Table of Contents
The Short Version
Lithuania is meaningfully cheaper than Western Europe and noticeably more expensive than it was five years ago. Vilnius has converged fastest — it's no longer a bargain capital, though it remains well below Dublin, Amsterdam or Munich.
Three things drive your budget here, and only two of them are obvious:
- Rent — the dominant cost, and the biggest difference between cities
- Heating — genuinely significant from roughly October to April, and the cost newcomers consistently fail to plan for
- Everything else — groceries, transport and eating out are all affordable by Western European standards
Read the date before you budget
Rent figures on this page are Q2 2026 and utilities are January 2026. Cost-of-living numbers date fast, so check the date on any figure you plan against — here or anywhere else.
Cost of Living Calculator
Set your household, city and lifestyle. Each option shows what it costs before you pick it, so the total is something you can take apart rather than something you have to trust — and every line is labelled with whether it came from a regulator, a company's price list, or crowd-sourced data.
Monthly cost estimate
Single person in Vilnius, city centre
Where these numbers come from. Rent, heating, water, electricity, transport passes, kindergarten fees, child benefit and PSD are all from a regulator, a municipality or a statute. Internet, mobile and gym are the providers’ own published prices. Restaurant, café and cinema prices are Numbeo, which is crowd-sourced — for Vilnius that is 997 entries from 145 contributors in the past 12 months, last updated 12 August 2026. The grocery base, the number of meals out, the centre premium, electricity use and the driving profile are the calculator’s own assumptions, shown in each option so you can see what you picked.
Budget against the winter figure. Heating runs roughly October to April, and January is when it bites. On the same 45 m² flat, a non-renovated block costs €88 a month more to heat in January than a new build — which is why the building type is worth asking about before you sign a lease rather than after.
For the full version — budget tiers, a city-by-city breakdown, childcare and child benefit, and what a family costs — see the cost of living calculator page.
Vilnius vs Kaunas vs Klaipėda
Where you live matters more than almost any other choice you'll make about money here.
| Vilnius | Kaunas | Klaipėda | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relative cost | Highest | Noticeably lower | Lowest |
| Rent, average ask (Q2 2026) | €16.4/m² | €12.8/m² | €11.7/m² |
| Monthly transport pass | €38 | €28 | €28 (1 zone) |
| Jobs in English | Best — fintech and IT | Good, more industrial | Maritime and logistics |
| Salaries | Highest | Lower | Lower |
| International community | Largest | Large, student-heavy | Smallest |
| Best for | Professionals, tech careers | Students, value, medicine | Coast, maritime work |
The trade-off worth thinking about. Vilnius costs more but pays more, and it's where the English-language jobs are. Kaunas is cheaper on rent — the gap is real, particularly for students — but the salary gap partly offsets it. If you work remotely for a foreign employer, Kaunas or Klaipėda is straightforwardly better value. If you need a local tech job, Vilnius pays for itself.
Once the city is settled, the rest of the move is a sequencing problem — permit, address, asmens kodas, bank.
Planning your move to Lithuania?
The order you do things in matters more than any single step — permit, address registration, asmens kodas, bank, Sodra. Get matched with someone who sequences it for you.
Rent
Your largest cost, and the number that determines whether a salary works.
| Type | Vilnius | Kaunas | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average asking rent, Q2 2026 | €16.4/m² | €12.8/m² | Klaipėda €11.7/m² |
| University dormitory | VU €70–85 | KTU €87–300 | Per person per month; limited places |
Those rent figures are advertised prices, not signed ones. They are the average ask across aruodas.lt listings for Q2 2026, computed by Ober-Haus. Nobody publishes a split by room count or by centre versus outskirts, so any "one-bed in the centre costs X" figure you see — including on other pages of this sort — is someone's impression.
Dormitories are the cheapest housing in the country and the only room-level pricing anyone publishes. Vilnius University charges €70–85 per person per month plus €5 for internet, with premium halls at €90–130; KTU charges €87–300 depending on room type, with utilities and internet included (VU rates, checked 7 August 2026).
A room in a shared flat is the commonest arrangement and the one nobody measures. Lithuania has no aggregate for renting a room as distinct from a whole flat, so budget from the two nearest real prices instead. Dormitory rates, above, are the only room-level pricing anyone publishes. One-room-flat medians from Inreal for Q4 2025 are Vilnius €400–450, Kaunas around €350, Klaipėda €330–350 — whole studios, so they sit above a room rather than beside it. Erasmus Play quotes €479 for a private room in Vilnius from its own listings database: read that as one company's impression of its own adverts, not as a market rate.
What's reliable regardless of the numbers:
- A deposit is standard, usually alongside the first month's rent. Budget for both at once.
