Convert USD to HUF US dollar ↔ Hungarian forint Free Online Secure
Type an amount in US dollar and read it in Hungarian forint 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 USD to HUF (US dollar ↔ Hungarian forint)
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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.
What a dollar bought in Hungary: five snapshots
The best way to understand the exchange rate between the American dollar and the Hungarian forint is to look at it through a few moments of history, because the pair has been through almost everything a currency can endure: hyperinflation, communism, transition, boom, crisis and war. Anyone who needs to Convert USD to HUF today does so at the end of that road. This page does the sum with the European Central Bank's reference rates, combining the dollar and forint rates against the euro, and shows the date of the rates. The text tells the story in five snapshots, each followed by what it teaches about reading the number you see now. Whatever you type remains in your browser.
Snapshot one: 1946, a currency is rebuilt
The world record of inflation
That history is why anyone who has to Convert USD to HUF should respect the idea that a currency can move a long way.
After the Second World War, Hungary suffered the worst hyperinflation ever recorded. The pengő lost value so quickly that prices doubled every fifteen hours at the peak in July 1946, notes of a hundred quintillion pengő were printed, and workers were paid twice a day so that they could spend their wages before they melted. The government introduced the forint on 1 August 1946, fixed at about eleven and a half to the dollar, and backed it with a stabilisation programme that worked.
What it teaches
The forint's origin explains the caution of Hungarians about inflation and their tendency to hold savings in foreign currency. For a visitor it explains why prices in Hungary often include numbers that look absurd. It also shows that a currency can be rescued, which is a comfort when you see the rate move.
Snapshot two: 1989, the end of one system
A dollar and the black market
In the late 1980s the official exchange rate was a political figure, and a better one could be found at the black market or in the hotels of Budapest. Travellers carried dollars and bought forints in the street for several times the official rate. Hungary was the first country in the Eastern bloc to open its border to the West in 1989, and the hunger for hard currency was intense.
The first convertibility
Travellers who Convert USD to HUF today forget how recent free exchange is in Hungary.
With the fall of communism, Hungary made the forint gradually convertible and let it devalue in small steps against a basket. The step-by-step approach, called a crawling peg, kept the economy stable during the shock of transition. Visitors from America who came in the early nineties found Budapest astonishingly cheap, and many of them stayed.
A note on the dollar's role
Even today, a number of Hungarian contracts for energy, aircraft and machinery are priced in dollars. That tradition goes back to the days when the dollar was the currency of foreign trade, and it explains why Hungarian importers watch this pair so closely.
Snapshot three: 2001, the tidy years
A band and a target
Investors who had to Convert USD to HUF in those years enjoyed unusually high interest.
In 2001 Hungary adopted inflation targeting and widened the band within which the forint could move, and the currency became more stable. Foreign investors poured in, attracted by high interest rates and the prospect of European Union membership. Car factories were built in Győr, Esztergom and Kecskemét, and American companies set up service centres in Budapest.
What a dollar bought
At the time, a dollar bought a few hundred forints, and a lunch in a Budapest restaurant cost the equivalent of three or four dollars. For Americans, Hungary was a bargain destination. The same applied to the thousands of students who came to Budapest to study medicine in English, paying fees in dollars and spending in forints.
Snapshot four: 2011, the Swiss franc crisis
The mortgages that went wrong
Before 2008, hundreds of thousands of Hungarian households took out mortgages in Swiss francs, because the interest was far lower than on forint loans. When the franc surged, the debt grew by a third or more, and the government forced the banks to convert the loans into forints at a favourable rate. The affair damaged the forint and the banking sector, and it is still a warning to anyone who borrows in a foreign currency.
The dollar in that story
Americans were not directly involved, but the episode raised the dollar in the eyes of Hungarians as a safer currency, and demand for dollar accounts grew. The lesson was the same as for the franc: be careful with debts in a currency different from your income.
Snapshot five: 2022, war and energy
A currency under pressure
Companies that had to Convert USD to HUF during that spring added generous margins to every contract.
In 2022, the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis and a dispute with the European Union over funds pushed the forint to record lows against the dollar and the euro. Hungary relies on imported gas, which is priced partly in dollars, and inflation rose above twenty per cent. The central bank raised its base rate to eighteen per cent and, for a time, even its overnight rate to above that.
