Cost of Living in Hong Kong
Summary of cost of living in Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China):
- A family of four estimated monthly costs are 5,541.2C$ (30,839.9HK$) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are 1,564.9C$ (8,709.3HK$) without rent.
- Hong Kong is 12.9% more expensive than Columbus (without rent, see our cost of living index).
- Rent in Hong Kong is, on average, 45.6% higher than in Columbus.
Restaurants |  Edit |
Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 11.68 C$ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 89.84 C$ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 8.67 C$ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 10.38 C$ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 8.98 C$ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 7.22 C$ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) | 1.84 C$ | |
| Water (12 oz small bottle) | 1.50 C$ | |
Markets | Edit |
|
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 16.68 C$ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 2.93 C$ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 1.40 C$ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 4.97 C$ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 17.01 C$ | |
| Chicken Fillets (1 lb) | 6.12 C$ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 14.31 C$ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 2.29 C$ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 1.61 C$ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 2.33 C$ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 2.10 C$ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 1.57 C$ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 1.54 C$ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 2.53 C$ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 2.26 C$ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 21.56 C$ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 2.99 C$ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 3.87 C$ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 18.33 C$ | |
Transportation | Edit |
|
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 2.16 C$ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 89.84 C$ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 5.21 C$ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 3.04 C$ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 20.48 C$ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 16.25 C$ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 47,596.66 C$ | |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 45,046.30 C$ | |
Utilities (Monthly) | Edit |
|
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 331.54 C$ | |
| Mobile Phone Monthly Plan with Calls and 10GB+ Data | 25.00 C$ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 31.40 C$ | |
Sports And Leisure | Edit |
|
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 111.91 C$ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 12.47 C$ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 17.97 C$ | |
Childcare | Edit |
|
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 1,364.14 C$ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 30,585.16 C$ | |
Clothing And Shoes | Edit |
|
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 110.04 C$ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 56.38 C$ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 130.14 C$ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 191.37 C$ | |
Rent Per Month | Edit |
|
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 3,060.39 C$ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 2,197.26 C$ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 6,362.59 C$ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 4,302.47 C$ | |
Buy Apartment Price | Edit |
|
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 3,559.97 C$ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 2,216.90 C$ | |
Salaries And Financing | Edit |
|
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 5,390.28 C$ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 3.93 |
Prices in Hong Kong
This city had 3304 entries in the past 12 months by 458 different contributors.
Last update: November 2024
Last update: November 2024
Sources and References
Moving to Hong Kong? Explore:
Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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This page in other languages:
 DeutschLebenshaltungskosten in Hongkong
|
 PortuguêsCusto de Vida em Hong Kong
|
 ItalianoCosto della Vita ad Hong Kong
|
 FrançaisCoût de la Vie à Hong Kong
|
 EspañolCosto de Vida en Hong Kong
|
Average and median is not the same, $19800 is represented as median monthly salary according to the government data.
1. One child in primary school
2. Spouse
3. Planning to buy a small car
4. Rent a place not too far from the airport
5. Vegetarian diet
Ssince, as you wrote, you lived in Hong Kong, could I somehow contact you and talk about life there? I would love to move there, but first I'm doing some research on the cost of living and the like. I believe that talking to someone who lives there or has lived recently would give me a lot of answers. please send me a message
You mentioned the salary of HKD 105k in Hong Kong, are you talking about an annual salary or a monthly salary?
If it's a monthly salary, that's really a lot.
I'm a Hong Kong local and recently moved out to another country. If you need recommendations, I might be able to give some.
I am a 43-Year-old Shipping professional with about 7 years of experience in Dry Bulk Chartering and commercial Operations. I have applied for a job in HK and cleared all technical rounds, now it’s time for salary negotiation and my company has asked me to give my side of expectation first instead of making an offer from their side.
Now to give idea about my background:
I will be moving to HK with my family of 4 (wife, 2 kids – 13 & 9 years and me) for first year and then as I would like my mother (dependent on me) to move with me from say 2nd year onwards. I have some doubts about the living expenses.
With almost 7 years of dry bulk chartering and operations experience, I am being offered this job of AVP (Head of Commercial); I am exciting to get this opportunity as this gives me a chance to have international exposure and a leadership role. Challenges attached to this job will be lot of travelling so family had to stay back, thus will need a decent house in a good neighborhood.
