A weekly food shop is an unavoidable expense for us all, but grocery prices in Europe vary significantly between cities. Deutsche Bank Research Institute’s ‘Grocery Index’ reveals where a typical shopping basket is most expensive across European cities in 2025.
Based on data from Numbeo, the index compares grocery costs in major cities across the world, including many in Europe. It is calculated using weighted prices of everyday grocery items, including milk, bread, eggs, fruits and meat from Numbeo’s ‘Markets’ data. Each city is given a score, where the base line for comparison is New York, which is set at 100. It does not account for purchasing power, which is an important factor when comparing cities.
So, which cities have the highest grocery costs in Europe? And where is the cheapest place to do your weekly shop?
Swiss cities are the most expensive
Part of the Mapping the World’s Prices report, Geneva tops the Grocery Index as the most expensive city globally. Its index score is 106, meaning grocery prices are 6% higher than in New York. For comparison, that means a basket that costs €100 in New York would cost €106 in Geneva.
Another Swiss city, Zurich, ranks as the second most expensive in Europe with a score of 103.
These are the only European cities that are more expensive than New York, which is used as the base in the index.
All five US cities included in the Grocery Index (San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles) are more expensive than every European city—except for Geneva and Zurich. San Francisco also ranks above New York, with a score of 104.
The next three most expensive cities in Europe are Oslo (78), Paris (71), and Luxembourg (66). While they are significantly cheaper than both New York and the Swiss cities, they still make up the top five in Europe.
Mid-priced cities for groceries
Many European cities have grocery price scores between 58 and 63, which can be considered mid-range. They included: Helsinki (63), Vienna (63), Copenhagen (63), Milan (62), London (62), Brussels (61), Edinburgh (61), Frankfurt (58), Dublin (58), Amsterdam (58), Munich (58), and Stockholm (58).
Budapest and Warsaw offer the cheapest groceries
The cheapest group includes cities with index scores of 55 and below. Among them, Budapest and Warsaw (both scoring 37) are the cheapest European cities on the list. This means a grocery basket that costs €100 in New York would cost just €37 in the capitals of Hungary and Poland. That’s 63% cheaper than the New York baseline.
Other cities with the lowest grocery price scores include Istanbul (39), Prague (42), Lisbon (44), Athens (46), Madrid (46), Barcelona (49), Rome (51), Birmingham (51), and Berlin (55).
Not surprisingly, the index also reveals significant price differences between cities within the same country. For example, the score is 62 in London compared to 51 in Birmingham.
Globally, Cairo has the lowest score at just 20 points. This means the grocery basket in New York costs five times that of Cairo.
Paris grocery prices 54% higher than Madrid
Among the capital cities of the top five European economies, France is the most expensive and Spain the cheapest in terms of grocery prices. Their index scores are: Paris (71), London (62), Berlin (55), Rome (51), and Madrid (46).
This means that while a grocery basket costs €71 in Paris, the same basket is only €46 in Madrid. This makes the French capital 54% more expensive than the Spanish capital.
Paris is also significantly more expensive than Rome (by 39%) and Berlin (by 29%). Compared to London, the difference is smaller, with Paris being 15% more expensive.
Grocery prices: What you’ll pay in euros
Grocery prices on Numbeo, where Deutsche Bank sourced its data, are listed in euros. However, they are not directly comparable to the index, as it is weighted, and the specific items and their quantities used in the calculation are not disclosed.
According to Numbeo’s July 2025 data, based on the total cost of 19 common grocery items in the markets section, Paris remains the most expensive city among Europe’s top economies. The total comes to €107.20 in Paris, followed by €89.54 in London, €82.10 in Berlin, and €79.60 in Rome. Madrid continues to offer the cheapest grocery prices at €72.70.
