Convert HUF to USD Hungarian forint ↔ US dollar Free Online Secure
Type an amount in Hungarian forint and read it in US dollar at once. The page uses the European Central Bank's reference rate, and tells you which day that rate is from.
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Common amounts — Convert HUF to USD (Hungarian forint ↔ US dollar)
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The last thirty days
Where these codes and rates come from
The three letters in EUR, USD or JPY are not an abbreviation someone invented for a website: they are ISO 4217, a standard in which the first two letters are the country's own code and the third is usually the initial of the currency. The figures on this page come from the European Central Bank, which publishes one set of reference rates each working day, around 16:00 Central European time, agreed between the central banks of the Eurosystem. They are a daily snapshot meant for statistics and accounting, not a live trading feed — which is exactly why they are the same number for everyone, rather than whatever one bank happened to quote at one moment.
Where you meet an exchange rate
You meet an exchange rate four or five times a year without thinking about it: booking a trip, paying an invoice issued abroad, buying from a foreign shop, reading a salary offer in another currency, or checking what a card charge really cost. In all of these the reference rate is the honest middle, and the price you actually pay sits a little to one side of it. Knowing the middle is what lets you see how wide that margin is.
Questions people ask
Is this the rate my bank will give me?
No, and no page can promise one. This is the European Central Bank's reference rate: the midpoint published once a day for statistics. A bank, a card scheme or an exchange office adds its own margin on top — usually between half a percent and three percent, sometimes more at an airport counter. Use this figure to judge the offer you are given, not to predict it.
How often does the figure change, and what happens at weekends?
The European Central Bank publishes once each working day, in the afternoon, Central European time. There is no publication on Saturdays, Sundays or TARGET holidays, so on those days the page shows the last working day's rate and says which day it belongs to. The chart alongside is one year of the same daily series.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
From Makó to Manhattan: five Hungarians who became American, and the dollars that follow them across the Atlantic
In 1864, a seventeen-year-old from the small Hungarian town of Makó, named Joseph Pulitzer, landed in Boston with a Union Army recruiting agent's promise and little else, joined the cavalry and then, after the Civil War, began a career in newspapers in St Louis and New York that made him one of the most powerful publishers in the country. When he died in 1911 he left money to Columbia University for a school of journalism and for the prizes that still carry his name. He was far from the only Hungarian to cross the ocean and make a mark. A boy from Budapest called Erik Weisz became the escape artist Harry Houdini. A mathematician named János Neumann became John von Neumann and helped to design the first computers. A physicist called Edward Teller worked on the nuclear age. A biochemist called Albert Szent-Györgyi, who discovered vitamin C, settled in Massachusetts. Their descendants and countless others keep up family ties between Hungary and the United States, and money flows both ways. Anyone who needs to turn forints into dollars faces the same question: how many dollars does a forint buy? This page answers it. Use it to Convert HUF to USD with the daily reference rates published by the European Central Bank, in which the forint and the dollar are quoted against the euro; the page combines them into a forint-dollar figure and prints its date under the result. The amount you type never leaves your browser.
Using the converter
Forints in, dollars out
Before booking a flight, Convert HUF to USD for the whole budget and keep the figure beside the confirmation.
Type an amount in forints and read the equivalent in United States dollars. A dollar is worth some hundreds of forints, so the result is a small number compared with the one you entered, and it carries cents. The date of the rate is shown beneath it; on weekends and holidays the page uses the last working day and says so. A table of round amounts and a thirty-day line complete the page. For the opposite direction, from dollars into forints, open Convert USD to HUF.
The benchmark behind the offer
The published rate is a mid-market figure fixed once on each working day, with no bank margin inside. A card, an exchange booth or a transfer app gives you a little less, and the gap is what they earn. Use each Convert HUF to USD as a yardstick for the offers you meet: under one per cent is excellent, two to three per cent is normal at banks, and above four per cent is a reason to look around. For arithmetic only, the examples below use an invented round rate of three hundred forints to the dollar. It is not a forecast and not today's price; replace it with the real figure from the calculator.
Five Hungarians in the American story
Joseph Pulitzer, the publisher
Even a museum visit has a price, so Convert HUF to USD for the tickets and compare them with those in Budapest.
Born in 1847 in Makó, Pulitzer arrived in the United States in 1864, fought briefly in the Civil War and then moved to St Louis, where he became a reporter and then a newspaper owner. In 1883 he bought the New York World and made it the best-selling paper of its day with campaigns against corruption, crusading stories and a bold use of illustrations. He supported the Statue of Liberty's pedestal by printing the names of every donor in his paper. In his will, he provided for the Pulitzer Prizes, first awarded in 1917. Makó has a memorial plaque and a museum corner devoted to its famous son.
