How affordable is cost of living?

[Thomas_Schiller]

How high is cost of living in Buenos Aires? I wouldn’t have thought it would be too bad but some friends who have visited said it was more pricey than they expected.

[Mariano_Rodriguez]

Hi Thomas,

Not clear what is "more pricey than they expected" anyway here the living cost is not cheapest among similar countries in South America even it depends on your actual income / living cost.

For example (including rent + expenses, car expenses, daily life, food, etc) not doing so many crazy stuff you´ll need in my opinion a minimum of usd 1500, that´s for someone living alone in the suburbs, cooking your own meals and again not doing a lot of crazy things. If you´re a tourist and in a saving mood you can live with less of course but this is for you to have an idea.

Here the 1,00 dollar is 15.50 pesos aprox.

For example for a dinner for 2 with wine + dessert in a nice place you have to think about usd 100 + tip or more.

There are cheapest options like Mc Donald´s, a combo (big) is more or less usd 10,00... there are cheapest options

For having a better idea you have the Big Mac index, is a comparison tool where you can check the price of a Big Mac among countries (search online).

In our case (Argentina) now is ok to use that index, in the last government the price of Big Mac was "manipulated" and was maintained at a price a lot cheap compared with other burgers / combos. That was in order not to reflect the real state of our economy. Nowadays looks like the issue was solved.

Any other question you have, just ask

[Alexis_Polak]

it's depends of lots of things.
An apartment may cost between 7k and 20k pesos per month (20k pesos = 1,3K USD aprox.) depending of the neighborhood and the size of the apartment.
If you go to a restaurant, you can spend between 150 and 600 pesos per person depending on the place, but if you cook, you can spend less than 4k pesos per month for three people. Daily coffee at starbucks cost 30 pesos, and the most expensive one cost 78 pesos. The most expensive combo on McDonald's cost around 170 pesos.
The bus ticket cost between 6 and 6,5 pesos. The subway too. If you travel around 3km on taxi may cost you around 100 pesos.
You can live with 20k pesos per month (renting an apartment, cooking and moving around the city).
If you need any other info, or something more specific. Let me know !

[ivan_mulvihill]

Between 1000 and 2000 dollars per month, depending on The level of life you want to have. This includes departament, food, transportation and some exits

[Federico_Zambrano]

Well, it is not cheap. You will need around 2500u$s a month to make a cheap living.

[Juan_Farall]

The cost of living is an average of 1000 U$D a month if you include rent, food, and "extras" (in CABA at least)

[El_Patito_Ramirez]

If you are using dollars, Euros or that kind of money, Buenos Aires is cheap for you. We don't have a good economy, It's cheap for Foreigns and expensive for local people. Don't worry about cost.

[Ve_Lecko]

Hi Thomas!

I can said is nothing cheaper, your Friends are right.
I being in Londres a month ago, and the price are the same or more expensive than Europe.

Chile is cheap as Ecuador

Bon voyage!
Vera

[Eric_Dunker]

@ivan_mulvihill 's reply most acurate, something between $1000 and $2000 will be fine

[Roy_Walker]

Buenos Aires has gotten more expensive in the last few years (especially for tourists), but you're basically paying more for the same thing. I'd say its costs are like some eastern europe countries (Budapest, Prague), but electronics are way more expensive and the general service quality bar is way below (with some exceptions, of course)—not to mention the constant internet issues (tip: if you want reliability, get a backup connection).

You can live there for $2000/m, but you'll need an extra $1000 to make your stay comfortable.

[Jose_Luis_Franchino]

Hello Thomas, Its depends how do you want to live in B A. You can expend a lot of money if you want or you can live with less. Buenos Aires is one of the more expensive country in south américa food is too expensive and clothes too as well as products to clean the house or cosmetics. Here we have restaurants cafes and other enterteinment in a very wide list of prices.
Concluding: B A is not cheap but you can be beneficieted at exchenge your currency with our pesos.
I hope this was helped for you.
José

[anibal]

Yes, it is very expensive. After 10 years of inflation, prices are crazy high and Pesos (ARS) are overrated.

I've recently visited London.... and Buenos Aires has almost the same prices. A coffee: 2 GBP = 40 ARS.

There's also scarcity of certain goods, mainly caused by imports/exports restrictions. Clothes and technology have higher prices than the rest of the world.

To visit Buenos Aires, I would plan with a budget similar to visiting Europe.