"Is Montenegro expensive?" gets asked in a dozen variants: to live, to visit, to eat out, compared with the UK, compared with Croatia or Albania. Most answers are a list of café prices someone paid last summer. The better source is the one statistics offices themselves use: Eurostat's price level indices, which compare what the same basket of goods and services costs in each country, with the EU average set at 100.
The short answer: Montenegro's overall price level was 66% of the EU average in 2025, up from 63% in 2024. But that single number hides the useful part, which is that some things cost almost EU prices and others cost half.
The headline number, and its direction
| Year | Montenegro, household consumption (EU=100) |
| 2022 | 61.5 |
| 2023 | 62.1 |
| 2024 | 63.4 |
| 2025 | 66 |
Sources: Eurostat price level indices for 2022 to 2024; the 2025 figure as published by MONSTAT. The direction matters as much as the level: Montenegro is getting more expensive relative to the EU every year. For 2025 MONSTAT also reports the neighbours: Croatia 78, Albania 73, Serbia 68, Bosnia and Herzegovina 59, North Macedonia 55.
Category by category, against the neighbours
The detailed breakdown is published for 2024. EU average = 100:
| Category | Montenegro | Croatia | Albania | Serbia | Germany |
| Household consumption, total | 63 | 76 | 70 | 67 | 109 |
| Food and non-alcoholic drinks | 84 | 104 | 100 | 96 | 103 |
| Alcoholic drinks | 123 | 126 | 153 | 112 | 87 |
| Tobacco | 43 | 67 | 47 | 51 | 118 |
| Clothing | 95 | 95 | 100 | 90 | 101 |
| Footwear | 104 | 101 | 94 | 105 | 100 |
| Electricity, gas, fuels | 46 | 55 | 50 | 49 | 122 |
| Health | 40 | 66 | 40 | 47 | 112 |
| Transport services | 72 | 87 | 56 | 77 | 119 |
| Communication | 102 | 111 | 103 | 91 | 136 |
| Restaurants and hotels | 66 | 95 | 52 | 68 | 112 |
| Consumer goods, total | 79 | 92 | 94 | 84 | 106 |
| Consumer services, total | 50 | 65 | 49 | 50 | 112 |
Source: Eurostat, rounded.
What the table actually says
Services are cheap, goods are not. Consumer services cost half the EU average; consumer goods cost almost four fifths of it. Clothing, shoes and phone bills cost about what they cost in the EU. Someone moving from Western Europe saves little in the shops and a lot on anything that is mostly labour: eating out, transport, health care, household help.
Alcohol is the exception that surprises people. At 123, alcoholic drinks are more expensive than the EU average and 41% dearer than in Germany. Tobacco, at 43, costs less than half the EU average.
Against Croatia, Montenegro is cheaper almost everywhere. Overall about 17% lower, and 31% lower for restaurants and hotels, which answers the most common tourist version of the question. Food is 19% lower.
Against Albania, it depends on what you buy. Montenegro's overall level is about 10% lower than Albania's in this data, and food is cheaper, but restaurants and transport services are more expensive in Montenegro than in Albania.
Energy is cheap, and that matters for owners. Electricity, gas and fuels at 46 are less than half the EU level and a little over a third of Germany's.
And wages
A price level only means something next to income. The average net wage in Montenegro was 1,036 euros in June 2026 and consumer prices were 4.5% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, according to MONSTAT. For someone earning a Western European income, Montenegro is inexpensive; for someone earning a local one, the goods side of the table is the hard part.
Where the savings are greatest, in services, the gap is large enough to change what people buy. Household help is one example of a service where the price is mostly labour; you can compare local rates on Glatko for regular cleaning.
Housing is a separate question
These indices cover consumer spending, not the price of buying a home. Property prices have followed their own path: the official new-build average rose from 1,339 euros per square metre in 2022 to 2,557 in the second quarter of 2026. We set those prices against local wages in our data review of the Montenegrin market, and built monthly budgets in cost of living in Montenegro. Current homes for sale are on the Montenegro real estate listings.
Frequently asked questions
Is Montenegro expensive to live in? Not by EU standards. Its overall price level was 66% of the EU average in 2025, though goods cost close to EU prices and services about half.
Is Montenegro cheaper than Croatia? Yes. In 2024 Montenegro's household consumption prices were about 17% below Croatia's, and restaurants and hotels about 31% below.
Is Montenegro cheaper than Albania? Overall slightly, by about 10% in 2024, but restaurants and transport services cost more in Montenegro.
Is it expensive to eat out in Montenegro? Restaurants and hotels were at 66% of the EU average in 2024, compared with 95% in Croatia and 112% in Germany.
Why do some things cost the same as in the EU? Goods are traded across borders and priced close to European levels. What is cheap is labour, so services cost much less.
Is Montenegro getting more expensive? Yes, relative to the EU: from 61.5% of the EU average in 2022 to 66% in 2025.