Cost of living in France?

Question

I'm considering moving to France, maybe permanently, maybe not, once I'm fluent in French. But how much would it cost, on average? I was mainly thinking about Paris, but I heard that's really expensive.. how expensive though? And what about cities just outside of Paris, or even further away than that? If you live in France, how much does it cost for you, where do you live, and how many people do you live with?

Thanks so much. =]

Answer 1

My girlfriend and I live in Nice (south of France ) and together we earn something between 3500€ and 5000€ a month, depending on the period.

We own our 2 bedrooms appartment since 2004,( we have a credit on it ) wich is in a nice brand new condominium with swimming pool, have a car and a (big) motorbike.

We have a nicely equiped interior (full equiped italian-design furniture, plasma-tv, computer...and a lot of high-tech gadgets !! ) and live a quite comfortable life.

We travel once a year (we are scuba divers >>tropical destinations !)

We can afford some "extras" like gym, yoga, some week-end parties in clubs and/or restaurants, romantic week-ends in Italy ...etc

I think it would be more difficult for us to live in Paris and/or around with the same budget !

I remember the cost of living when I lived in California back in the 80-90's and I would say life there was something around 20% cheaper than here !

In Paris, I estimate the cost of life around 50% more expensive than Nice...and I am not talking about buying an appartment there: U must be some kind of a millionnaire to buy an appartment IN Paris !

Answer 2

I'll start out by saying that it is quite expensive =]  Paris, specifically, is known for its high prices, but to be honest, most of the other major cities are, also.  If you're American, right now wouldn't be the best time to consider moving.  Some of our friends who live in the US came to visit us last month, and with exchange rates, wound up paying around 14 dollars per person for a cafe creme and a croissant at the cafe near my apartment.

Rents (and costs of living) are also very high, easily comparable to New York.  Parisian apartments are also much smaller than US standards (coincidentally, this applies to hotel rooms).  I live by myself, in Paris, and although my job pays very nicely, I'd imagine that I'm spending about 1.5 times what I would if I lived in Washington D.C. or Boston, for example.  The suburbs around Paris (like Neuilly) are nice, but if you work inside Paris, the daily commute is going to make you regret the slight decrease in housing costs.

Although this all may not sound all that comforting, once you get here, you're never going to want to leave.  Above all, keep up with your French, alright?  You won't regret it =)

L'espoir fait vivre !