The cheapest cities in Poland: where services cost the least and where they cost the most

indekscen.pl editorial team · published 30 September 2026 · prices according to the 5 October 2026 index

In our index, services in Warsaw cost +22% compared with the median in Poland, in Kraków -5%, and in Katowice +6%. Below is the full city ranking, a comparison of specific services and flat prices.

Where is it cheapest to live? The answer is usually based on property prices and rents. We have something else too: the prices of everyday services, from hairdressers and mechanics to dentists, collected from public price lists in one hundred cities. We used them to calculate how much more or less expensive each city is than Poland as a whole.

Which cities in Poland are the cheapest, and which are the most expensive?

For each service whose price we know in a city, we divide the median for that city by the median for Poland. We then take the middle value of these ratios, so that one unusually expensive or cheap service does not skew the result. The ranking includes only cities where we have prices for at least several services.

For each service with local prices, we divide the median in the city by the median in Poland; the result is the median of these ratios. Cities with at least 8 services, as at 5 October 2026.

How to read the table: a negative result means that a typical service costs less in the city than the national median, while a positive result means it costs more. The last column shows how many services were used to calculate the result. The more services, the more reliable the result. With only a few services, a single price list update can move a city several places.

A few conclusions from the current ranking. Warsaw (+22%, based on 20 services) is on the more expensive side, which will surprise no one. More interestingly, other major cities are not necessarily more expensive than the national median: Kraków stands at -5%, Łódź at -3%, and Katowice at +6%. Wrocław (+10%), Gdańsk (+6%) and Poznań (+4%) are close to the national median. A major city means more competition between service providers, which can keep service prices in check despite higher rents.

How much do the same services cost in the largest cities?

The ranking gives one figure per city. It is worth seeing what lies behind it. We selected services for which we have prices in most of the seven largest urban centres:

Medians in cities, median and typical range from public price lists, as at 5 October 2026. Each price includes a source and quotation on the service page.

It is important to be clear about the limits of this comparison. A dental implant is currently the only service in our index with a price for all seven cities. For the other services, some fields show ‘no data’ because we did not find enough local price lists. The table also omits many services that account for a significant share of household spending, such as flat cleaning: we have prices for Poznań (PLN 300) and Gdańsk (PLN 345), but not for the other major cities. The table therefore indicates the general pattern, rather than the full cost of living.

What does it show? Differences between cities depend on the type of service. For services where materials make up a large part of the price, such as dental implant, the variation between major cities is relatively small in the current ranking. For services where we mainly pay for labour, such as a haircut, a removal or oil change, the differences can be much greater because the price reflects local hourly rates and premises rent.

Do cheap services mean a city is cheap to live in?

Not always. Housing is the largest item in the household budget, and differences between cities are much greater here than for services. Here are the transaction prices of flats from notarial deeds in the same seven cities:

Transaction prices from notarial deeds (Property Price Register), 12 months to March 2026.

A square metre costs PLN 15,646/m² in Warsaw, PLN 14,926/m² in Kraków and PLN 9,137/m² in Łódź, compared with the national median of PLN 9,270/m². A typical flat costs around PLN 755,797 in Warsaw and PLN 395,000 in Łódź.

Together, the two tables currently paint an interesting picture. Services in Kraków are cheaper than the national median (-5%), but its flats are among the most expensive in the ranking. Łódź and Katowice are inexpensive in both rankings. Warsaw is expensive in both. If you are looking for a city with a lower cost of living, focus primarily on housing and treat service prices as a secondary factor.

Why do service prices differ between cities?

A service price consists of three elements: materials, labour and the company’s fixed costs. Wholesale prices for materials, such as paint, tyres, implants and refrigerant, are similar throughout the country. Labour and fixed costs are not: in a city with high wages and expensive commercial rents, a service provider must add more to each hour. Services involving almost no materials, where the price mainly covers the professional’s time, therefore vary most by location.

The second factor is competition. In a city with dozens of salons or garages, it is harder to maintain a high price. The third is the customer base: where more people have higher incomes, it is easier to sell a more expensive version of a service, which pushes up the median.

Where should you go for a cheaper service?

For minor services, such as a haircut, tyre replacement or physiotherapy, travelling to another city is not worthwhile: a difference of tens of PLN will be swallowed up by the cost of fuel and time. The situation is different for major expenses requiring several visits or a full day’s work by a service provider:

• Dentistry. A dental implant in Poland most commonly costs PLN 3,350, and the medians vary considerably between cities. For a procedure involving several teeth, this can add up to a substantial amount. The full ranking is available in the article how much does a dental implant cost.
• Air conditioning installation. The median in Poland is PLN 3,800. Prices vary considerably between major cities, and some companies serve the entire surrounding area, so it is worth requesting a quote from contractors based outside your city too.
• Removal services. The hourly rate for a team with a van is around 200 PLN/h. For a move between cities, the rate charged by the company based in the team’s departure city usually applies, so it is worth comparing quotes from both ends of the route.

How can you check prices in your city?

Each city in the ranking has its own page in the cities section, such as service prices in Warsaw or in Kraków. These pages list all services for which we have local price lists, along with their median and sources. You can find flat prices for every locality in the flat prices section, for example for Łódź or Katowice.

If you have recently paid for a service, you can add the price you paid. Every new price in a city with few sources makes the ranking meaningfully more accurate.

The service prices in this article come from public price lists and articles. Each price has a source on the service page. Flat prices are medians from notarial deeds in the Property Price Register (RCN, Polish official register of real-estate transactions) for the 12 months to March 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Which city in Poland is the cheapest?

To zależy od tego, co liczymy. W rankingu cen usług kolejność zmienia się razem z danymi, dlatego podajemy ją w tabeli. Dla porównania: Kraków wypada dziś na -5%, a Łódź na -3% wobec mediany w Polsce.

How much more expensive is Warsaw?

Usługi w Warszawie kosztują w naszym indeksie +22% wobec mediany w Polsce (porównanie z 20 usług). Metr kwadratowy mieszkania kosztuje tam PLN 15,646/m², a w całym kraju PLN 9,270/m².

Where are flats cheapest among major cities?

W obecnym zestawieniu siedmiu największych miast najniższe mediany mają Łódź (PLN 9,137/m²) i Katowice (PLN 9,935/m²). Aktualne dane dla każdego miasta są na stronach cen mieszkań.

How do we calculate service price levels in a city?

Dla każdej usługi z ceną w mieście dzielimy medianę w mieście przez medianę w Polsce i bierzemy środkową wartość tych ilorazów. Warszawa ma dziś takie porównanie dla 20 usług.

Translation of the original Polish article dated 30 September 2026. Quotations from price lists are in Polish, as published by the companies. Read the original in Polish.

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