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

Cost of living in Norway in 2026

This page answers one question: what does it cost to live in Norway as an expat? Every figure on it comes from an official source and is labelled with its subject and year: rents from Statistics Norway (SSB), a household budget from SIFO, the consumption research institute at OsloMet, fares from Ruter (Oslo and Akershus) and Skyss (Vestland), health costs from helsenorge.no, barnehage prices from Udir (the Norwegian education directorate), and price levels from Eurostat. Where no official figure could be found, the page gives none.

Rent: the largest cost

SSB's rental market survey measures the rents paid by private tenants in Norway. SSB collects them mainly in October each year by web questionnaire; about 10,000 questionnaires are completed. The figures below are average monthly rents for 2025, published on 22 December 2025; SSB's next update is due on 21 December 2026.

• What counts as a room: SSB counts bedrooms and living rooms. Kitchens, bathrooms and storage rooms are not counted.
• Electricity and heating: some rents include electricity or heating, and SSB makes no adjustment for this. Ask any landlord what the rent covers.
• Price zones: SSB reports Oslo and Bærum municipalities as one zone, and Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger municipalities separately.

Average monthly rent for a rental flat, 2025 (SSB)

SSB publishes an average only when it is 95 per cent certain that the true average lies within 10 per cent of the published figure; "not published" means the estimate was too uncertain. Across the whole country, the 2025 average is NOK 8,770 for one room, NOK 11,790 for two rooms and NOK 13,910 for three rooms (SSB, table 09895).

For how to find a flat and what to check before signing, see how to find an apartment in Norway, renting in Oslo and Norwegian rental contracts.

Food

SIFO's reference budget (referansebudsjettet) is updated every year; the 2026 edition gives figures for February 2026 (SIFO report 9-2026). Food and drink per person per month:

The figures are built from a menu that follows the health authorities' dietary advice, mostly cooked from raw ingredients, with some room for sweets and snacks. SIFO assumes adults have sedentary work and regular leisure activity, and that every meal is eaten at home. SIFO says the budget is an example of what experts consider an acceptable level of consumption, not a statistical average of what households actually spend (SIFO).

SIFO's budget for one adult living alone

SIFO's 2026 figures for one adult aged 25–50 in a one-person household, per month:

SIFO assumes goods are mostly bought new at ordinary prices, and it spreads the cost of durable items such as furniture and white goods over time, as money set aside each month to replace them. Household costs are shared by everyone in a household, so SIFO notes they are relatively high for one person. SIFO says the budget is meant for households that already live at an acceptable level and does not suit people who are setting up a home.

SIFO's budget does not include housing, electricity and other housing costs; tobacco and alcohol; health services beyond one GP and one dentist visit a year; expensive hobbies; holidays; or going out. SIFO also publishes lines for public transport (based on Ruter's 30-day ticket in Oslo) and for running a car; the totals on this page leave both out.

Example: monthly total for one person

The totals below add SSB's 2025 average rent for a two-room rental flat to SIFO's 2026 total for one adult aged 25–50 living alone (the table above). SSB publishes no one-room average for Trondheim or Stavanger, so the two-room average is used for all four cities. The rents are for 2025 and SIFO's prices for February 2026.

What the totals include: rent (with electricity or heating only where the rent covers them), food cooked at home, clothes, personal care with one GP visit and one dental check-up a year, leisure, household items, furniture, internet, TV and contents insurance.

What they do not include: public transport (see below), electricity and heating not covered by the rent, income tax, other health costs, alcohol and tobacco, eating out and going out, holidays, childcare, and the cost of furnishing a home from scratch.

