living costs are about 29% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Aberdeen.

How does rent in Aberdeen compare with New York City?

Rent in Aberdeen is about 76% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).

How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Aberdeen?

Groceries in Aberdeen are about 35% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 27% cheaper than the same benchmark.

About Aberdeen

Aberdeen sits on the North Sea coast in northeastern Scotland in the United Kingdom, with roughly 198,590 residents. For four decades the city has functioned as Europe's offshore oil capital, anchoring the North Sea petroleum industry's operational and engineering services base alongside two universities and a long-standing fishing port. The local economy has been navigating a gradual transition as North Sea production declines, with offshore wind, hydrogen, and energy-transition engineering increasingly meaningful alongside the legacy oil services cluster. For relocation purposes Aberdeen offers significantly lower housing costs than Edinburgh or Glasgow with comparable professional infrastructure, English is universal with a distinctive Doric dialect locally, the climate is cool maritime with notably long northern summer daylight and short winter days, and Aberdeen International Airport provides direct European connectivity.