The European countries with the best and worst commute to work

Your commute to work and home again can have a big effect on your day, with a long journey that leaves you arriving at work feeling tired. The cost of your commute can also add up, with train tickets or parking costs to consider – and picking up a coffee to have on your commute is a nice treat to start the morning with, but it can leave a sour taste in your mouth if it costs more than you’d like.

At Ubuy Germany, we have created a ranking of the European countries that might have the best and worst commutes to work. We based this on factors like prices of various costs related to commuting, and working conditions, as well as the 2024 Happiness Index in each country.

Methodology

We compared a total list of 34 European countries, based on the data available online. We used statistics from Numbeo Traffic, Numbeo Cost of Living, Coffeestics, Eurostat, World Population Review, Wikipedia, as well as drawing on each country’s labour laws, and the cost of parking in each country’s capital city, from the city’s official website.

We gave each country a ranking based on the average commute time in minutes, and for the average cost to commute for a month.

We also gave each country a ranking for the average length of lunch break, the average cost of lunch, and the average cost of a coffee.

We ranked each country for each average cost for all day parking.

We compared each country’s paid time off for workers (not including public holidays) and ranked them on this metric, as well as on the average working hours per week. Finally, we ranked the countries according to how they placed on the 2024 Happiness Index.

We added all the rankings together to create a final score – countries that rank higher in the list got a lower score.

The Results

The country that came out on top with the best final score was Estonia, suggesting that commuters here might be the most likely to arrive at work with a smile on their face. Finland and Lithuania ranked in joint second place. Sweden landed in third place, the second Nordic country in the top 5, in joint position with Romania. In fourth place, Poland had the next best score. Rounding off the top 5, it’s the Czech Republic and Serbia in joint fifth position.

Estonia

Estonia emerged with the top score overall, with 64 points. The average commute cost was €22 a month, the fifth best price in the ranking. It also ranked within the top 10 for both the cost of coffee (€1.76, sixth place) and lunch (€8.80, ninth place).

Estonia also has the second highest number of days available as paid time off (excluding bank holidays) at 28 days off for workers per year. Any work commute is made a little less tiring by having enough breaks!

Finland

In second place with 68 points it’s Finland, where the monthly cost to commute is €57.20 on average. The cost for all day parking was €22 a day, the tenth best price in the ranking. This country had the fifth lowest average number of working hours per week, at 34.9.

It also holds the joint fifth best ranking for number of paid time off, with workers able to access 25 days off a year apart from public holidays. Finland also has the highest score on the happiness index out of all the countries, at 7.74.

Lithuania

Lithuania is in joint second place with Finland, also scoring 68 points by adding up how it ranked on every metric. In Lithuania, the average cost of a month’s commuting to work is €26.40, the sixth lowest cost in the entire ranking. With coffee for €1.58 on average, that’s the fourth cheapest cup in the list as well – lunch costs €7.92 on average, which is the seventh best price in the ranking.

All day parking costs €8.80, putting Lithuania in fifth place for lowest parking costs. Just outside of the top 10 on the Happiness Index, Lithuania had the twelfth highest score for this metric at 8.82.

Sweden

Sweden ranked in third place overall, with a score of 74. The average cost to commute for a month is €61.60, placing the Scandinavian country in thirteenth place on that metric. A cup of coffee costs €2.64 on average, only just squeezing Sweden in the top 10 in ninth place. With 25 paid days off a year apart from public holidays, Sweden ranks in joint fifth position for most days off for workers.

The country is also in the top ten for shortest working week, with people working 35.7 hours a week on average (the seventh lowest number of hours). This was the fourth happiest country according to the Happiness Index: it achieved a score of 7.34.

Romania

In joint third place with Sweden, we have Romania which also achieved a score of 74. The average cost for a month of commuting is €22, the fifth lowest cost in the whole ranking. The average cost for lunch is €7.92, giving workers in this country the seventh cheapest lunch.

The cost for a cup of coffee is €1.58, the fourth lowest cost in joint position with Lithuania on this metric. Romania also has the sixth cheapest cost for all day parking at €10.56.

Poland

In fourth place, it’s Poland, with 75 points. The average cost to commute for a month is €30.80, the seventh lowest cost out of the countries we compared. Lunch costs €8.36 on average, putting Poland just in the top 10 for that metric, with the eighth lowest cost. Like Lithuania and Romania, the price of a cup of coffee is €1.58.

A day’s parking costs €10.56, also the same price as it would be in Romania, putting Poland in sixth place for the cheapest parking. Poland has the fourth highest number of paid days off for workers, at 26.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic was in fifth place, with 77 points as a result of adding up how it ranked on every metric. The average cost to commute for a month was €35.20, the eighth lowest cost in the ranking. A cup of coffee costs €1.94 on average, which is the seventh cheapest coffee in the list.

A full day’s parking costs €13.20, putting the Czech Republic in eighth place for cheapest parking. This country is just outside the top 10 when it comes to the Happiness Index, scoring 6.82 which puts it in twelfth place.

Serbia

Also in fifth place with 77 points, it’s Serbia. The average cost for a month of commuting to work is €17.60, which is the fourth cheapest in the ranking. The average cost for lunch is €6.60, putting this country in fourth place on that metric too.

Parking for a day costs €8.80, the same as in Lithuania – this is the third lowest cost for all day parking, making this one of the most affordable places to commute to work for drivers.

The rest of the top 10

In joint sixth place, it’s the Netherlands, Austria and Slovenia, all with 79 points.

With 80 points each, Denmark, Luxembourg and Latvia all ranked in seventh place.

Norway and Hungary were next, with 82 points each.

In ninth place, we gave Belgium 85 points.

Rounding off the top 10, Malta, Slovakia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina all achieved a score of 86 points.

The bottom 5

What about the countries that ranked worst on the metrics we were looking at?

The United Kingdom came out at the very bottom of the ranking, thanks to factors like an average monthly cost to commute of €79.20, the third highest price. The UK scored 107 points.

Second from the bottom it’s Greece, with a score of 107. The high number of average working hours a week may have influenced this score, at 39.8 hours a week, as may have the Happiness Index score of 5.93.

The island of Cyprus was next, scoring 99. In this country, the average commuting cost was €44 a month.

Italy ranked fourth from the bottom with a score of 98. The average cost for all day parking was €24.64 and the average cost for a month’s commute to work was €61.60.

Finally in our bottom 5, it’s France, which scored 97. In France, the average cost to commute for a month is €66, the ninth highest price in the ranking.

Conclusion

Our round up of commuting in different countries shows there are a number of factors that can affect your experience on your way to work. Whether you drive or take public transport, you’re paying for either parking or tickets for the bus, tram or train.

And of course, working conditions also affect how people feel about their morning and evening commute. Travelling to work and back is a lot easier when you feel well-rested with enough days off to rest and relax, and a long enough lunch break – all of the countries in the top 10 typically gave workers a lunch break of an hour.