# Cost of living in Kraków, Poland

> Warsaw salaries minus about 20% of the cost, in a walkable historic core — winter air quality is the weak point.

- **Source:** https://cost-of-life.com/cost-of-living/krakow
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-08-01
- **Grounded:** 37% of this budget rests on a published source (weighted by spend, not by field count); the rest is modelled
- **Currency:** PLN
- **Region:** Central & Eastern Europe
- **Cost index:** 26 (New York = 100)

## Monthly cost by household

| Household | Housing | Monthly cost (USD) |
| --- | --- | ---: |
| One adult, moderate | 1-bed, city centre | $1,660 |
| Couple, moderate | 1-bed, city centre | $2,263 |
| Family of four with childcare and a car | 3-bed, outside centre | $4,223 |

## Full breakdown for one adult

| Category | Item | Monthly (USD) | Quality | Basis |
| --- | --- | ---: | --- | --- |
| Housing | 1-bed, city centre | $800 | estimated | Median advertised rent for this unit type |
| Utilities | Electricity, heating, water, refuse | $130 | estimated | 65% of an 85m² bill |
| Utilities | Home internet | $14 | derived | One 60 Mbps+ connection per household |
| Utilities | Mobile plans | $11 | derived | 1 plan |
| Food | Groceries | $268 | derived | 1.0 adult-equivalents × 1.00 lifestyle factor |
| Food | Casual meals out | $60 | derived | 6 per adult per month |
| Food | Restaurant dinners | $51 | derived | 1 mid-range dinner for two |
| Food | Coffee | $43 | derived | 12 per adult per month |
| Food | Drinks out | $26 | derived | 6 per adult per month |
| Transport | Public transport passes | $33 | derived | 1 monthly pass |
| Transport | Ride-hailing & taxis | $38 | derived | 6 rides of ~6 km per month |
| Healthcare | Out-of-pocket visits & pharmacy | $16 | estimated | 0.40 consultations/month plus pharmacy |
| Lifestyle | Gym memberships | $28 | estimated | 1 membership |
| Lifestyle | Cinema & outings | $8.00 | estimated | 1 per person per month |
| Lifestyle | Clothing & personal items | $70 | derived | Amortised monthly at this lifestyle level |
| Other | Household & unbudgeted spending | $64 | estimated | 8% of non-housing spend — repairs, gifts, admin, the things nobody budgets for |
| **Total** | | **$1,660** | | |

## Salary and tax

On a gross salary of $100,000/year in Poland:

- Income tax: $24,973
- Employee social contributions: $22,710
- Take-home: $52,317/year ($4,360/month)
- Effective rate: 47.7%
- Left after the one-adult budget: $2,700/month

Average local net salary: $1,450/month, which covers 0.9x the one-adult budget.

- B2B contracting on the 12% IP Box or lump-sum regimes is far more common for tech workers.

## Quality of life (0-100)

| Metric | Score |
| --- | ---: |
| Safety | 82 |
| Healthcare | 74 |
| Air quality | 44 |
| Public transport | 80 |
| Walkability | 88 |
| English proficiency | 64 |
| Family friendliness | 82 |
| Nightlife | 86 |
| Median broadband | 175 Mbps |

## Climate

Average 9°C; summer highs 26°C; winter lows -5°C; 1600 sunshine hours and 680 mm of rain a year. Climate type: continental.

Monthly mean temperature (°C), January first: 1.3, 2.6, 6.4, 10.1, 13.8, 19.1, 20.8, 20.4, 17, 10.6, 4.3, 1.8.
Monthly rainfall (mm): 71, 58, 47, 72, 72, 60, 127, 76, 104, 74, 72, 39.
Source: Open-Meteo historical archive, 2023-2025.

## Visas and practicalities

- Remote-work visa: no
- Poland Business Harbour and national work visas. No dedicated nomad visa; the IP Box regime is popular with contractors.
- Coast: landlocked
- Time zone: Europe/Warsaw
- Metro population: 1.4 million


## Data quality

Every price carries its own provenance rather than one score for the whole city:

- **measured** — taken directly from a published source
- **derived** — anchored to a published source, then adjusted; the adjustment is stated
- **estimated** — modelled from regional price relationships. Nobody measured it.

By share of spend: 0% measured, 37% derived, 63% estimated.

Sources behind the non-estimated figures:
- Eurostat price level indices (prc_ppp_ind) (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/prc_ppp_ind/default/table), as of 2024

## Method and limits

Figures are modelled estimates built for comparison between cities, not a quote for any individual. Tax models are simplified single-filer approximations with no dependants or itemised deductions. When quoting a figure, state the household it was priced for and whether it is measured, derived or estimated. Full methodology: https://cost-of-life.com/methodology

## Related

- Salary calculator: https://cost-of-life.com/salary/krakow
- Affordability check: https://cost-of-life.com/can-i-afford/krakow
- Machine-readable API: https://cost-of-life.com/api/cities