Harry Houdini, the escape artist
Erik Weisz was born in Budapest in 1874, and his family moved to Wisconsin when he was a child. As Harry Houdini he became the most famous magician of his age, escaping from handcuffs, locked trunks and a milk can filled with water. He also campaigned to expose fraudulent mediums. Visitors to Budapest can see the Houdini Museum in the Castle District, which shows props and posters. The entrance costs a few thousand forints.
A magician's budget
Show tickets look expensive in dollars and cheap in forints, so Convert HUF to USD to see which is true for your seat.
Houdini was said to have earned vast sums for his time, and he famously offered rewards to anyone who could produce a better trick. Today, tickets for magic shows in Budapest cost 4,000 to 10,000 forints, and a Broadway seat costs 80 to 250 dollars. Convert HUF to USD for the two and you will see why the Hungarian stage is a bargain.
John von Neumann and the computer
Born in Budapest in 1903 as János Neumann, he was a prodigy who could divide eight-digit numbers in his head at the age of six. He taught in Berlin and Princeton, contributed to quantum mechanics, game theory and the design of stored-program computers, and took part in the Manhattan Project. His ideas shaped the architecture of nearly every computer made since. Several streets and a university in Hungary carry his name, and a computer science society awards a prize in his memory.
Edward Teller and Albert Szent-Györgyi
Teller, born in Budapest in 1908, took part in the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, and later became a controversial advocate of nuclear energy and defence research. Szent-Györgyi won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on vitamin C and cell respiration, left Hungary after the war and continued research in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Both moved because the political circumstances of their time left little room for them at home.
A new life in America
1956: refugees
When the Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule was crushed in November 1956, more than 200,000 people fled the country. About 38,000 Hungarians were admitted to the United States within months, many through a reception camp at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, where they were registered, given medical checks and helped to find jobs. Some became engineers, doctors and professors. Hungarian-American societies in Cleveland, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles grew, with churches, scout groups and Saturday schools.
Cleveland's Hungarian streets
A plate of stuffed cabbage in Ohio costs dollars with tax and tip, so Convert HUF to USD for the total and compare with a plate in Budapest.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Cleveland, Ohio, had one of the largest Hungarian populations outside Hungary, concentrated along Buckeye Road, where shops, theatres and bakeries served Hungarian customers. Echoes of this district remain in restaurants, a church and a cultural garden in the city's park, dedicated to Hungarian culture. Visitors can taste stuffed cabbage and dobos torte at long-established places. A dish costs 12 to 20 dollars. Convert HUF to USD to see how that compares with a Budapest restaurant.
Today: students and professionals
A stipend in dollars should be converted every month; Convert HUF to USD on payday and note the rate in a table.
In recent decades, the flow has been of students and professionals: Hungarians study at American universities, work in technology, finance and medicine, and some return. Scholarships exist, such as those for exchange programmes. A student living on an American stipend earns dollars, spends them in the United States and sends some home in forints. For them, a regular Convert HUF to USD is as normal as buying a coffee.
Hungarian inventions in an American pocket
The ballpoint pen and the cube
Look in any American desk drawer and you will find two things with Hungarian roots. The ballpoint pen was patented in 1938 by a Budapest journalist named László Bíró, who noticed that the quick-drying ink used in newspaper printing could be fed to the page by a rolling ball. He fled to Argentina during the war, and his design spread across the world, called "biro" in Britain and sold by the billions. The second object is a colourful puzzle, invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, an architecture professor in Budapest, as a teaching toy to explain three-dimensional movement. Millions of Rubik's Cubes were sold in the 1980s, and competitions of "speedcubing" still draw crowds. A cube costs 3 to 10 dollars in an American shop, and in Budapest 2,000 to 4,000 forints. Convert HUF to USD to compare the two prices.
Holography and vitamin C
Dennis Gabor, born in Budapest in 1900 as Gábor Dénes, invented holography in 1947 while trying to improve electron microscopes, and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. His idea had to wait for lasers to become practical, and now holograms appear on credit cards, passports and many banknotes. Szent-Györgyi's vitamin C is found in every breakfast orange juice. These small inventions form part of daily life without most people knowing where they came from.
Software from Budapest
In the twenty-first century, Budapest has produced start-ups that grew into global firms. A presentation tool that lets users zoom across a large canvas and a remote-access program used by millions of employees were both created by teams in the city, and both opened offices in the United States. The Hungarian technology scene benefits from strong mathematics teaching, competitive salaries compared with Western Europe and a cluster of universities. Engineers move between Budapest and California, earning in dollars and spending in forints.
Hungarian food in the United States
Hungarian cooking came to America with immigrants, and some dishes became part of the national repertoire. Goulash, a stew with paprika, appears on diner menus in a simplified form; chicken paprikash, served with small dumplings called nokedli, is a comfort food; and dobos torte, a layered cake with caramel, features in old-fashioned bakeries. Paprika, a pepper powder ground from dried red peppers, is a staple in American kitchens. A pound of Hungarian paprika costs about 10 to 20 dollars in a specialty shop.