What a dollar bought
For Americans, Hungary became cheaper than ever. A dollar bought well over four hundred forints at the lowest point, and a night in a four-star hotel in Budapest cost about a hundred dollars. The weak forint was also a source of hardship for Hungarians who had to import goods or pay debts abroad.
Using the converter today
Dollars in, forints out
Every time you Convert USD to HUF here, the answer comes without decimals, since forints are written as whole numbers.
Type the amount in dollars. The page combines the dollar and forint rates against the euro and shows the result in forints, without decimals, with the date of the rates. At weekends and on holidays you see the last published rate, and the page says so.
Table and line
Beneath the converter a table lists common amounts from one dollar to five thousand, and a line follows the last thirty days. Given the forint's history, the line is worth a glance before any large payment. For the opposite direction, Convert HUF to USD applies the same rates the other way.
Visiting Budapest with dollars
Prices in a usual week
It takes a moment to Convert USD to HUF for a coffee, a lunch and a thermal bath ticket, and the sums will look ordinary.
A main course in a good restaurant costs between eight and fifteen dollars, a coffee two, a beer three, a day ticket at a thermal bath twenty to thirty. Public transport is cheap, with a 24-hour ticket under five dollars. If you Convert USD to HUF for these sums before you go, the four-digit prices on the menu will not alarm you.
Exchange offices and their boards
Budapest's exchange offices are notorious for boards that show an attractive rate for a high minimum sum or add a hidden commission. Look for an office with two clear figures and a small spread, and ask the total in forints before handing over your dollars. A bank cash machine usually gives a better rate than any counter.
Cards and terminals
Road signs in Hungary are in kilometres, and Convert KM to MI turns a distance into miles; a neighbouring trip to Transylvania calls for Convert USD to RON.
Cards are accepted almost everywhere. When a terminal asks whether you want to be charged in dollars, choose forints, because the operator's conversion is usually three to six per cent worse than your bank's.
Americans in Hungary
Students, teachers and entrepreneurs
Those who Convert USD to HUF for rent each month often set up a standing transfer on the same day.
Americans study medicine in Debrecen and Budapest, teach English in schools around the country and open cafés and start-ups in the capital. Rents in Budapest are lower than in most western capitals, and a flat in a central district costs between four hundred and eight hundred dollars a month. They are paid in forints or in dollars, and the rate decides their real standard of living.
Hungarian Americans
Some one and a half million Americans claim Hungarian ancestry, with communities in Cleveland, New Brunswick and New York. Many return to the villages of their ancestors, and many send money to relatives. For a remittance of two hundred dollars a month, the choice of provider matters more than the daily movement of the rate.
Hungarian science and Hungarian dollars
Hungary has produced many scientists, among them Katalin Karikó, whose work on messenger RNA helped make the Covid vaccines possible. American universities, companies and foundations pay researchers in dollars, and the money flows both ways.
Studying medicine in Hungary on dollars
Why Americans choose Debrecen and Szeged
Families that Convert USD to HUF for a year of study usually split the tuition and the living costs into separate lines.
Several Hungarian universities run full medical programmes in English, and a good number of students come from the United States, Canada, Israel and Germany. Tuition is lower than at American private schools, the diploma is recognised in the European Union and many graduates return to the United States for residencies. The fee is usually quoted in dollars or euros, while rent, food and transport are in forints, so the exchange rate affects only part of the budget. A student who has to Convert USD to HUF each month for living costs finds that a weak forint raises their purchasing power.
Typical tuition runs from fourteen to twenty thousand dollars a year, living costs between six and ten thousand. A room in a shared flat costs between 80,000 and 150,000 forints a month; a meal at the university canteen is in the range of 1,500 to 2,500. Students typically pay the tuition in two instalments, and many convert enough dollars to cover them as soon as the rate looks reasonable.
Exams, paperwork and money
Foreign students need a residence permit, health insurance and proof of means. The proof is stated in forints or in euros, and the dollar amount that satisfies it depends on the day. Keep a printout showing the rate and its date, and ask the immigration office which source it prefers.
Financial aid and loans
American students can apply for federal loans for study abroad at approved institutions, which are paid in dollars to the student's account. Others rely on scholarships or family. In every case, the dollar-forint rate determines whether a given sum covers a year's living expenses or falls a little short.
