How much is the monthly cost of living in China for an average western couple?

Question

With my wife we want to go privately to China to live and work there (not as expats), so we would like to know the cost of living there (flat rental, dining out, monthly overhead costs). We dont intend to live on a high but rather average standard.

Answer 1

Depends on where you want to live.
I live in Shanghai.
Rent for a 130 sq meter (1170 sq feet) flat near metro line is 5000 RMB per month. Living in the burbs would cost half that.
Dining--- for 2. Can be as cheap as 12 rmb or as expensive as 2500 RMB. Average would be around 100 RMB for 2.
Electricity (500/month--more in winter/summer); ADSL (120 month); gas (50 RMB per month); water (25 RMB per month)
Transportation. (Bike--300 RMB one time cost); Probably spend less than 500 RMB per month on transport around SHANGHAI.
IN China you can spend less or more. My husbands parents make around 2500 RMB per month (2nd tier city--) and managed to send my husband to uni in the US. I know expat properties for 80,000 RMB per month.

I think you should be able to get by on 8000 RMB living on mostly Chinese stuff with a few western luxuries on occasion. This would be the minimum amount you would probably bring in as University English teachers if you were both teaching English. More money will give you more options. Eastern China is more expensive than western China. Bigger cities are more expensive than smaller cities. A smaller city is around 4 million people.

Answer 2

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RE:
How much is the monthly cost of living in China for an average western couple?
With my wife we want to go privately to China to live and work there (not as expats), so we would like to know the cost of living there (flat rental, dining out, monthly overhead costs). We dont intend to live on a high but rather average standard.

Answer 3

That really depends. You say you don't want to live at a high standard. That's good. You can probably get by fairly cheaply. It costs my husband and I about $1500 a month and we don't pay rent, but we could live on a lot less if we really wanted to. However, no matter what, you will pay more than a local person. If you plan to only eat out at Chinese restaurants, you can do it for really cheap. I haven't eaten at a Chinese restaurant for 5 years, except the occasional hot pot.

I have friends paying about $200 a month for a small apartment. It's nice. If you ride your bike everywhere, that will save you some money. You can shop at the street markets. You'll pay more than the Chinese, but not that much more. A lot of Westerners teaching at language schools get about $800 a month. I think the two of you could live on twice that easily.

Answer 4

Which city in China do you intend to live in? The living standards vary from city to city. And I don't mean small differences.

For example: In Beijing and Shanghai, only certain apartments/houses are allowed to be rented to foreigners. It is the law. The average rental for a small (500sqft) living quarter (for foreigner) is around 2000-3000 Yuan. That's about 300 US Dollars. I live in a 750sf apartment in Beijing and pay 4000 yuan a month (I am not living in the heart of the city)

In smaller city/towns, the accommodation cost is drastically reduced. In some cases, a very spacious apartment can be rented at 1000 yuan or less per month.

Food in the big cities are not expensive if you know where to find them. Eat like the locals and you are expected to pay about 40Yuan per meal for 2 persons. If you fancy fine restaurants, that's another matter. I would recommend that you cook your meals unless you are celebrating an event. it is cheaper to eat home cook meals.

So, the big question is: where do you want to live?

Answer 5

I live in Thailand where the cost of living is similar to mainland China.

Rent is $300

Food: less than a dollar a meal in restaurants

I would approximate $1000-$1500 a month all inclusive.

Answer 6

As with the other answers it depends on what kind of living standards your prepared to accept. All the answers about living in Shanghai are accurate , I live in Shenzhen which is only one hour from Hong Kong and it is considerably cheaper than Shanghai. The cost of living is whatever you want it to be, you will experience both ends of the spectrum to the extreme.

Answer 7

Very much depends on what standard... I mean Chinese standard is not your standard.

You could be expecting anything from 5$ a day to 500$ Anything in between is possible. If you can get accustomed to Chinese standard outside big cities you can even drop below 1$

Answer 8

You can do fine on $ 1000 a month. And still have money to travel around the country on. I lie in Shenzhen and that is about what it costs me.

Answer 9

8000 tt 12 000 US

Answer 10

500000 US