"How much do I need to live in Austria?" is the question every future resident asks, and the one for which an honest article has the most trouble giving a single number. There is no national price list. The cost of living in Austria swings with the province, the type of building you rent, your family situation and your habits. What we can do is give you the official building blocks, with their dates, so that you can build your own budget.
What does the cost of living in Austria depend on?
Four items shape most budgets: housing, deductions from pay, transport and child care. For each, there is an official figure or rule. For the rest (food, restaurants, leisure), we found no official source with a clean number for a newcomer, and we prefer to say so than to invent a monthly total.
How much does housing add to the cost of living in Austria?
The most useful official data point is the reference rent (Richtwert) per square metre, published for each province. On 1 April 2026 (Statistik Austria, via oesterreich.gv.at):
- Burgenland: €6.15
- Vienna: €6.74
- Lower Austria: €6.92
- Upper Austria: €7.30
- Carinthia: €7.89
- Tyrol: €8.22
- Styria: €9.30
- Salzburg: €9.31
- Vorarlberg: €10.35
Be careful: this is the base for capped rents in older buildings (mainly built before 1945), before surcharges and reductions. Newer buildings and owner-occupied flats have free rents, which can be higher. Add running costs (Betriebskosten), 10% VAT on rent and 20% on heating and furniture. A fixed-term lease must be priced at least 25% below the cap in a regulated flat. Deposits are usually three gross monthly rents. All of this is explained in renting in Austria. If you plan to buy, the Grunderwerbsteuer (3.5% of the price) and the land register fee (1.1% of the value) come on top; see buying property in Austria.
What comes out of your salary?
Employees see deductions on their payslip:
- Health insurance: 7.65% of gross salary in 2026 (3.87% paid by you, 3.78% by your employer), up to €6,930 a month.
- Pension: 10.25%.
- Unemployment: up to 2.95% depending on the salary.
- Small contributions. Your payslip lists each deduction before income tax.
Then income tax. The 2026 scale: 0% up to a taxable income of €13,539; 20% to €21,992; 30% to €36,458; 40% to €70,365; 48% to €104,859; 50% to €1 million; 55% above, a rate planned to 2029. Each slice of income is taxed at its own rate, and credits then reduce the tax, such as the €496 commuting credit (Verkehrsabsetzbetrag) for every employee and €2,000.16 a year per minor child (Familienbonus Plus). The Ministry of Finance publishes the scale and the credits.
One feature favours employees: most collective agreements pay 14 monthly salaries a year, and the 13th and 14th are taxed at a reduced rate within the limit of one sixth of annual pay. There is no statutory minimum wage, but most agreements provide at least €1,700 gross, 14 times a year (labour ministry, 2025). See working in Austria.
Budgets look different for an employee, a freelancer and a retiree. If you give Moovy your situation, it can help you list the official figures that apply to you and the ones you still have to estimate yourself. It does not give financial advice, and the numbers it shows come from the official pages.
What about health, transport and fixed fees?
- Health: covered by your payslip if you work. Without a job, voluntary insurance with the ÖGK costs €565.25 a month in 2026; see health insurance in Austria.
- Motorway vignette: €106.80 for a car for the year 2026; €32.00 for two months; €12.80 for ten days; €9.60 for one day. See driving in Austria.
- Broadcasting contribution (ORF-Beitrag): €15.30 a month per address with an adult main resident (figure from oesterreich.gv.at, to be reconfirmed for 2026), with or without a television. Depending on the province, a regional levy may be added.
- Deposit for returnable bottles: €0.25 per bottle or can with the deposit logo (0.1 to 3 litres), which you get back in the shop.
How much do Kindergarten and school cost?
Public school is free, with costs for supplies, and in all-day schools for meals and afternoon care. For the Kindergarten:
- The last year before school is free for 20 hours a week everywhere.
- Vienna: free full-time from age 0 to 6.
- Burgenland: free half-time or full-time from age 0 to 6.
- Lower and Upper Austria: free half-time from age 0 to 6.
- Salzburg: free half-time from age 3 to 6. Tyrol: from age 4 to 6.
- Carinthia: free half-time or full-time from age 1 to 5.
- Styria: only the compulsory year is free; other fees follow a scale by net family income and hours.
- Vorarlberg: no general free care; for a child of three, a single price of €46 for up to 25 hours a week in 2025/26 in some settings.
Meals are often charged even when care is free. See schools in Austria.
What about pensions and retirees?
The 2026 equalisation supplement (Ausgleichszulage) sets a minimum of €1,308.39 a month for a single person and €2,064.12 for a couple, but it is a top-up to an Austrian pension, not a benefit for newcomers. For a pensioner, the cost of living also depends on whether your pension is taxed in Austria or in your home country under the tax treaty.
How do you work out the cost of living in Austria for yourself?
A practical method: write down your fixed costs first (rent plus running costs, insurance, vignette or public transport, Kindergarten, broadcasting fee), then add food and leisure from your own spending, then subtract the deductions from your gross pay. Use the reference rents as a compass, not a quote: surcharges and reductions apply to a capped rent, and an actual listing can differ. Compare two or three actual listings in the province you prefer. Our guide to moving to Austria places the budget step in the order of the first weeks.
What do the social contributions mean for your take-home pay?
The social contributions Austria asks of an employee, listed on your payslip before income tax, are the main difference between gross and net for many newcomers. They buy you health insurance, a pension account and unemployment cover. Compare them with what you pay at home: if your home country has lower payroll deductions but you pay for private health insurance, the picture is not as different as the percentages suggest.
The self-employed pay differently. The SVS asks for 6.80% for health insurance, 18.50% for pension and 1.53% for the severance-type scheme, plus €12.95 a month for accident insurance, calculated on a base between €551.10 and €8,085 a month. The first two years are special: for a member of the Economic Chamber, the health base is a fixed €551.10 a month with no later adjustment. After that, the contribution is first provisional and then adjusted when your tax assessment arrives, so set money aside. See tax number in Austria for the first steps of a self-employed person.
Which costs surprise newcomers?
- The thirteenth and fourteenth salary. Not a bonus but a feature of most collective agreements; monthly pay is therefore lower than a fourteenth of the "annual" salary you may have in mind when comparing offers. Always ask whether a quoted salary is for 12 or 14 payments.
- Opening hours. Shops close on Sundays and holidays, so you plan your shopping. This is a habit more than a cost, but it affects how you spend.
- The returnable bottle system. Since 1 January 2025 plastic bottles and cans with the deposit logo carry a €0.25 deposit.
- Charges in the rent. The line "running costs" can include property tax, water, waste and building insurance.
Our article on daily life in Austria lists more habits that influence a household budget.