Cost of Living in Finland 2026: Rent, Food, Transport and Healthcare

Cost of living in Finland in 2026

This page answers one question: what does it cost to live in Finland as an expat? Every figure on it comes from an official or clearly labelled source and is tied to its subject and year: rents from Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus), everyday costs from the University of Helsinki's reference budget, fares from HSL, healthcare fees from Finnish law, the City of Helsinki and Kela, childcare fees from the Ministry of Education and Culture, and price levels from Eurostat. Where no official figure could be found, the page gives none.

Rent: the largest cost

Statistics Finland publishes rents every quarter. The figures here are for non-subsidised rental flats, meaning flats produced without government ARAVA loans. The statistics are based on Kela's register of housing allowances and on data from rental housing companies. The figures below are monthly rents for July–September 2026 (the third quarter); Statistics Finland updated the table on 15 October 2026 (Statistics Finland, table 15fc).

What the rent includes: water and heating charges paid separately are included. Electricity, telephone, sauna and laundry charges are not. Statistics Finland counts rooms without the kitchen, so a one-room flat (yksiö) is one room plus a kitchen, kitchenette or cooking area (documentation).

Median monthly rent, non-subsidised rental flats, July–September 2026 (Statistics Finland)

Middle half of rents (lower quartile to upper quartile), same flats and quarter

A quarter of flats in each group rent for less than the lower figure and a quarter for more than the upper one.

Statistics Finland also publishes the average rent per square metre. For all non-subsidised rental flats in July–September 2026 (table 15fa):

For July–September 2026, Statistics Finland's rent index for non-subsidised flats showed an annual change of 0.1% for the whole country and −0.2% for Helsinki.

Food and everyday costs

The Centre for Consumer Society Research at the University of Helsinki (Kuluttajatutkimuskeskus) publishes reference budgets for a "reasonable minimum" (kohtuullinen minimi). The 2025 edition was announced on 19 November 2025 and the full report was published in 2026 (report, University of Helsinki).

The budgets are example calculations of the goods and services a household needs to get by, stay healthy and take part in society, and what they cost a month. They were built from 12 group discussions with 36 consumers and reviewed by eight experts. They cover food, clothing, household goods, telecommunications, leisure, hygiene and health care, transport and housing. Food costs come from a two-week menu that follows the 2024 nutrition recommendations, priced from the websites of K-group and S-group shops; special offers are not counted. The report says the budget for a person living alone roughly matches the spending of the lowest-income fifth of households and is close to the low-income threshold. It is a reasonable minimum, not a record of average spending.

Reference budget 2025, working adult under 45 living alone, per month

The budget uses the same figures for these items everywhere in Finland; only rent and transport change by region. For transport it allows €96 a month in the capital region and €81 elsewhere (see Transport below).

Example: monthly total for one person

The totals below add three parts, all shown on this page: Statistics Finland's median rent for a one-room flat in July–September 2026 (the reference budget assumes that a single adult under 45 lives in a one-room flat), the 2025 reference budget's costs other than rent and transport, and its transport allowance for the area. The budget's costs are in 2025 prices.

What the total includes: rent with water and heating charges, food, clothing, phone, internet and electronics, household goods, hygiene, health care as budgeted, leisure, household electricity, home insurance, public transport, a bicycle, and visits and transport services.

What it does not include: income tax, a rent deposit or a car.

The reference budget's own totals use its own rents, which it describes as medium-sized, medium-priced rental flats: €845 a month for a one-room flat in Helsinki. With that rent its 2025 total for a working adult under 45 living alone in Helsinki is €1,565 for a woman and €1,606 for a man.

Transport

Helsinki region (HSL). HSL's open timetable data, valid from 16 October to 14 December 2026, lists the fare for a journey within zones AB at €3.30, zones ABC at €4.50 and zones ABCD at €5.00 (HSL open data). This page does not quote season-ticket prices; check them on HSL's site before you buy. For how the zones and tickets work, see public transport in Finland.

Reference budget allowance. For a working adult under 45 living alone, the 2025 reference budget allows €96 a month in the capital region: €72 for public transport, priced as an HSL season ticket for two zones, €6 for a bicycle and €18 for visits and transport services. Elsewhere in Finland it allows €81: €57 for public transport, priced as the average of season tickets in three large municipalities, plus the same €6 and €18. It includes no car for this household.

