How much does it cost to live in Norway?

Rent is the big number. A two-room flat cost 15 260 kr a month in Oslo and Bærum in 2025 and 11 850–11 870 kr in Trondheim and Bergen, against 11 790 kr for the country. Add about 173 øre per kWh for electricity and 562–805 kr for a monthly transport pass, and the price level is 28,6 per cent above the EU average.

Updated 27 September 2026. Every figure has a source and a check date at the end of the article.

Rent: the number that decides your budget

Statistics Norway measures rents once a year. In 2025 a two-room flat cost 15 260 kr a month in Oslo and Bærum, 11 870 kr in Bergen, 11 850 kr in Trondheim and 11 400 kr in Stavanger, against 11 790 kr for the whole country and 7 450 kr in sparsely built areas. By size the national figures were 8 770 kr for one room, 11 790 for two, 13 910 for three and 15 640 for four.

Inside Oslo the spread is smaller than people expect: for a standard 50-square-metre two-room flat the survey predicts 16 700 kr in Frogner, Ullern, Sentrum and St. Hanshaugen and 14 500 kr in Søndre Nordstrand, Grorud, Stovner and Alna. In Trondheim it is 13 200 kr in the centre and 12 200 kr in Lerkendal and Heimdal.

Tromsø: why the figure is different

Statistics Norway does not publish Tromsø as a separate city in the rental survey, so there is no official figure to quote. The market statistics on hybel.no, built from listings in 2026, give 14 840 kr a month for a two-room flat, 10 961 kr for one room and 7 178 kr for a room in a shared flat. These are asking prices, not signed contracts, so treat them as the top of the range.

Electricity and grid rent

Households paid 173,2 øre per kWh in the second quarter of 2026, grid rent and taxes included. With the state electricity support deducted the price was 117,9 øre. That is 11,2 per cent lower than the previous quarter but 32,2 per cent higher than a year earlier, which is why a flat with electric heating can swing by a thousand kroner from month to month.

Public transport: the cheapest city is in the north

A 30-day adult pass costs 805 kr in Oslo zone 1, 700 kr in Bergen, 649 kr in Trondheim and 562 kr in Tromsø. Trondheim and Tromsø are cheap because the state pays extra to keep fares down. Single tickets are 51 kr in Bergen and 50 kr in Tromsø, where an off-peak single is 30 kr.

Food: how much more expensive than Europe

For all consumption Norway sits at 128,6 with the EU average at 100; for food and soft drinks it is 133,1. Only Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg have a higher overall level, so Norway is sixth in Europe. What that means in the shop is in our comparison of Kiwi, Rema 1000 and Coop, and what a café, a beer and a restaurant meal cost is in the guide to food prices in Norway.

Salary: the other half of the sum

Prices only make sense next to pay. What a normal salary is, what is left after tax and how the tax card works is in our guide to salary and tax in Norway. A visitor comparing countries should compare both numbers, not the price tag alone.

If you are here for a few weeks, not a few years

A tourist pays for a bed, not for rent: hotel and cabin prices, camping and the free right to pitch a tent are in the guide to where to stay in Norway. For a stay of one to three months the rental market is a different animal, and the rules are in our article on long-term rentals.

Where the money goes: restaurants and cafés in the catalogue

Prices in our catalogue: restaurants in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø; cafés in Oslo and Tromsø.

How to spend less on housing

• For a month or three, look for a hybel or a room in a shared flat rather than a whole apartment: it is the cheapest legal way to live in a Norwegian city.
• Outside the season a cabin, a campsite pitch or a hostel bed costs a fraction of a hotel room — and in a student town the summer is the cheap season.
• Book the first weeks before you arrive and the rest once you know the city; the deposit rules make a hasty long contract expensive to leave.
• Working from here for a month or two: count rent, a transport pass and food together, not the room alone — the pass and the food are the same in every city, the rent is not.

The whole range of what a bed costs, from hotel to tent, is in our guide to where to stay in Norway, and the rules for a signed rental are in the article on long-term rentals.

You may also want to read

• Salary and tax in Norway: what is left after tax
• Food prices in Norway: groceries, coffee, beer and restaurants
• Where to stay in Norway: hotels, cabins, camping and prices
• Long-term rentals in Norway: deposit, contract and what to check