Travel Guide : London

[faust]

Cost of living in London?

Londoners/U.K. members, need your help. My friend is entertaining an offer to join a startup company in London. What would you say one's yearly income should be to live comfortably in London? By comfortably I mean, live in a fairly decent area, not the center, but not a slum either, lease an inexpensive car, shop once in a while, go out once a week to bars/clubs, dine out one a week, etc.

 

[Curious]

Hi there, Faust!

I'm not a Londoner, but I did find an international salary calculator online that may give you a general idea. The selections are New York vs. London, but they can be modified to any country & city. Hope this helps...

http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=246&previousPage=245&cid=homefair&fromSalary=&fromCity=718&toCity=657

 

[evexa]

You want to live centrally and comfortably... I would say $45,000+

Reasons:
Food: ridiculously expensive, and not particularly good.
Travel: EEK
Rent: EEK EEK EEK

Lived there 9 years and was always in debt , wasnt even living that well.

 

[Hanne]

min. 35.000-40.000£

 

[Hipkitten]

If you don't want to live on spotted dick in a can, sleep with a toilet at your head and a kitchen sink at your feet, and shop cheap, you need more than $60,000 - $80,000 USD to live in London

 

[helena]

I would say over £50k.

 

[LadyIllusion]

You want to live centrally and comfortably... I would say $45,000+

Reasons:
Food: ridiculously expensive, and not particularly good.
Travel: EEK
Rent: EEK EEK EEK

Lived there 9 years and was always in debt , wasnt even living that well.

Can so identify with you here.
We immigrate from here at the end of this month, although its still Europe (Spain) its cheaper. London is over priced, with terrible weather, gross food, and extremely high cost of living. If you want to live comfortably, you will need in excess of £50k

 

[Hanne]

I think it really depends on the rent..what's a decent neighbourhood according to your friend ? How far out from central London is he willing to live ?
The first 30.000£ he'll make he'll only pay 25% taxes on..I'd suggest he look into the housing as a determining factor for what kind of income figure he'll except.

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/ << a big London real estate company (buying and letting) that might give him some idea..

 

[*tinkerbell*]

VERY EXPENSIVE.
One of the most expenisive places to live in the world. Houses are really high, eating, going out and travelling are all more than anywhere in the UK.

I live up North and you get so much more for your money.

 

[faust]

So, is 50k the consensus so far?

 

[Acid]

the more the merrier!
seriously u need so much. even if i go out for like a few hours during the day i waste like £20 on food or travel or some rubbish its so annoying, london is £££

 

[Alexx]

like a few hours during the day i waste like £20 on food or travel or some rubbish its so annoying, london is £££

Pff, yeah, £20 will just about get you a two way ride on the tube and a sandwich and drink in some stupidly overprices under-quality coffee shop. Then to top it all off your bound to pass several people rolling past in merceders, bentleys and alike; in central london anyway.

It's so not fair

Thankfully I live a couple of hours out of london, where prices are reasonable again

 

[Hipkitten]

So, is 50k the consensus so far?

In all actuality, 100,000 USD is more reasonable. Even then, you’ll be cutting corners. Not to long ago London overtook Tokyo for the distinction “most expensive city in the world.”

 

[mu55inthemule]

At least £30,000 but up to £50,000 if you live in a nice area.

To put it into perspective my sister in laws brother is an investment banker and rents an apartment overlooking the tower of london so nice area and drives a Porsche and he earns £130,000 plus a bonus of around £50,000 a year!

A friend of mine earns only £26,000 and lives an hour out of the city and has no car!!!

London is very very expensive!!

 

[Alexx]

The craziest thing i've ever seen was an 8 bedroom detached house just off mayfair... £26,000 a week. I thought it must have been a typing error, but it wasn't.

Who the hell has has that kind of money, it's insane!

 

[catherinea]

I am moving to London and a firend said you need minimum £15,000 to survive.

 

[stilista]

^^^ Catherina, £15 000 would allow you to live in central London - shared accomodation with 5 other people and no luxuries in your life! It would be 'surviving', but not really 'living'.

I'd say definitely £50k + for a decent lifestyle without too much worrying, but I'm sure that's the same as NY?

 

[sapphireskies]

Is London more expensive to live in than Paris?

 

[discostu]

I lived there seven years ago and paid 560 pounds a month for a bed-sit!

Just as an aside, I worked in a book shop, and many people I worked with who were well in to their 20's still lived with their parents. It seemed much more common there than in the U.S.

 

[stilista]

yep, the average age of a first time buyer in London is 36

So many successful people I know up to their mid 40's still flatshare!

My rent is quite scary. Sometimes you just wonder if it's worth it.