Time for a change - cost of living in Hungary

padleys wrote:

cost of living

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

Hello padleys

Welcome to Expat.com

So as to have a better idea of the cost of living in Hungary, I invite you to check out our section Cost of living in Hungary.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

In terms of real estate, here's a "local" website ingatlan.com
If you just look up "real estate Budapest", you'll mostly get "foreign investor" kind of websites

Also in the case of accomodation, you can check out real life prices in a wide range in greatforest.hu, the countries second biggest city. It's kind of representative. Also the food  usually costs for a month for an individual, who is not cooking for him/her self many times, around 40-80 thousand HUF (~ 125 - 250 EUR). If you go by public transportation a monthly ticket is around 7-9 thousand HUF (~ 22 - 28 EUR). Taxies usually cost 1,5 - 2 EUR / Km. Hope it helped

Please note that the capital city Budapest (where you are most likely to end up) is an order of magnitude larger than the other towns in the country, like Debrecen. Prices are higher, living conditions and availability of services are completely different too. It's a bit like trying to deduce the public opinion in the USA from the PR materials of the third biggest political party.

http://bit.ly/1C2onOE

For my retired husband and I  living in Budapest is very cheap.
I am too young for SS at the moment so we live on his SS only.
We still have a blast and save around half his SS every month for travel or whatever.
We basically live like average Hungarians, cook at home because for one it is healthier and we cook better then most restaurants do.
My husband is Hungarian so he tends to do the shopping in the markets. If I am with him and speak in English, we find prices usually go up.
I will show him what we need and walk away and let him haggle with prices.
Years of experience have proven this is the best way not to be ripped off.
I  would like to move away from Hungary in the near future, not exactly a place that fits my way of thinking of living.
Just got lazy living here for so cheap. In the US we would go through our money in less then 2 weeks and not save a thing.
It is a good time to buy something in Budapest if that's what you want to do, really cheap now, We have already lost over 30% on what we paid for our flat 8 years ago. Not sure how much lower the prices can or will go from now on. To sell now would be a loss for us and a gain for someone else.
I don't think you can live cheaper anywhere in Europe right now, even Romania costs more for property these days then HU does.
I know I said Hungary was a blast but for me only in the warm weather months, not for me in the winter. If you could figure out a way to leave for sunny weather for 6 months a year, Hungary would be perfect for a long vacation spot.
We used to live that way when we worked for 6 months a year in the US. A good option for those still young enough with the energy to travel, start over 2 times a year in a new culture. A bit of a shock to the system for many people to pick up a move every 6 months though.

I have lived in Hungary for 4 years now. The price of living here without US dollars, is very hard, so if you can't retire or get pension from the US... find another place.

I agree, if you are working for forints, life could get hard here in HU. Unless of course you make millions of forints a month!
We know many senior aged people in Hungary who only worked in Hungary that are living pretty good, not wealthy but all their needs are covered. Of course most live with one or two relations and share costs.
If you want to get rich then HU is probably not the place to do it.
If you want a simple life then it can be done here.
We waited a long time to move over here because we still worked in the US. It takes time to get your do in life. Working in the US is stressful compaired to what we hear about working in HU.
I wouldn't know, never worked in HU but my husband worked here for 9 years in his youth, nothing to show for it, not enough time to collect in Hungary from SS.
Really it is a shame because he actually worked hard even though we often hear how "lazy" people were in the soviet times. He did piece work as a skilled machinist, so it was up to him to produce. He worked as a taxi driver in Budapest in the late 1960;s when the only way for an average person to drive was to be a professional driver.
He at that time made more money then both his parents put together.
I wonder what the future holds for Hungary, not exactly lookin' good right now.