Is Oxford an affordable place to live?

Question

As far as rent, food, shopping, etc.

Answer 1

Rent in Oxford depends on what type of place you are looking for. The market is understandably dominated by student housing. Some of this can be cheap but will often involve renting a room in a large house and sharing bathroom or washing facilities. Non student housing is marginally cheaper than London but not a great deal. When I first moved to a non student house in Summertown (north oxford) a couple of years ago I paid £650 pcm for a 1 bed flat.

For food shopping there are a few supermarkets in and around Oxford which will be the cheapest place to stock up. Also there's a food market in the centre of town on Wednesdays selling cheap fruit and veg, cheese, meat, fish, household goods etc.

Restaurants are reasonable, especially on Cowley Road (east Oxford) where there are many ethnic places.

High street shopping is very good in Oxford for a town of it's size. Many national chains (HMV, Xavvi, M&S, Debenhams, Boots etc etc) have a presence on Cornmarket or Queen's street in the centre of town. The Next Clearence centre in the Westgate centre sells very cheap clothes, as does Primark.

Transport is costly with regular bus journey at £1.50 or over night buses costing £2.50 for a single.

Overall, marginally cheaper than London in rent and going out, more expensive for transport, probably about the same for food.