Business: American firms in Hungary
Manufacturing and services
For the euro leg of the same chain, Convert EUR to USD shows how the supplier's euro invoices relate to the parent's dollar accounts.
General Electric, Microsoft, IBM and other American companies have large operations in Hungary, including factories, software centres and shared-service offices. Wages are paid in forints, supplies are bought in euros, and the parent reports in dollars. A strong forint raises costs in dollar terms; a weak one lowers them. Treasury departments watch the pair as closely as they watch the euro.
Exporting to the United States
An exporter who must Convert USD to HUF for each shipment often agrees a rate clause with the buyer.
Hungarian firms export cars, medicines, electronic parts and wine to the American market. Contracts are often in dollars for sales in North America, and exporters hedge their exposure by selling dollars forward. A Hungarian winemaker who sells a container to a distributor in New Jersey receives dollars months after harvest, and the exchange rate between order and payment can turn a profit into a loss.
Tax and compliance
A Hungarian invoice in dollars must show the VAT converted into forints at the rate of the Hungarian National Bank on the date of the supply. Hungarian accountants use that rate, which may differ slightly from the reference rate here. Check with your accountant which source applies to you.
Goods that cross the ocean
Paprika, Tokaji and porcelain
Hungarian paprika, the sweet wine of Tokaj, Herend porcelain and Zsolnay ceramics are exported to American specialty shops. American buyers often prefer to pay in dollars at a price set by the importer. Visitors to Hungary can buy the same goods at the source, usually for less, and claim back VAT at the border if they live outside the European Union.
Goods from America
Hungarians order electronics, clothes and books from American sites. After changes in European customs rules, import VAT of twenty-seven per cent is charged on every parcel, the highest rate in the Union, and customs duty on higher values. The final price is often forty per cent above the converted headline.
Car imports
Some used cars are imported from the United States, bought at auction in dollars and shipped to Hungary. Costs include auction fees, sea freight, customs, VAT and adaptation to European standards. The converted auction price is a small part of the final bill.
Reading Hungarian money
Notes and coins
Banknotes are issued in 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 forints, with portraits of kings, statesmen and scientists, and coins in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200. The one- and two-forint coins were withdrawn in 2008, and cash totals are rounded to the nearest five. The 20,000 note is the largest, and it is not always welcome in small shops, so keep a mixture of smaller notes.
Prices on menus and in shops
Hungarian prices are written with a space for thousands, as in 12 500 Ft, and sometimes with a full stop, as in 12.500 Ft. Both mean twelve thousand five hundred. A comma marks decimals, which rarely appear. Restaurants may add a service charge of ten to fifteen per cent to the bill, which is stated on the menu or the receipt.
Tipping
If service is not included, ten per cent is customary, given in cash or added to the card payment when the waiter asks. Leave the tip in forints, not dollars, so that the staff can use it.
Neighbours of the pair
Euro, franc and the region
Hungary trades mostly with the euro area, so Convert USD to EUR and Convert EUR to HUF often complete a calculation. For the franc loans there is Convert CHF to HUF, and for the neighbours Convert USD to PLN and Convert USD to CZK.
Time
Hungary is six hours ahead of New York. Convert EST to CET shows the winter gap, which changes by an hour for a short time in spring and autumn.
Mistakes when you Convert USD to HUF
The space between thousands
Hungarians write thousands with a space, so 2 500 Ft is two thousand five hundred. Do not read it as two and a half.
Believing the board in the window
An exchange board that shows a great rate for a big sum is bait. Ask the total for your own sum.
An old figure
A rate from last month may be out by several per cent. The date beside the result is there to prevent that.
Short answers
How do I Convert USD to HUF here?
Type the dollars in the first field. The page shows the forints at the latest reference rates, with their date.
Why no decimals?
Because forints are written in whole numbers. The page rounds to the nearest forint.
Private by design
Only the table of rates is fetched. The number you type never leaves your browser, and no account is needed. It is a quiet way to Convert USD to HUF without telling a website what you plan to spend.
The takeaway
To Convert USD to HUF, enter the dollars and read the forints at the European Central Bank's latest reference rates, with their date. Treat the figure as the midpoint of the market, remember the pair's history of big moves, pay in forints and compare every quote with the reference.