[The Pearl]

Hi All,

I may be movinng to HK soon. It would be great if someone could advise how much it will cost for basic living expenses, food, transport, laundry etc. Will 10 000HKD be enough?
How much should I expect to pay for food monthly, channces are I will be eating out most of the time.

[discobay]

All nominations are in HKD:
food: I would allow 20 for breakfast, 40-80 for lunch and same for dinner if you eat in,
transport: depends on distance and location (no really!) but allow for 15 in most cases or 30+ if you live way out,
laundry: fairly cheap to drop off and collect but am out of touch as we do it ourselves,
dry cleaning: 50+ per two-piece suit,
landline: 100+ per month
mobile: 50+ per month,
electricity: 1200+ per month,
gas: 600+ per month,
water: 200 per month.
If you are eating out in the evenings the cost can vary a lot. Eating local tucker will only cost around 20 but eating Japanese teppanyaki will cost you 300+.

[saltwater]

HK is such a city of extremes. Many people get by on 5k or even less than that a month, you just have to ask yourself how much is enough?

10k is plenty if you don't mind cooking at home or eating at the cheaper restaurants. Laundry costs around $40 a week, transport is cheap, mobile phone is $200 a month or less etc so living on 10k can be done.

The thing that can get you is drinking at LKF / Wan Chai / Soho, where its easy to go through 1 or even 2k in one night, or eating out where a meal can easily cost $250 or more. If you're careful with money, 10k will do you fine, but you may find yourself being frustrated at not being able to go out as much as you'd like.

ps I live in two bedroom apartment and my electricity is only $200 mth, gas is around $100 mth, broadband $250 mth.

[KnowItAll]

http://www.geoexpat.com/about-hong-k...ng-kong-style/

[Emuse]

How then, if HK is so costly in comparison to the rest of the world, are so many of us able to get by quite comfortably on such a low salary? I make on the low end of my pay scale 25k, but I know those that get by quite comfortably on 15k or even 10k a month. Its simply a matter of finding a good deal on rent, and watching your money carefully. Perhaps even walking a bit more instead of catching a taxi too often.

Compare that instead to the US where in most places, public transportation is not an option. I was stretched thin in the US given to the fact that everything I earned went into my car and rent. The major expense is the automobile. For example (in USD), $200 for car payment, $120 a month auto insurance, $200 petrol, $100 for misc repair/maintenence.

Thats almost 5,000 HKD every month just for a car which is an absolute necessity in the parts I lived. Without that burden, HK is in fact a very cheap city owing almost entirely to its well developed infrastructure and public transport. In additon, food prices here are extraordinarily well priced and its quite possible to eat a meal out at 20-25 HKD regularly every day (minus extras of course). In the US, eating out is much more expensive and is about 40-45 HKD minumum. Take for example the ice cream cone at McDonalds. Its $2 HKD here as compared to $9.50 HKD in the US. I firmly believe that McDonalds ice cream cones are a direct indication of an economy's well-being.

[The Pearl]

Thanks for the info. It's very useful. I found a place close my place of work so that should save me quite a bit. Also I love the local food so I guess I should be ok.

[cerberus]

emuse, are you one of those sleepers working for the PRC gov't we've been hearing about? so positive, so optimistic.
what you said is true in many ways but also quite inaccurate because it's all very subjective. the burden of owning a car? yes, costs money, there's traffic but also a trade off: no obnoxious a-holes screaming on the phone/sneezing/hawking phlegm/farting right next to you, no hordes of people at all hours of the day, no changing trains/buses/sweating it out etc etc...you see where i'm coming from right? for some, such as myself, after having experienced HK's transport sys, paying a bunch of money for a car wasn't such a bad deal. and while transportation in HK's developed, it's also suspiciously expensive: i spend roughly 1500 a month on MTR/bus alone. how come there's no monthly pass for example? dare i call "rip off"?
as for prices, a cone in the US isn't HKD9.50. you gotta use purchasing power parity or whatever they call it, in which case i think the two are about the same: if applying the big mac index then one USD is only about HKD4.
and to answer the original question, i think you need around 20K min to feel secure in HK and still have a life worth waking up for.

[fly]

Also bear in mind the "local food" doesn't imply canto cuisine, its more like a version of local fast-food, with fried rice, char siu / chicken lunchboxes-types of meal.

[Katanga]

Agree with fly...you could eat "local" food for HKD20-30 but that is not the best food for your health....you will need more moeny for your medical expenses if you plan to live on char siu and rice evryday.

[Laughing_Monkey]

rent's a killa!