Buenos Aires Is More Expensive Than New York, London, Madrid

[Crema Americana]

I may be wrong, but it's probably easier to survive on the median wage for your city in the US vs Argentina. BA is more affordable to live in than New York if you're on a set income, but if you're earning local wages then things change. Just the other day my husband was telling me how it's almost impossible for recent graduates to find work and live on their own. Most have to rely on their parents, at least for housing. How does your average teacher, police officer, doctor, or even electrician compare to those other cities?

A lot is dependent on your situation as well - though less common today, people get healthcare through their work and scholarships for college can help greatly. Need a car, furniture, clothes? It's cheaper in the States. If you live in a decent area, public school is fine - here anyone who can goes private.

It's easy to say BA is more affordable when you're living on dollars and comparing to what it costs in the most expensive and metropolitan cities of the world. For the people here, not so much, and that's considering we're in the good times, not in the middle of a crisis or reeling from a recession.

 

[internationalguy]

I may be wrong, but it's probably easier to survive on the median wage for your city in the US vs Argentina. BA is more affordable to live in than New York if you're on a set income, but if you're earning local wages then things change. Just the other day my husband was telling me how it's almost impossible for recent graduates to find work and live on their own. Most have to rely on their parents, at least for housing. How does your average teacher, police officer, doctor, or even electrician compare to those other cities?

A lot is dependent on your situation as well - though less common today, people get healthcare through their work and scholarships for college can help greatly. Need a car, furniture, clothes? It's cheaper in the States. If you live in a decent area, public school is fine - here anyone who can goes private.

It's easy to say BA is more affordable when you're living on dollars and comparing to what it costs in the most expensive and metropolitan cities of the world. For the people here, not so much, and that's considering we're in the good times, not in the middle of a crisis or reeling from a recession.

The number of Americans moving back home is unbelievable. People who just graduated college and can't find jobs, people who had been living on their own for a few years but move back to their parents' place because they lost their jobs. The world is a rough place right now. Our parents (assuming you are 25- 45) had it a lot easier when they graduated/ got married. Healthcare and student loans alone are a huge burden that shouldn't have to be that way but corrupt politicians allow it.

The whole point of this thread was to talk about the article and I think it's clear now that as I said, it's not fair to compare if you're not going to compare everything.

 

[Alicia karr]

Ries I completely agree with your point. It seems all these cost comparisons only compare consumer goods and rent. But they don't talk about utility costs, transportation, education/childcare, healthcare, taxes, insurance, services,all the infrastructure stuff that most middle class people deal with. And these are all game changers. BA is more expensive product on product sometimes, but without a doubt less expensive when you factor in these other costs!

 

[Ceviche]

The best way would be to somehow earn 1500 usd a month anf live on a island in Thailand or Phillippines. Divine!

 

[Borracho Britanico]

Borracho - where did you get those numbers? I'm having a tough time believing that average person ia a)earning 9K a month in salary and B) is paying 2k a month in rent.

I just googled average salaries in BA. Perhaps 2k is too low now for rent. I kinda based the rent on a couple sharing with a garantia

 

[Borracho Britanico]

I am amazed that you use 2300 pounds a month as an average London salary.
To me, as someone from the USA, that is a lot of money. Where I live, only professionals make that much- if you are in retail, or food service, manufacturing, agriculture, or many of the kinds of jobs that an expat would have in BsAs, you wont be making that much, BEFORE taxes- and after taxes, much less.
In fact, that 9000 pesos a month- thats above minimum wage here in the USA, and many many people I know here dont take home that much.

So- I know a LOT of americans who make the same, or less, in Real Dollars/Pesos, than the "typical" argentine- and a lot of things up here cost quite a bit more- most people I know who are working class spend close to half their income on rent, and generally have no health insurance at all- contrast that with Argentina, where basic health care is free, and rents are much lower, and many foodstuffs are cheaper. I still think its much cheaper in Argentina.

I just did a quick google search. Don't forget that London is a pretty expensive city too. Also perhaps I should have thought about which type average I was using. There are a lot of people in London earning stupid amounts of money.

 

[Borracho Britanico]

London rent 750 per month? I take it you're room-sharing somewhere in Bethnal Green. I was paying 150 pounds per week for a studio (smaller than my current BA bedroom) six

If your sharing with a partner you can easily get a nice place in London for £750 a month and in a half decent area too.
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/29617509?search_identifier=4938babfb2d0e8579747260eb2692076

 

[Borracho Britanico]

I am amazed that you use 2300 pounds a month as an average London salary.

http://www.london24.com/news/business/london_has_uk_s_highest_average_salaries_1_1753415

 

[trennod]

Having just gotten here from NYC, it looks to me like the biggest problem with Clarín's chart is that it probably uses the official exchange rate. At the blue rate, BsAs overall is muuuch cheaper. Rent way cheaper, groceries ditto, as stevec said entertainment too, the subte is actually no worse than the MTA (if you don't mind the graffiti) and about 1/8 the price. What surprised me is that clothes and nice household goods look to cost about the same here (at the blue rate) as they do in NY. So that must make them very expensive for Porteños, given that NY salaries are correspondingly higher.

Borracho is right that the real way to compare these things is as a percentage of median income. Though it seems he runs with a swanky crowd. )

Why would they use the blue? People earn in pesos.

Clarin arent going to do comparisons of the cost of living as a % of median income because its blatantly obvious that the cost of living when compared to the median income (which is very low, I reckon probably about 5k pesos a month in hand which is roughly USD 1k a month) is way much higher than in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ etc. Why do you think pretty much all Argentines live at home until they are 30? (unless they have a very wealthy family that pays their rent). The only Argentines under 30 I know that live out of home either have their rent paid by their folks or have been given an apartment / live in apartment of family members. As opposed to back in Australia, a lot of people live at home for their first couple of years of their careers but then move out (albeit many move out earlier).

Clothes are more expensive here, plus the quality is very average. Yous should take a trip in to some international stores (Diesel, just as an example) and look at the prices, and then go and by expensive clothes from local Argentine designers and see how long they last.
Electronics are extremely expensive at the official. Cars are much more expensive.

Private health is cheaper here than the US but you have to pay it if you are working en blanco. For eg, I pay $340 pesos a month (which admittedly isnt much) but I am young, dont have any health problems so never use it. In Australia, I didnt have private health insurance.

 

[trennod]

Ries I completely agree with your point. It seems all these cost comparisons only compare consumer goods and rent. But they don't talk about utility costs, transportation, education/childcare, healthcare, taxes, insurance, services,all the infrastructure stuff that most middle class people deal with. And these are all game changers. BA is more expensive product on product sometimes, but without a doubt less expensive when you factor in these other costs!

So are the middle class Argentines having a higher standard of living as a result? You should try tell an Argentine how cheap Buenos Aires is and see what kind of response you get.

Clarin have tried to do a comparison of some locally produced products (that are also produced in other countries) to highlight they are more expensive here. Their rational I imagine is that its unjustified given local wages are much lower. Why is this so hard to understand?