Electricity

Statistics Finland's rents do not include electricity. The reference budget assumes a one-room flat with district heating uses 1,700 kWh of electricity a year and puts the cost at €28 a month in 2025, based on the annual average exchange (spot) electricity price, the energy company's other charges and transmission, averaged across three energy companies. Comprehensive home insurance adds €10 a month, making the €38 line in the table above. For current electricity prices in Finland, see the Nordic electricity prices tool.

Healthcare

Public healthcare can charge adults fees, but the fees are limited by law. A government decree sets the maximum fees from 1 January 2026; the organiser (a wellbeing services county, or in Helsinki the city) sets its own fees up to these limits (decree 1008/2025):

• Health centre doctor's visit, age 18 and over: at most €30.20 a visit, charged only for the first three visits to the same health centre in a calendar year. A health centre can instead charge an annual fee of at most €60.30; if you do not pay it, each visit costs €30.20, however many visits you make.
• Health centre emergency care on weekdays between 20.00 and 8.00, and at weekends and on public holidays: at most €41.40 a visit.
• Hospital outpatient clinic: at most €71.30 a visit.
• Short-term inpatient care: at most €71.50 a day, or €32.80 a day in a psychiatric unit.
• Dentist at a health centre: a basic fee of at most €19.10 a visit, plus a fee for each procedure.

Annual payment ceiling (maksukatto): €815 a calendar year from 1 January 2026. Once your fees for the services it covers pass €815, those services are free for the rest of the year, although short-term inpatient care can still be charged up to €26.80 a day for upkeep. A missed appointment you did not cancel can cost up to €60.60 (notice 1009/2025).

Example, City of Helsinki: doctor and nurse appointments at a Helsinki health station are free. An unused appointment you did not cancel costs €60.60 for people over 18, and short-term inpatient care costs €71.50 a day, or €26.80 after the ceiling. The ceiling covers, among other things, health centre outpatient care, hospital outpatient clinics, day surgery, dental care (excluding dental technician costs) and short-term inpatient care. Fees that do not count towards it include, for example, ambulance transport, medical certificates, missed-appointment fees and occupational health care. You have to keep track of your own fees and keep the receipts (City of Helsinki fees, updated 28 May 2026).

Prescription medicines (Kela): you get reimbursement once you have paid an initial deductible of €70.33 in a calendar year; it does not apply to children and applies from the start of the year in which you turn 19. The 2026 annual maximum on out-of-pocket medicine costs is €636.12. After you reach it you pay €2.50 for each reimbursable prescription medicine for the rest of the year (Kela, initial deductible).

For how to register and book appointments, see health centres (terveyskeskus) in Finland, pharmacies and prescriptions and the Kela card.

Childcare

Early childhood education (varhaiskasvatus) fees depend on the family's size and income. From 1 August 2026 (Ministry of Education and Culture notice 1028/2025):

• full-time early childhood education costs at most €335 a month
• for the next child in age order after the youngest, full-time care costs at most €134 a month
• fees below €32 a month are not charged

The income limits used in setting the fee from 1 August 2026 are €4,369 a month for a family of two, €5,635 for three, €6,399 for four, €7,163 for five and €7,925 for six; for larger families the limit rises by €295 for each further minor child. For how to apply, see day care (varhaiskasvatus) in Finland.

Tax and take-home pay

This page does not restate tax rates. To see what a gross monthly salary leaves after tax, use the Finland salary calculator, and read how the Finnish tax system works.

Sending money home

This page does not quote fees for any bank or transfer service. To compare what your recipient gets for the same amount in euros, use the site's send-money tools, for example Finland to India, Finland to the Philippines and Finland to Poland, and see sending money home from Finland.

How expensive is Finland overall?

Eurostat compares price levels across Europe with the EU average set at 100. In 2025, Finland's price level for household consumption was 120.8. Sweden was at 121.0, Norway at 128.6 and Denmark at 139.7. For food and non-alcoholic beverages Finland was at 107.5, for restaurants and accommodation services at 121.7, and for alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, one combined category, at 174.1 (Eurostat). For buying alcohol in Finland, see Alko and alcohol in Finland.