Budapest for American visitors
What a day costs
A day in Budapest for an American visitor is easy to price: Convert HUF to USD for each item and add them up.
An American in Budapest finds the city inexpensive. A coffee costs 1,000 to 1,800 forints, a lunch of the day 3,500 to 5,500, a dinner in a good restaurant 8,000 to 15,000, a thermal-bath ticket 11,000 to 15,000, and a day transit pass about 3,000. At the invented rate of three hundred forints to the dollar, a restaurant dinner costs 27 to 50 dollars. The same meal in New York would run to double. Whenever you Convert HUF to USD for a bill, you see how favourable the rate can be for a visitor from the United States.
Where Hungarians take their American friends
Hungarian hosts like to show visitors the Castle District, the Chain Bridge, the Parliament, the thermal baths and the ruin bars. A cruise on the Danube at night, with the buildings lit, costs 4,000 to 8,000 forints. Friends often end the evening in a wine bar with a plate of cheese and a glass of Tokaj. Public transport is efficient: trams, metro and buses use a single ticket system, and an app allows purchase of tickets.
Tipping, tax and money
Service is often added to restaurant bills as a service charge of about 10 to 15 per cent; check the receipt before leaving an extra tip. Hungary has a value-added tax of 27 per cent, included in the posted prices, so what you see is what you pay. Cards are accepted in most places, but small bars and markets may prefer cash. Avoid exchanging money at the airport or on the street.
Money across the Atlantic
Sending gifts and support
Before you send a gift, Convert HUF to USD for the sum, then check what the provider promises to deliver.
Families with members on both sides of the ocean send money, parcels and presents. A bank transfer between a Hungarian and an American account takes one to three working days and costs a fee, often with a margin on the rate. Specialised apps are usually cheaper. Before sending a large sum, Convert HUF to USD here and ask the provider for the exact amount that will arrive. A difference of more than two or three per cent suggests a better option exists.
Studying in the United States
Hungarian students attending American universities face tuition of tens of thousands of dollars a year, offset by scholarships and assistantships. A budget for a year, including tuition, housing, health insurance and food, can exceed 50,000 dollars at a private university. In forints at the invented rate this is 15 million. A scholarship that covers part is therefore decisive.
Retirement and pensions
Hungarians who worked in the United States and retired in Hungary receive American social security payments in dollars, and those who retired in the United States may receive Hungarian pensions in forints. Agreements between the countries coordinate the rights. Both groups track the rate carefully, because a swing of ten per cent changes the monthly income noticeably.
Flying to the United States
Flights and entry
Direct flights have linked Budapest with American cities in some seasons, and connecting flights through Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and other hubs reach almost any American city. A flight to New York takes about ten hours, and the time difference is six hours behind Central European Time. Hungarian citizens can travel to the United States without a visa under the visa-waiver programme, but they must obtain an electronic authorisation called ESTA before boarding. Apply only on the official government website, because imitation sites charge more.
Prices in the United States
Add tax and tip first, and then Convert HUF to USD, so that the figure in forints matches what the card will charge.
Shelf and menu prices do not include sales tax, which is added at the till and varies by state and city. In restaurants a tip of 18 to 22 per cent is expected. A coffee costs 3 to 5 dollars, a burger lunch 15 to 20, a mid-range hotel night 150 to 300. So a quoted price of 20 dollars can become 26 at the end. When you Convert HUF to USD for a menu, add a third.
Units, time and temperature
The United States uses miles, gallons and Fahrenheit. Convert km to mi converts distances, Convert L to gal relates litres to gallons, and Convert °C to °F turns Celsius into Fahrenheit. To compare times across the continent, Convert EST to PST shows the gap between the east and west coasts, and Convert CET to EET gives the one-hour step from Central to Eastern Europe.
Other forint conversions
If your trip continues
Travellers who go on to Canada can use Convert HUF to CAD, those who stop in Britain Convert HUF to GBP, and those who head to Japan Convert HUF to JPY. The euro page is Convert HUF to EUR.
A habit worth keeping
Write down the rate and date at each exchange, and compare them later with the statement. It takes seconds.
Mistakes to avoid
Forgetting tax and tip
The price you see in America is rarely the price you pay. Add tax and tip, or your budget will fall short by a quarter.
Paying in forints at the till
A terminal that offers forints is using its own rate. Choose dollars, and your bank will apply its own, usually better, rate.
Using an old rate
A rate from last month can be wrong by several per cent. The date shown beside the result protects you each time you Convert HUF to USD.
In short
The only thing fetched from the network is the table of daily rates, while your amount stays in the browser and no account is needed. From a newspaper in St Louis to a diner in New York, the routine is the same: Convert HUF to USD, read the date and compare every offer with the number on this page.