I am your age, American, and have spent the last 3 months renting short term apartments, looking at long term ones, and checking out the cost of living overall.
While I have admittedly high standards and would surely fall into the spoiled expat category, under no circumstances can I imagine any expat my age living happily on under $5000 pesos.
The number one question I have is how were you living in the States? Were you living in a high cost city and used to high prices or in a small Southern or MW town with a low cost of living? Were you living on a high, medium or low salary? Did you have an OK home or a nice one?
That's the first thing I'd ask because I think Baires is a bargain in you were living a high cost lifestyle in the US. My home in the States is in an expensive part of CA. On an executive salary, BA seems like a relative bargain to me. For my college student daughter who goes to school in
rural New England, it seems on par with her cost of living there.
There are certainly expats for whom Baires is a great deal. Those who were paying $15,000 for a nice apartment in NYC who can get one of similar quality here for $6000. Those who frequently paid over $250 for a nice meal for 2 with a good wine who can do that for less than half here. $650 pesos is much less than you'd pay for a good steak most places in the US. We also eat at many upper middle restaurants for much less than we pay in the SF Bay Area.
People who use a lot of household help and paid nannies and housekeepers $3000/mo in the US can get them in Baires for under $500/mo and save a bundle. Good wine is cheap. Services from laundry to labor for remodeling a home is a fraction of what it is in the US.
Yet that's not most people. The 100 M2 apartment in Palermo would be of similar cost to one in Houston--$800 for one a young college grad might like and $2000 for one a 50 year old executive would find pleasant but not luxurious. The bargain in housing is in buying. Nice houses sell for a fraction of what you'd pay in a major US city.
Groceries are a wash, somethings more expensive, others less, but my overall spending is about the same.
And the most important thing to consider is inflation. I would not move to AR as a retiree on a fixed income. Being paid in dollars or Euro, or having a considerable nest egg in one of those currencies is where you can live well. It's very likely the peso will significantly devalue in the near future.
I love BA, and miss it being back in the states for a couple of months (no one delivers ice cream here!), but at my age, given the volatility of Argentina, I would never want to be in the position to not be able to leave at will, and I'd want an inflation hedge.
Good luck!
