[namnguyen]

Hi everyone... please help. I was offered an opportunity to work in Hong Kong with a minimum commitment of two years. I am currently working in the United States in Washington DC and I have done some homework about how expensive it is to live in HK. I'm hoping you might be able to help me make up my mind...

How expensive is living in HK compared to say New York City or Washington DC? Are we talking about 20% in general?

More specifically: Rent, Food, Transportation, Entertainment

[PDLM]

Rent - it rather depends what sort of place you want, but I don't think a 1000 sq.ft apartment in the mid-levels is much more expensive than 1000 sq.ft in Manhattan.

Food - if you want to eat exactly the same US food brands in HK as you do in the US then it will be a bit expensive, but if you eat local HK is substantially cheaper than NY or DC. In practice overall I would say it's cheaper.

Transportation - dramatically cheaper in Hong Kong unless you want to run a car (which is an unnecessary luxury if you live in the central areas).

Entertainment - there's much less of it in HK (theatre, cinema, etc) but what there is is similarly priced.

Remember that HK salaries tax is capped at 16% (although as an American you have to deal with being taxed there even as a non-resident) and there is no sales tax.

[funnythomas]

HK is very cheap, except clubbing...and rent
but i think u really do not need to worry about money because compared with US big cities, HK is NOT expensive place

[carang]

your question is completely subjective. you need to be specific.

do you want to eat out every night and dine on steak and lobster? or are you happy eating at home or cheap eats most of the time?

do you want to go out drinking/partying every weekend or once per month?

do you want a flat with a pool and gym in a clubhouse, exclusively for tenants? or are you happy with an older walk-up?

are you happy taking the mass transit (very safe, cheap and efficient) or do you want to taxi everywhere? or even own your own car?

are you happy in 500' with one bedroom or do you need 1500' or bigger?

are you single? married? with children? have pets?

are you willing to compromise on most of the brands you are used to and get a local variation? (personally, after 13 years here, i still bring all my toothpaste, deoderant and shampoo in canada! the rest i compromise on?

do you only eat organic? or are you happy with local produce/meat?

are you happy in a smaller/cheaper flat if it means you can travel every time there is a long weekend?

do you see where i'm going with this? i'm not being nasty, but we REALLY need to know more about you and your requirements before we can help.

[namnguyen]

Thanks for your reply Carang, Funnythomas, and PDLM. To clarify per Carang's suggestion:

- do you want to eat out every night and dine on steak and lobster? NAM: I don't cook so I will eat out mostly everyday... but no fine dining. I understand it will vary place to place but in general, are we talking $10-$20 USD per day for lunch and dinner or are we talking $40-$60, etc.?

do you want to go out drinking/partying every weekend or once per month? NAM: I think it's reasonable that I will go out on avg of two times per month.

do you want a flat with a pool and gym in a clubhouse, exclusively for tenants? or are you happy with an older walk-up? NAM: I don't require all the amenities but would prefer it to be for tenants exclusively if offered.

are you happy taking the mass transit (very safe, cheap and efficient) or do you want to taxi everywhere? or even own your own car? NAM: I will not have a car and I don't mind mass transit/taxi, which ever if most convenient.

are you happy in 500' with one bedroom or do you need 1500' or bigger? NAM: I'm single and my current flat in Washington DC is 900' 2br. I guess my preference would be something between 500'-900'.

are you single? married? with children? have pets? NAM: Single with no pets

are you willing to compromise on most of the brands you are used to and get a local variation? (personally, after 13 years here, i still bring all my toothpaste, deoderant and shampoo in canada! the rest i compromise on? NAM: It would probably make sense for me to get local variation.

do you only eat organic? or are you happy with local produce/meat? NAM: local produce/meat

are you happy in a smaller/cheaper flat if it means you can travel every time there is a long weekend?
NAM: I don't mind a smaller flat but security is important for me. Can I get a reasonable flat for $1500-$2000 USD per month?

[PDLM]

Yes, it's perfectly possible to eat lunch & dinner for less than (US$20) HK$150/day. Much less in fact if you wish. But it is also very easy to spent HK$100 on one cocktail after work. You can live/eat at whatever level you want.

US$1500 (HK$12,000/month) gets you a pretty nice 5-600 sq.ft in a convenient area. US$2000 ($16,0000)/month probably gets you a convenient 8-900 sq.ft in a slightly older building. But there are lots of variations - best to get a serviced apartment for a few weeks (possible for the same sort of price) and look around.

HK is a very safe and secure place. Yes there are occasional burglaries, but they are really very rare by international standards from apartment buildings (less so if you have a village house in the country, but I guess you won't). Security is not going to be an issue anywhere (particularly compared to DC or NYC).

Overall, given your preferences I reckon living in HK would be no more expensive than NYC or DC, and probably a bit cheaper if you do most of your eating out in less flashy places (i.e. not Lan Kwai Fong etc).

[Sleuth]

Keep in mind 900 square feet in DC is more like 1300 square feet in HK. 500 square feet in HK might be 350 square feet of living space. In HK they are not measuring climate controlled living space (like in US). They are taking the dimensions of the floor/building and dividing by number of flats. More like commercial space in the US. The square foootage in HK includes corridors to elevators, and space dedicated to utilities, etc....

[KennedyCrew]

I would budget for around 450-500,000 HKD a year. Which is around 70-80k USD. I am a single UK guy (36) living here in HK, have a nice life but not a big drinker/socialite. Have a nice apartment but got it cheap (2000USD a month)

[carang]

$500,000/year is about what my hubby and i make combined. we live out of town and have 2100' house with 5 beds and 4 baths. we have a rooftop, a garden (1000') and two large balconies. we pay well less than $20k/month. we run a 7 passenger van and we also have two children, two dogs and a helper.

so that kind of money for a single person should afford you quite an extravagent lifestyle, if you don't spend too much $ on rent!

[funnythomas]

Originally Posted by carang

$500,000/year is about what my hubby and i make combined. we live out of town and have 2100' house with 5 beds and 4 baths. we have a rooftop, a garden (1000') and two large balconies. we pay well less than $20k/month. we run a 7 passenger van and we also have two children, two dogs and a helper.

so that kind of money for a single person should afford you quite an extravagent lifestyle, if you don't spend too much $ on rent!

that's really expensive................
let me share my own experience, i am a local...
i live in a 500 feet flat with brother and mum
rent is about 5000 HKD
and if u go out to eat , for example , a dinner in restaurant, maybe it will only cost u less than 30HKD ( if u eat very very locally), but must be less than 100HKD ( even if u eat much better food )

then about working, i have no job now, but for example if i need to go to central, while i live in tai po which is very far from the centre of HK, and if i take the MTR (mass transit railway/metro), it costs around 15 HKD for one way.

we have a lot of 7-11 that open 24 hours, many supermarket that open till very late, and lots of traditional chinese wet market, and most of the shopping mall close late.............

to conclude, living in HK is fun and cheap =)

(hope u understand my low level english lol)