Soaring rental prices mean British cities are more expensive to live than some of Europe’s most popular destinations – with Manchester now more costly than Milan.
London holds top spot for the most expensive place to live in Europe, but new data shows other UK cities are now catching up with the capital and overtaking many European counterparts.
Research by European neobank bunq shows the UK remains competitive, or even cheaper, for some areas like groceries, energy and broadband than European nations. But rent prices are making Britain a more expensive location.
Figures from the neobank’s 2026 Working Abroad Index suggests someone living in Bristol would be paying £1,614 monthly – which is £298 a month more than Barcelona. That equates to more than £3,500 a year more expensive to the Catalan city, while it’s also almost £2,000 more pricey than Paris, £2,300 more than Milan and over £6,200 compared to Helsinki.
The average rent cost for Bristol was £1,109 monthly, while London was £1,695 on average. Only New York City, San Francisco and Boston were more expensive globally, among the 75 cities surveyed.
Among European-only cities, Dublin was second and Amsterdam third. But Bristol (8th), Brighton (10th), Edinburgh (13th) and Manchester (14th) all featured highly too, again largely driven by rent costs.
The 2026 Working Abroad Index is designed to show which places are best-suited or best-budgeted for single digital nomads who may be free to work abroad, after factoring in costs such as transport, utility bills, a mobile phone, internet and rent for a one-bedroom flat.
Joe Wilson, chief evangelist at bunq, said: “London being the most expensive city in Europe may not come as a surprise – it’s that Brighton and Bristol, the cities remote workers flock to for a cheaper, laid-back alternative, now cost more than other capitals and banking hubs.
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“If UK remote or hybrid workers want genuine savings, these usual southern favourites aren’t it anymore; the real value lies further afield.”
Full list of European cities, ranked by total monthly cost excluding coworking spaces, via bunq:
|
City, Country |
Total monthly cost (€) |
|---|---|
|
London, UK |
3,288 |
|
Dublin, Ireland |
2,805 |
|
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
2,775 |
|
Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
2,632 |
|
Copenhagen, Denmark |
2,325 |
|
Utrecht, Netherlands |
2,234 |
|
Bristol, UK |
2,233 |
|
Rotterdam, Netherlands |
2,216 |
|
Brighton, UK |
2,211 |
|
Munich, Germany |
2,127 |
|
Stockholm, Sweden |
2,070 |
|
Edinburgh, UK |
2,016 |
|
Manchester, UK |
2,013 |
|
Paris, France |
2,012 |
|
Milan, Italy |
1,970 |
|
Berlin, Germany |
1,959 |
|
Frankfurt, Germany |
1,893 |
|
Madrid, Spain |
1,835 |
|
Barcelona, Spain |
1,828 |
|
Brussels, Belgium |
1,789 |
|
Hamburg, Germany |
1,759 |
|
Lisbon, Portugal |
1,759 |
|
Vienna, Austria |
1,754 |
|
Florence, Italy |
1,708 |
|
Koln, Germany |
1,691 |
|
Cardiff, UK |
1,674 |
|
Valletta, Malta |
1,674 |
|
Belfast, UK |
1,581 |
|
Prague, Czechia |
1,578 |
|
Valencia, Spain |
1,548 |
|
Warsaw, Poland |
1,547 |
|
Rome, Italy |
1,527 |
|
Helsinki, Finland |
1,516 |
|
Ljubljana, Slovenia |
1,513 |
|
Malaga, Spain |
1,506 |
|
Lyon, France |
1,499 |
|
Bratislava, Slovakia |
1,461 |
|
Marseille, France |
1,424 |
|
Tallinn, Estonia |
1,288 |
|
Zagreb, Croatia |
1,257 |
|
Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain |
1,251 |
|
Nicosia, Cyprus |
1,249 |
|
Budapest, Hungary |
1,182 |
|
Vilnius, Lithuania |
1,159 |
|
Athens, Greece |
1,153 |
|
Riga, Latvia |
1,092 |
|
Sofia, Bulgaria |
1,078 |
|
Bucharest, Romania |
927 |
