Cost of Living in Singapore

I'm a full-time,Latin American PhD student with a SGD 2700 scholarship, living with my wife on campus.

We spend 1600 on rent, 400 on food (4 times a day, generally we cook), 50 on transportation (we cycle) and 100 on 'Others'. We invest the rest in unit trusts.

You can have an incredible quality of life just being austere and financially smart. S'pore shopping culture is very intense and promotes overconsumption, yet you have plenty of options to consume.

You can go to wholesale market at Tanjong Pagar or buy reduced to clear veggies at Giant or you can buy at Cold Storage: it's up to you being a spoiled person who doesn't know how to manage your income.

Westerns (specially Europeans and Anglo-Saxons) live above their income to sustain their posh, pretentious, and privileged way of life, yet they have a lot to learn from this pro-market welfare state that is S'pore.

The international school, the maid, the Grab, the ordered food, insurance, the country club membership. Neither you nor your family needs that. Go local, eat chicken rice, drink Kopi, send your kids to a MOE school, use MRT, do volunteering, do CPF.

Be humble and discreet: You're not royalty just because you come from a colonialist country.

Hi guys,

I want to join conference in Singaopre in the coming September. I will stay for about a week, but I wonder if the living cost is so expensive. Actually i like to visit Singapore. Averagely how much cost I need to expense for a week?

Thanks!

For short term experience, yes. $2.5k USD is more than enough with accommodation settled. For long term no unless you intend to be a bartender for life.

Varun - if you are frugal you can rent a single room which goes for about $1.2k SGD. 1 bedroom apartments from $2.5k onwards depending on your appetite. Otherwise more than enough.

I have been offered SGD$9892 per month pre tax as a salary. Is this enough for a single man living and working in Singapore?

Now prices have come down, life is actually pretty good here.

Compared with Switzerland, London, or California it is very affordable here.

I want to visit and work at singapore but how can you help me please,
Am a sierra leonean but i love everything about singapore my second country in the world

Real Singaporean here. If you’re earning at least $6k (single) you might be able to live in Singapore and not suffer. Groceries varies on how much you cook. Eating out is cheaper than cooking, you can get a decent meal at the hawker for $5-20 depending what you order. Transport is cheap, don’t need a car, roughly $40-50 a month. Rent is the killer, $2400 and above for one bed room apartment. Or you can rent 1 room ($800-1200) with other tenants in a house but you get less privacy. You want to know what rental market is like in Singapore you can use PropertyGuru website to gage. Decent night life (can be expensive) but limited art/creativity for this place. The best thing that many expats would say is traveling to nearby countries. Bangkok/Taiwan/Korea/Malaysia/Bali and etc. Airticket cost $150-300 depending on location.

**If you have kids/family this is not a right place for your kids, you can read about it online or comments below.

Hi,

Just considering moving toward my career path, what are your thought if I could have 2 persons with total income around 15k~ no kids?

Would I be able to save some money and live in a decent apartment?

Born and bred Singaporean male for 25 years.

Moved elsewhere this year due to staggering cost of living and no hopes of owning/renting a home.

Youre better off elsewhere if your a mid-income earner 3-6k SGD /month

Salary of 11K is enough. ? with wife and 2 primary school kids?

Rentals are going up with crushing speed...hdb asking premium segment price and condo following to keep a pace acrossing Citi outskirts over 5.5K per mark

Avg salary 5-6K, workpass issues at 3.5K and 6K minimum. Current rental pricing 1 bed 3.5K. Hdb 3 bed asking price 4-5k. Only option is co-living if allowed.

Rental prices are going crazy as high as high $25000 to non luxury two bedroom $4200 Condo.... HDB still so high range $6000 to $3800.

https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/listing/23153173/for-rent-marina-bay-residences

Schools\Food and other spending... if someone pay rental/school/tax I guess 8000K even not good enough. But probably work in some cases... no idea any comments?

can 7500 SGD per month is sustaiable salary for family of 3 (husband/wife/3 year kid)......E pass...no 13 month salary...no health insurance by employer .....no accomodation by employer is given.....