Transport

• Oslo (Ruter): in Ruter's price list from 1 August 2026, an adult ticket for zone 1 (Oslo) costs NOK 46 for a single journey and NOK 655 for 30 days. A single ticket for one zone is valid for 60 minutes from activation; Ruter says single tickets bought on board a bus or boat cost a bit more. Tickets are valid on Ruter's buses, trams, metro and boats and on Vy's trains in Oslo and Akershus (Ruter, price list). Ruter cut the zone 1 30-day price from NOK 805 to NOK 655 on 3 May 2026, using a state subsidy for cheaper period tickets, which runs for one year from that date, and extra money from the City of Oslo (Ruter press release, 16 April 2026). In October 2026 Ruter announced that the adult zone 1 30-day price falls to NOK 495 from 1 November 2026 (Ruter).
• Bergen and the rest of Vestland (Skyss): on Skyss's buses, the Bergen light rail and some boat routes, prices from 1 May 2026 for adults are NOK 51 for a single ticket and NOK 700 for a 30-day ticket for one zone (Skyss). The 30-day ticket is NOK 144 cheaper than before because of an extra state subsidy, which Skyss says applies, in principle, until the end of April the following year (Skyss).

For tickets, zones and apps, see public transport in Oslo.

Electricity

SIFO's budget does not include electricity, and SSB's rents include it only where the landlord does. This page gives no electricity price. For spot prices in Norway, see the Nordic electricity prices tool; for getting connected, see setting up utilities in Norway.

Healthcare

User fees (egenandeler) for public health services count towards a yearly ceiling. In 2026 the ceiling is NOK 3,278. Once your approved user fees reach it, you get an exemption card (frikort) within three weeks and pay no more user fees covered by the scheme for the rest of the calendar year; anything paid above the ceiling is refunded automatically (helsenorge).

User fees at the GP (helsenorge, 2026)

A video appointment costs the same as an in-person one. The National Insurance Scheme covers most of the cost of a GP appointment, but only if your GP has an agreement with Helfo. From 1 August 2026, nobody under 18 pays user fees for services covered by the exemption card scheme (helsenorge).

Some charges are not user fees and do not count towards the ceiling, for example medical certificates, dressings and the seasonal flu vaccine. Private providers without a reimbursement agreement charge the full cost. For medicines on a blue prescription (blå resept), which a doctor can issue for a serious illness, rules introduced in 2026 mean you pay 60% of the cost, at most NOK 400 per dispensing (helsenorge).

For registering with a doctor, see how to find a GP in Norway, how Norwegian healthcare works and pharmacies and prescriptions.

Childcare

Parents pay at most the maximum price (makspris) for a barnehage (kindergarten) place, whether the barnehage is public or private (Udir):

• Maximum price: NOK 1,200 a month from 1 August 2025.
• Least central municipalities (centrality zones 5 and 6 in SSB's centrality index): NOK 700 a month from 1 August 2025.
• Action zone (tiltakssonen) in Finnmark and Nord-Troms: barnehage is free.

A municipality may charge less than the maximum, and barnehager may charge for food on top. In Oslo's municipal barnehager, food costs NOK 320 a month in 2026 (SIFO).

With more than one child in barnehage in the same municipality, the second child's fee is at least 30 percent lower and the third and later children go free. No household pays more than 6 percent of its income per child. Children aged 2 to 5 in low-income households get 20 hours a week free (gratis kjernetid); the income limit is NOK 692,465 from 1 August 2026. For applying for a place, see childcare in Norway.

Tax and take-home pay

This page does not restate tax rates. To see what a gross salary leaves after tax, use the Norway salary calculator, and read how the Norwegian tax system works. For pay levels, see what salary to expect in Norway.

Sending money home

This page does not quote fees for any bank or transfer service. For how transfers from Norway work, see sending money home from Norway and using Wise in Norway.

How expensive is Norway overall?

Eurostat compares price levels across Europe with the EU average set at 100. In 2025, Norway's price level for household consumption was 128.6, for food and non-alcoholic beverages 133.1, and for restaurants and accommodation 139.7 (Eurostat). Five European countries had a higher household price level: Iceland (173.5), Switzerland (171.3), Denmark (139.7), Ireland (136.2) and Luxembourg (131.5). Sweden was at 121.0 and Finland at 120.8 (Eurostat, all countries).