A newsletter for expats in Buenos Aires

[Argentina Expat]

That would be very helpful and interesting! Most don't post prices online however so you'd have to go to them. That would be a fun project.

Google Maps usually has pictures of menus - really easy to find info, just very laborious

 

[Spend Thrift]

Google Maps usually has pictures of menus - really easy to find info, just very laborious

Yes but many times when I look the photos of the menus aren't updated. Annoying when the prices change so often.

 

[Larry]

Hey all,

The survey is out!

It ended up being just about Buenos Aires (lack of responses in other areas).

Interesting facts:

- Median cost of living is $1,550
- Median rent is $650
- Rent is almost always 40% of total monthly expenses

Here's more information: https://argentinaexpat.com/cost-of-living-buenos-aires/

Thank you for sharing. The project turned out nice. It's a good idea to update in 6 months. I have a feeling prices will totally change in 6-12 months. The restaurant prices from this time last year are already over double the price from last year. Utility bills are also double or triple too and expensas same.

 

[earlyretirement]

Great job @Argentina Expat compiling all the data together. Over 22 years working with expats and investors that often times live in Argentina for long stretches of the year, I've found that these kinds of budgets will greatly differ from one person to the next with the biggest expense definitely being housing. I agree with you getting a larger sample size is important.

I also believe that the prices across the board will be higher in the next year. As others have mentioned, there have been big jumps up in utility rates, monthly condo fees, healthcare costs, and other things. Inflation has slowed down but it's still high on an annual basis. Things like transportation will also most likely continue going up.

Thanks for sharing your information. That's what it's all about.

 

[Flamingo]

Great info seems to be inline with albeit slightly more, $1550 vs $1488 more than what's shown here.

The Earth Awaits - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Check out my cost of living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a family of 2!

www.theearthawaits.com

But I love how your report has it broken down into greater detail.

That is a neat website @FuturoBA. Thank you @Argentina Expat for sharing the URL. I often have friends ask me how much they would need to have a good life here. I often times tell them about $2,000 USD per month so it is about what you posted. I would probably increase that a bit with the rise of the cost of items now. I assume in your survey you didn't ask them any budgeting questions about vacations or on estimated costs to fly back home? Most of my friends that are expats here have to budget and save and plan for an annual trip back home. That is also a big expense for them as flight prices are expensive here.

 

[Surfer]

That's cool of you to put this together @Argentina Expat. Do you know how many expats there are living in Buenos Aires? I read some estimates of 30,000 but didn't know if that was accurate or just a random guess? For as much complaining I read or hear from some people, it sounds like cost of living is still cheap there. Albeit not as cheap as last year but still a great deal compared to many places.

 

[Argentina Expat]

That's cool of you to put this together @Argentina Expat. Do you know how many expats there are living in Buenos Aires? I read some estimates of 30,000 but didn't know if that was accurate or just a random guess? For as much complaining I read or hear from some people, it sounds like cost of living is still cheap there. Albeit not as cheap as last year but still a great deal compared to many places.

Hah that's a million-dollar question

30,000 is probably the minimum - that's easy to estimate just by looking at the number of people in FB groups.

However, I've been running FB ads recently. And Facebook gives you a cool targeting option.

If you select:

- Buenos Aires
- Expat
- Speaks English

The number ends up being around 100,000 people!

(I'm talking about English-speaking Western expats - if we count in Russians and Latin Americans the number jumps up considerably).

So it maybe correct, or Facebook might be overestimating the number.

In either case, it's a lot

 

[Surfer]

Hah that's a million-dollar question

30,000 is probably the minimum - that's easy to estimate just by looking at the number of people in FB groups.

However, I've been running FB ads recently. And Facebook gives you a cool targeting option.

If you select:

- Buenos Aires
- Expat
- Speaks English

The number ends up being around 100,000 people!

(I'm talking about English-speaking Western expats - if we count in Russians and Latin Americans the number jumps up considerably).

So it maybe correct, or Facebook might be overestimating the number.

In either case, it's a lot

Thanks for that info. I would assume that there are probably a lot of expats on FB that maybe don't live in BA full time but just passing through. But lots of information for many expat FB groups is off. I probably see more wrong answers vs. correct on various FB groups that I belong to. FB is probably over estimating the amount so they can sell you advertising. I don't use FB for more than just groups and stuff.

It seems like a lot of Russians are moving there for good reason. And I would imagine a lot more Venezuelans are heading there too. Keep up the great work!

 

[Pink Panther]

Hah that's a million-dollar question

30,000 is probably the minimum - that's easy to estimate just by looking at the number of people in FB groups.

However, I've been running FB ads recently. And Facebook gives you a cool targeting option.

If you select:

- Buenos Aires
- Expat
- Speaks English

The number ends up being around 100,000 people!

(I'm talking about English-speaking Western expats - if we count in Russians and Latin Americans the number jumps up considerably).

So it maybe correct, or Facebook might be overestimating the number.

In either case, it's a lot

Thanks for providing the estimate. Looks to be solid numbers and mine is a little higher than that but in the ballpark. I routinely hear that it's around 30,000 to 40,000 expats here but maybe more with people coming and going and not here full time. Thanks for putting the survey together.

 

[Jenn]

Thanks for providing the estimate. Looks to be solid numbers and mine is a little higher than that but in the ballpark. I routinely hear that it's around 30,000 to 40,000 expats here but maybe more with people coming and going and not here full time. Thanks for putting the survey together.