Recent days prices are gone up like anything A Singaporean couple shared how their entire budget shoot up then loan rate increased from 2-3%. Government trying for their Citizen to cushion as possible (good thing) and most of them possibly manage to with some impact (like all other countries).
Horror stories are those paying rental.... As usual like other countries property agents work to keep pushing rental prices up and forcing existing tenants to look somewhere else. Prices has gone up by 70% (as article published). Reality is more complex probably rental double up in some cases and even asking price is going up every month…. infect people become greedy to ask $500 more with each ask…

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/housing-rent-prices-expats-70-increase-landlords-tenants-3060231

Howmuch an couple needs per month including or excluding rent for appartement.

the median monthly gross income in sg is 4.5k including compulsory govt CPF (equivalent of 401k) deductions of 20%. net income would be around 3.6k.

the average non-white collar singaporean earns about 2-3k salaries and are able to survive as they don't rent and live with family who own a house. not much of a rental culture in singapore.

a single expat will be able to live comfortably on 5-6k/month if they don't splurge on restaurants daily and take public transport (it takes max 1.5 hours to travel the country from one end to the other on our trains).

if you are bringing school-going kids, private schools for foreigners are expensive (2-3k monthly per kid). companies should cover healthcare insurance.

main expense will be rental. the prices are quite accurate but take note it will keep rising as property prices are skyrocketing in the past few years. a 2 bedroom HDB flat that can house a family of 3 in the suburbs (tampines, yishun, jurong, etc) would be about 2-3.5k give or take, the closer you are to town/city center area it would be around 4-5k.

Condominiums are pricier than HDB flats but have security guards and facilities like swimming pools and slightly more privacy and quietness (but you can run into bad neighbours anywhere). there are no crime hotspots.

usually singaporeans don't live in town unless they have rich families or they want to emulate the high flyer rich businessman lifestyle (i.e. steve in keppel bay in the comments below)

Hello everyone!
Is a salary of 6000S$ enough for a family of three ( Husband, wife and 1 year old kid)? Can we rent a house for about 3000S$?

Wish to live in Singapore and setup a business. Whats the stake?, what kind of business would b very lucrative in Singapore. What's the business environment like in Singapore? Replies needed pls. Thanks

these are some major supermarkets in Singapore.

https://www.fairprice.com.sg/
https://giant.sg/
https://www.allforyou.sg/
https://coldstorage.com.sg/ - this is at higher price end.

you may watch youtube on Singapore too to source cheap place to eat around the area

if you work in CBD area, high chance of you staying in Orchard - expensive
if you work in Changi, high change of you staying in Bedok, Tampines.

you do not need to stay in Condo/Apartment, for a 2A + 1 Child, renting a 3 room flat is quite decent.

Overall Singapore is a very nice country to live in.

Btw I am a local Singaporean earning only S$4k per month.

I am suggesting a school for anyone who has a good income or a company willing to pay school fees for their children. Singapore American School. It is a very high quality school. There are many great teachers and a good school for kids of all ages.

@molly 8k per year??? Thats not enough but if its month you should be fine...

I've been living here in Singapore for the past 16 years and these prices are mostly too high. For instance, my in-laws rent out their 3 bedroom apartment for a little over S$2000 per month.
I typical McDonald's meal can be had for as low as S$6.00. A meal from a Hawker center can be easily had for under S$4.00
What grocery store was this data harvested from? If you shop at NTUC Fairprice (where most locals shop) prices are MUCH LOWER.

It seems the prices above are for ex-pats with a large budget who live in the heart of the Central Business District or some other high-end place. The prices listed here are well above what the average citizen would pay.

Hi, I need a post at your sites please let me know the price for the post.I am waiting for your reply. Thanks

I am getting paid around 30000 SGD worth in indian rupees in India. Is it worth for me to move to singapore in search of a better job ?