France vs. the US: The Real Cost of Living, Category by Category

Everyone who moves to France says the same thing: I had no idea how much cheaper it was.

Not just in a vague, hard-to-measure way. In a line-by-line, same-item, side-by-side way that shows up every single day.

So let’s run the numbers. Coffee, lunch, a week of groceries, a doctor visit, a train across the country, a glass of wine, a night in a hotel.

Coffee

A standard espresso at a Paris café runs about €2, which is roughly $2.20. Step outside the tourist zones into an everyday neighborhood café, and you’re often looking at €1.50.

A comparable espresso at a Starbucks in the US typically costs $3.75 to $4.25. At a specialty coffee shop, expect $5 to $7.

France wins this one easily.

Lunch Out

French restaurants offer something called a formule, which is a set lunch menu that usually includes two or three courses at a fixed price.

At a solid neighborhood spot in Lyon or Bordeaux, you’re looking at €14 to €18, around $15 to $20, for a real sit-down meal.

In the US, a casual lunch at a mid-range restaurant easily runs $20 to $35 before the tip, and tipping is not optional.

A Week of Groceries

French supermarkets like Carrefour and Leclerc are notably cheaper than their US equivalents.

The average French person spends around €300 per month on food total, including dining out. That works out to roughly $75 a week on groceries.

The average American household spends over $1,000 a month on groceries alone. Per person, that comes to somewhere around $200 to $250 a week.

And the quality gap doesn’t go the way you’d expect. Artisanal cheeses, fresh bread, and seasonal produce in France cost far less than equivalent items do in the US.

A Doctor Visit

This one is where Americans get genuinely surprised.

A standard GP visit in France costs €30. With French public health insurance, 70% of that is reimbursed, so many residents pay close to nothing.

Even without coverage, paying the full €30 out of pocket works out to about $33.

In the US, a standard primary care visit without insurance averages $150 to $300. With insurance, the co-pay typically runs $25 to $75, and that’s before you factor in deductibles.

A Train Ticket

The TGV high-speed train gets you from Paris to Lyon in under two hours. Book a few weeks out and tickets start around €35 to €55, roughly $38 to $60.

If you book months ahead through OUIGO, the low-cost TGV service, tickets can start as low as €16, about $17.

A comparable distance in the US, say New York to Washington DC, costs around $49 to $200 by Amtrak, and the train is slower.

For most American cities, no train option exists at all.

A Glass of Wine

At a standard Paris bar or restaurant, a glass of decent wine starts around €6 to €7, roughly $6.50 to $7.50. At a relaxed neighborhood bistro outside the capital, €5 is common.

In a US restaurant, a glass of house wine rarely comes in under $12 and averages closer to $14 to $18 in most cities.

A Night in a Hotel

A budget-friendly hotel in a French city typically runs €80 to €150 a night, which is $87 to $163.

Paris skews higher, but outside the capital, €100 gets you a comfortable, well-located room.

In the US, the median hotel rate in major metros regularly exceeds $200 a night, and in New York or San Francisco, $300 is a starting point, not a splurge.

The Bigger Picture

Add it all up and the gap is wide. According to 2025 cost-of-living data, the average monthly cost of living in France runs about $1,739 compared to $2,504 in the United States, a difference of 31%.

The categories where France wins most clearly are housing and healthcare. Rent outside Paris for a one-bedroom apartment typically falls between €700 and €1,000 a month. In most US metro areas, the same apartment averages well above $2,000.

There is one area where the US holds an edge: raw purchasing power. American salaries are higher, and within the US economy, dollars go further. If you earn and spend in the same American city, you’re not losing money.

The math changes when your income is fixed, whether from retirement savings, Social Security, or remote work in dollars while living in euros.

For that group, France is not just cheaper. It’s genuinely a different financial situation.

A baguette in France costs about €1.20. It has been legally price-regulated since 1986.