How does Prague compare to other European cities? Housing is expensive, public transport is above average, and the number of cars is increasing.
The Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Prague) has updated the “Prague in the European Context” analysis, which covers everything from housing and transport to work, education, and leisure, and provides a unique look at life in the city. Rather than relying solely on publicly available data, IPR Prague verifies its findings directly with eleven partner cities and provides real-life examples from major European capitals. The comparison highlights both Prague’s strengths and weaknesses. Among the city’s main weaknesses are unaffordable housing and the continued growth in the number of cars, while its strengths include high-quality public transport and shorter working hours.
Prague has overtaken the other surveyed cities in the unaffordability of home ownership
Home ownership is becoming less affordable in most European capitals, and Prague is among the cities where this trend is most pronounced. Residents of Barcelona, Munich, and Amsterdam face similarly bleak prospects: buying an apartment in these cities costs more than 13 gross annual salaries.
Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor for Spatial and Strategic Development notes: “We have been working on the issue of housing affordability for a long time and have secured several major changes to the zoning plan that have helped kick-start housing construction. Most importantly, we now have an approved Metropolitan Plan, which paves the way for the construction of up to 350,000 new apartments. I also believe that the Prague Development Company will help improve the situation; it recently obtained its first building permit for housing construction.”
In some cities, relatively affordable rental housing helps offset the high cost of home ownership, but this is not the case in Prague. Renting a 60-square-meter apartment costs 40 percent of the average salary in Prague, compared with 28 percent in Munich and 14 percent in Vienna.
Plenty of jobs, but regional-level incomes
According to the study, unemployment is lower in Central and Eastern European cities, with Prague having the lowest rate over the long term. While finding a job is relatively easy, real incomes are lower than in most of the other cities surveyed.
Ondřej Boháč, Director of IPR Prague, explains: “Workers in Munich have consistently fared the best, earning 1.5 times as much as workers in Prague. It is worth noting, however, that while incomes in Munich have remained relatively stagnant over the past decade, they have been steadily rising in Copenhagen. In terms of real incomes, Prague is average within the region, but still lags significantly behind in the European context. Combined with high housing costs, this has a negative impact on the quality of life of Prague residents.”
The gap in the number of hours worked is slowly narrowing, bringing Prague closer to Milan and Stockholm. People in Prague now spend almost two hours less at work each week than they did ten years ago, averaging just under 39 hours. This is still around three hours more per week than people in Western Europe. People in the East still have relatively little free time.
Well-developed public transport, but a high and growing number of cars
Prague has one of the best public transport systems in terms of accessibility. This is one reason why seven out of ten Prague residents use it regularly, and 87 percent of passengers are satisfied with it. By European standards, Prague’s public transport stands out for its reliability, dense network, and very good affordability. Prague also has one of Europe’s leading rail-based public transport networks, which is key to convenient travel to work or school.
“Prague’s public transport is the second most affordable among the cities surveyed, after Barcelona—a monthly pass costs less than 1 percent of the average income. Prague also has one of the longest tram networks per capita, while the length of its metro system is more comparable to Western European capitals than to post-communist capitals such as Warsaw or Budapest. The paradox is that Prague has excellent public transport and people love using it, yet we still rely heavily on cars, with Prague having one of the highest numbers of cars per capita among comparable cities,” says Jaromír Beránek, Deputy Mayor for Transport.
One trend pushing Prague closer to the East is the growing number and size of cars in the city. The result is more traffic congestion and accidents, with cars also taking up public space and contributing to poorer air quality. Prague, Warsaw, and Bucharest are the only cities where the number of registered cars is significantly increasing. By contrast, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Vienna have roughly one-third to one-half as many cars per capita. They also report a higher share of electric and hybrid vehicles.
You can view the full analysis here:
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