I am a well-paid employee right now in India and combining it with my wife’s added support thanks to her job, I am able to save almost 40% of our monthly income (after Indian tax-30% here. I have checked the comparable analysis on various online forums like Read More and Read More and it looks like living cost in HK is almost 300% higher than what I pay in India (Mumbai).
Now as I earn almost 23000HK/month(after tax) in India and save almost 9000HK/month after my expenditure (which is not a cost- saving lifestyle in India, I enjoy my lifestyle and keep a standard living including weekend fun and a nice rented apartment).
After going through these websites, I got to know that comparable income figure in HK for me should be around 130K HK/Month (after tax) which I put in 12 months a year salary format after checking my tax and all from the HK government website (Read More) and the final figure as CTC comes up to about 1.8M (which in my opinion is quite high).
After checking various salary estimation websites like (Payscale, Glassdoor) and reading through various salary survey for HK, I got to know that I may not easily get above mentioned figure for this job of mine. The figure goes in wide range from 900,000-1.3M HKD/year depending on various sources.
Now the questions from my side are:
1) How much salary I should quote so that it looks reasonable and i don't freak out my prospective employer? Keeping that mind 17% tax structure of HK, how much I should ask so that I can maintain my current lifestyle with this challenging and exciting job?
2) I see in various responses, that in HK your package(CTC here) is divided into 13 months instead of 12 months, Can somebody confirm that, as till now I have calculated everything assuming 12 months’ salary structure.
3) Do we need to pay double tax in first year of employment in HK?
4) How salary structure is in general, I see allowance as 240,000 for married persons, except that, is house allowance, travel allowance also a component of salary or not?
5) My office will be in Central and as I have no clue about HK but heard that their public transport is great and I will stick to public transport only for daily commute, can you please suggest some areas for rented flats within 30 min distance. I will need a 3 BHK apartment as planning to move with my parents next year. How much budget I should keep for that? Will 25000 HKD/ month be good enough in those areas? If not please suggest a budget as well?
6) In Case of rent deposit, what is a bargain, I saw people having different answers for that, varying from 1.5 month-3 months of advance rent as deposit. How much is agent fee in general and how do they have agreement, is it always 1 yearly or we can have a flexible duration as well?
7) In rented flats, what all things they provide, I saw various houses and many of them have Refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioners (I heard due to hot weather it’s mandatory to have one) and microwave? Are these photos just to fool future tenants or does all these things really come with rented apartments. As I will be getting relocation, thus would like to avoid carrying the items which we get in these rented apartments otherwise will add them as well in my list of relocation.
I believe I have done some extensive research but an opinion of the people in this forum will definitely help me in deciding to go for this opportunity or not.
How much money is sufficient for a Family of four to survive in Hongkong which includes two kids one 8 years and one 4 years. Assuming both will go in international school.
If you earning 22000HKD per month.
50% for Rental + Electricity, Water (around 150-200ft non-sharing flat). You can save more if you can find 7-9K rent, i think it is okay for single person. But ask above the safety etc.
On average if you spend $150/day for food, it is $4650/month. But say you need to party per week, then maybe 8K per month for food. (40%)
So actually cannot save much. You can find cheap takeaway in HK (Like <$40 per meal), or cook at home (probably just $20 per meal).
Here’s my comment:
For anyplace rental price below $10,000 in either hk island or Kowloon, you r expecting tiny small space of around 60 to 150 sq feet.
For a salary of $ 20,000, u can survive after paying 50% for food and 50% for rental.
For a 310sq feet, 3x to 4x year old apartment in Jordan, (close to TST), I paid $12888-14500 for 3 years
For a 430 sq feet 40 year old apartment, rental was $16000-18,000, depends on condition.
Everything in hk are expensive, be prepared to living very minimally if u earn below $30,000/ month as a single person.
You could find a single place to rent for around 6k~12k hkd, depends on the quality.
22k HKD is just fine. Not much taxes you need to pay.
I am looking at immigrating to Hong Kong and so far, the vacancies I've seen offer a minimum salary of 22000HKD which is roundabout $2800USD and I am assuming this amount is the gross. Would it be a good move as a single person (no husband and no kids)? Would I have any disposable income after paying taxes and rent? Areas mentioned were Kowloon or New Territories side - is that central or will I find affordable accommodation as I prefer not to share a living space? Will I be able to have any leftover income to put into my savings? Many thanks.
Thank you very much Gid for blessing me nice life.