Study in Romania: Housing & Living Costs

Romania has one of the lower costs of living in the EU, even in Bucharest. This means that you can enjoy a cosmopolitan lifestyle on a relatively small budget. That being said, you’ll still need to budget.

As the cost of living is at its highest in Bucharest, these costs will reflect the cost of living in the capital. Some average costs of living in Romania (in ROM and USD) are:

• Monthly rent (1 bedroom apartment): 1900ROM ($470) *
• Utilities (monthly average): 475ROM ($115)
• Monthly public transport pass: 70ROM ($17)
• Meal (inexpensive restaurant): 35ROM ($8.60)
• Coffee: 10ROM ($2.50)
• Milk (1 liter): 5ROM ($1.25)
• Vegetables (1kg): 4ROM ($0.95)
• Eggs (dozen): 10ROM ($2.50)
• Water (1.5 liter): 2ROM ($0.50) **
• Chicken (1kg): 21ROM ($5.15)
• Wine (bottle): 25ROM ($6.15)
• Bread (loaf): 3ROM ($0.75)

* Most students rent accommodation from their school. This is known as dorms in the US or corridors or halls in Europe. The cost of renting this type of accommodation is much lower. It varies from school to school and depending on the type of room you want.

** You can’t drink the tap water in Romania. You’ll need to factor bottled water into your budget. That being said, the Romanian government is working hard to improve the quality of the tap water.

Excluding rent, the average cost of living per month is 2300ROM ($560). Rent is normally counted as a separate cost.

As for healthcare, Romania has a single-payer system, like many other European countries. Romanian healthcare is generally of a good standard, although it’s not as good in rural areas as in cities.

Once you have your residency card in hand, you can access healthcare. If you’re over twenty-six, you’ll need to go through your insurance provider. If it’s an emergency, you can access healthcare without having to worry about providing insurance details.

As for methods of payment, Romania is cash-driven. Bank transfers are also common. Cards are becoming more common, particularly in cities. Outside of cities, cash is king. Make sure you carry enough cash on you for emergencies and day-to-day expenses. As for changing currency, take Euros with you. You can easily and widely change Euros to Romanian Lei across the country.

The content of this country guide has been developed in partnership with Study in Romania.

About Study in Romania

The Study in Romania portal is developed and hosted by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), within the framework of the "Internationalisation, equity and institutional management for a quality higher education" (IEMU) project. The portal aims to offer a high quality data base with the existing educational offer of Romanian universities.