- Utilities are often separate. Ask explicitly what's included — "rent" and "rent plus everything" are very different figures.
- Furnished is common, which saves a lot when arriving from abroad.
- You need a written contract and a cooperative landlord to declare your residence. Confirm before signing.
- Newer buildings cost more but heat far more cheaply. This is not a small difference — see below.
Heating — The Hidden Cost
If you take one thing from this page, take this one.
Lithuanian winters are long and cold, and heating runs from roughly October to April. In an older, poorly insulated building, winter heating bills can be several times the summer figure — enough to make a "cheap" flat more expensive overall than a better-insulated one at higher rent.
Here is the same flat, three times over. Vilnius, 50 m², January 2026:
| Building | January bill |
|---|---|
| Energy-efficient (new or A-class) | €62/mo |
| Renovated block | €99/mo |
| Old, un-renovated block | €160/mo |
Building energy class — not the city, not the floor area — is the variable that decides your utility bill. Underlying unit prices in January 2026: electricity €0.240/kWh, water €2.44/m³.
Nobody publishes an annual average, and you should be suspicious of any guide that quotes one — a yearly figure blends the summer months into the winter ones and describes neither. Budget against the January number.
Ask what the January bill was. Not the average, not the summer figure — the actual January, February and December bills. A landlord who won't tell you is telling you something. This single question is the highest-value thing you can ask when viewing a flat in Lithuania.
Older Soviet-era apartment blocks are the usual culprit, though many have been renovated with external insulation, which transforms their performance. Newer buildings and renovated blocks are dramatically cheaper to heat. Factor the difference into your comparison rather than looking at rent alone.
Food and Groceries
Consistently affordable, and one of the genuine pleasures of living here.
- Supermarkets — Maxima, Iki, Rimi and Lidl cover most of the country, with Lidl generally cheapest. Local produce is inexpensive.
- Markets — Vilnius's Halės and Kaunas's central market offer good value on fresh produce.
- Eating out — affordable by Western European standards. Lunch deals (pietūs) at restaurants are excellent value and how most people eat out midweek.
- Imported goods cost noticeably more. If you rely on specific products from home, budget for that.
Cooking at home rather than eating out is the single largest discretionary saving available, particularly on a student budget.
Transport
- Public transport is cheap. A 30-day pass is €38 in Vilnius — or €35 if you only need it on workdays — and €28 in Kaunas and in Klaipėda for zone 1. Students pay €7.60 in Vilnius, an 80% concession for full-time higher-education students, with no age limit. Kaunas and Klaipėda publish a 50% concession for pupils and students at €14.00; neither publishes an 80% student rate. Checked 7 August 2026.
- The cities are small. Vilnius and Kaunas are genuinely walkable, and many people manage without a car.
- Ride-hailing is inexpensive compared with Western Europe.
- Fuel, for the week ending 3 August 2026, averaged €1.793/l for A95 and €2.035/l for diesel (Energy Agency). Car ownership adds insurance, parking and periodic technical inspection on top.
- Intercity buses and trains are cheap and reliable; Vilnius to Kaunas is a short trip.
Other Regular Costs
| Cost | Typical | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile phone plan | €13.50–35.90/mo | Contract plans across the three networks — see the breakdown |
| Home internet | €17–25/mo | Plus a router at around €5. This is the standard price, not the promo one |
| Electricity | €0.240/kWh | January 2026. Separate from heating in most buildings |
| Water | €2.44/m³ | January 2026 |
| Private health insurance | By quote only | No Lithuanian insurer publishes a price — see guide |
| Self-paid PSD health contributions | €80.48/month | If not employed or state-covered |
Internet is a genuine bright spot. Lithuania has some of the fastest and cheapest fibre in Europe — relevant if you're working remotely. Quote yourself the €17–25 standard rate rather than the €9.99 headline you'll see advertised: promotional rates rotate and revert.
On health insurance, be wary of any published range. No major Lithuanian insurer publishes a student or foreigners' health policy price at all — cover of this kind is sold by quote. The two real routes are a foreigners' medical-expenses policy priced individually, or paying PSD contributions to Sodra at €80.48 a month.
What Salary Do You Need?
Rather than guess at a figure that will date, here's how to work it out for yourself:
Start with rent for your city and flat type
Check current listings rather than any guide — including this one.
Add winter heating, not summer
Budget for the January figure. If you plan on the summer bill you'll be short for half the year.
Add food, transport, phone and internet
These are all modest and fairly predictable.
Add health insurance if you need it
Non-EU and not yet employed? Factor in private cover.