Some of the FB groups the people sound so dumb. And some of the answers to questions seem to be wrong. I went the other day and saw people complaining about how bad the steaks are there. Strange. I unjoined the group after I read that post.

 

[Vero]

Some of the FB groups the people sound so dumb. And some of the answers to questions seem to be wrong. I went the other day and saw people complaining about how bad the steaks are there. Strange. I unjoined the group after I read that post.

I noticed the same thing on some Facebook groups. Some groups are better than others. Typically there is is still good information on some of them.

 

[Piranha]

Hey all,

The survey is out!

It ended up being just about Buenos Aires (lack of responses in other areas).

Interesting facts:

- Median cost of living is $1,550
- Median rent is $650
- Rent is almost always 40% of total monthly expenses

Here's more information: https://argentinaexpat.com/cost-of-living-buenos-aires/

Thanks for taking the time to share this!

 

[Man of Steel]

Hey all,

The survey is out!

It ended up being just about Buenos Aires (lack of responses in other areas).

Interesting facts:

- Median cost of living is $1,550
- Median rent is $650
- Rent is almost always 40% of total monthly expenses

Here's more information: https://argentinaexpat.com/cost-of-living-buenos-aires/

Thanks @Argentina Expat for sharing the results. Seems on the low side of what I'm spending but my rental apartment is much more expensive than these listed. But very helpful. Thank you.

 

[Billy Goat]

Depends.

According to lawyers and realtors I’m talking to, 2024 so far was the busiest time when it comes to foreigners coming here and especially buying properties.

Love him or hate him, a lot of people have more confidence in Argentinian economy since Milei got elected and there is a big wave now to purchase properties which are at record low prices.

Time will tell, but if they release a golden visa like they have in other countries we should see an absolute avalanche of people coming here.

Most people who are coming are looking to stay here for a few months out of the year and compared to US prices, Argentina is still incredibly affordable (hell, compared to Serbian prices it’s still affordable).

@Argentina Expat. I don't think this is correct about 2024 being the busiest time when foreigners came and bought properties. I remember back around 2004/2005/2006 many many were here. Foreigners were buying up tons of properties. I don't see that kind of thing right now. Sounds like things are picking up but this year was nothing compared to back then.

 

[Argentina Expat]

Well a lot of service professionals were in their teens or early twenties then - guess they didn't have a lot of work experience 20 years ago

 

[Betsy Ross]

Well a lot of service professionals were in their teens or early twenties then - guess they didn't have a lot of work experience 20 years ago

That is one way of looking at it if many of the people you are talking to don't have much experience back then. Correct that was very busy. Let's see if we get that kind of volume. Probably not until people see if Milei will be successful. Let's see how this recession turns out.

 

[Digital Nomad]

This article talks about rent prices in Buenos Aires being 8.5 X less than rent in Los Angeles but also some of the financial challenges.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91171637/digital-nomads-face-harsh-remote-payday-realities-these-are-the-3-main-challenges

 

[Argentina Expat]

This article talks about rent prices in Buenos Aires being 8.5 X less than rent in Los Angeles but also some of the financial challenges.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91171637/digital-nomads-face-harsh-remote-payday-realities-these-are-the-3-main-challenges

I read it, but I'm not sure how much I agree with that.

For example, if you're paying 3-10% transfer fees, that is a lot... but if your rent (the biggest expense for most people) went down 85%, then you're still extremely happy to be living outside of the US.

Let's say your transfer fees are 5%. If you're spending $2k/month, that ends up being $100/month - not an insignificant amount of money.

But if your rent went down from $4500/month to $500/month, you're now saving $4k/month.

Even if we adjust the numbers, the math still works out in favor of Argentina, even with current price hikes.

 

[Betsy Ross]

I read it, but I'm not sure how much I agree with that.

For example, if you're paying 3-10% transfer fees, that is a lot... but if your rent (the biggest expense for most people) went down 85%, then you're still extremely happy to be living outside of the US.

Let's say your transfer fees are 5%. If you're spending $2k/month, that ends up being $100/month - not an insignificant amount of money.

But if your rent went down from $4500/month to $500/month, you're now saving $4k/month.

Even if we adjust the numbers, the math still works out in favor of Argentina, even with current price hikes.

I think that most expats coming fairly quickly find a decent cueva that can transfer funds for a decent price. Rate fluctuates but usually around 3% or so. Some people only use Western Union which is very expensive for sending big amounts and you can only pick up pesos.

Absolutely prices here are much better than back home. As much as expats want to complain, they can't find anything like this back home.

 

[import export]

I read it, but I'm not sure how much I agree with that.

For example, if you're paying 3-10% transfer fees, that is a lot... but if your rent (the biggest expense for most people) went down 85%, then you're still extremely happy to be living outside of the US.

Let's say your transfer fees are 5%. If you're spending $2k/month, that ends up being $100/month - not an insignificant amount of money.

But if your rent went down from $4500/month to $500/month, you're now saving $4k/month.

Even if we adjust the numbers, the math still works out in favor of Argentina, even with current price hikes.

Really the cost of living in anywhere in Latin America beats the USA. I've been living in South America (mostly Brazil and Argentina) for the past 25 years and I don't think I could move back to the States now. I am too accustomed to the quality of life here. Not just price for housing but food and also have a full time maid 5 times a week. I am shocked each time I go back home how expensive it is. My siblings live in different parts of the USA and shocked how much they are paying for everything.