Convert that total to a gross salary
This is the step people skip. Lithuanian offers are gross, and you keep roughly 60–75% depending on income. Use the calculator →
The mistake that matters most. People compare a Lithuanian gross salary against their home net salary and conclude the offer is worse than it is — or budget against gross and find themselves short. At €2,000 gross you receive €1,276.39. At €3,000 you receive €1,815.00. Always budget from the net figure.
Where People Overspend
Underestimating winter heating
The most common and most expensive misjudgement. Ask about January bills before signing a lease.
Renting in the centre by default
Both Vilnius and Kaunas have well-connected districts a short ride out where rent drops substantially.
Losing money on transfers from home
A bank wire with a 3% FX markup on €700 a month costs around €250 a year, invisibly. Wise or Revolut removes most of it. See our guide →
Accepting Dynamic Currency Conversion
When a card terminal offers your home currency, decline and choose euros. The markup is 3–7%.
Buying imported groceries out of habit
Local equivalents are considerably cheaper, and often better.
Keeping a car you don't need
The cities are small and public transport works. Many residents find the car was habit rather than necessity.
Self-paying PSD when private insurance would do
PSD contributions to Sodra are €80.48/month. The alternative is a foreigners' medical-expenses policy, which no Lithuanian insurer prices publicly — it is by quote only, so get one before assuming either route is cheaper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lithuania cheap to live in?
Cheaper than Western Europe, though Vilnius has risen considerably. Rent is the main variable, and heating in winter is the cost people most often overlook.
Is Vilnius or Kaunas cheaper?
Kaunas, mainly on rent. Salaries are also lower, so the advantage is largest if you work remotely for a foreign employer or are a student.
How much does heating cost in winter?
It varies enormously with building quality — an insulated modern block versus an un-renovated older one can differ several times over. Always ask a landlord for actual December, January and February bills.
What salary do I need to live comfortably?
It depends on city, housing and lifestyle, and any single figure would mislead. Build it up from rent, heating and regular costs, then convert to gross using the salary calculator.
Does Lithuania use the euro?
Yes. No currency conversion if you're arriving with euros, and SEPA transfers within the EU are cheap and fast.
Is public transport good?
Adequate and inexpensive in all three cities, with monthly passes and student discounts. The cities are small enough that walking covers a lot.
How expensive is eating out?
Affordable by Western European standards. Weekday lunch deals are particularly good value.
Someone quoted me €479 for a room in Vilnius. Is that a real market rate?
Treat it as one company's impression of its own listings rather than a market rate. The €479 figure comes from Erasmus Play and is sourced to its own listings database — a user-submitted aggregate, the same class of data as Numbeo, with neither a contributor count nor a sample size disclosed. Crowd-sourced figures appear elsewhere on this site where nothing better exists, but always labelled and always with the contributor count shown; here there is nothing to weigh it against. What can be cited: Inreal's medians for a whole one-room flat in Q4 2025, at €400–450 in Vilnius, around €350 in Kaunas and €330–350 in Klaipėda. Those are studios, so they sit above a room rather than beside it. Dormitory rates are the only room-level pricing anyone publishes at all — Vilnius University charges €70–85 per person per month plus €5 for internet, with premium halls at €90–130, and KTU in Kaunas charges €87–300 depending on room type with utilities and internet included.
Is there an official Lithuanian cost-of-living statistic I can check this against?
Not a current one, and that absence is why this page dates and labels every figure instead of publishing one confident total. The State Data Agency runs its household budget survey once every five years. The newest published reference year is 2021, which put average consumption at €438 per person per month, and the next release is due in September 2027. There is no official rent index and no official euro rent level at all. What the survey is still good for is shape rather than amount: it puts food at 30% of household spending, housing at 15.3% and transport at 12%. Use those proportions to sanity-check a budget, and use the dated prices on this page for the euros.
How much does running a car add, and can I budget for it properly?
Only partly, because one of the two big numbers is not published. Fuel is knowable: for the week ending 3 August 2026 the Energy Agency put A95 at €1.793 a litre and diesel at €2.035. Compulsory motor third-party insurance is not — no Lithuanian average premium exists in published form anywhere, so any figure you find online traces back to a broker's marketing page. Get a real quote before deciding. On top of those come parking and periodic technical inspection. The practical question first, though, is whether you need one: Vilnius and Kaunas are genuinely walkable, a monthly transport pass is €28–38, and plenty of residents find the car was habit carried over from home rather than a necessity here.
Related Guides
Test the budget against a real offer
A budget only means something beside the salary that has to cover it. The salary calculator turns a gross offer into take-home pay, and the moving guide sets out what the first months cost on top.
Disclaimer
Cost-of-living figures are indicative and change quickly. Always check current listings and confirm utility costs directly with landlords. Not financial advice.