Living Costs For One Person In NZ v. USA
Continuing in our popular Migrants Tales series – first hand accounts of the migrant experience in New Zealand, taken from locations around the net.
Today’s tale comes from the not- for- profit NZ emigration advice and mutual support site Expatexposed.com, one of few uncensored NZ emigration discussion boards on the internet. The link was sent to us by a reader.
It was written to give emigrants an indication of living expenses for one person in New Zealand, a country considered to be an expensive place in which to live. At the end is a comparison to living costs in the USA, as you will see there is a BIG difference in the amount of disposable income after the most basic of needs have been met.
A Break-down of costs for one person
So, I was just sitting down to work out my budget for the year, and I thought I might share this in case any prospective migrants come across this site. The costs are basically what I pay annually, but the salary isn’t based on my own — I am nowhere near this well-off! I think this is a pretty realistic budget for ONE person for ONE year, living in the Auckland suburbs. This budget would be appropriate for someone coming from North America or Europe and wanting to maintain a lifestyle similar in quality to that of home.
Here are my criteria:
Rental property: 2-bedroom mid-range (almost livable)
Car: 8-10 years old and in GOOD conditionGross Income 72,000
Income Taxes -16,910
—————————————
Net Income 55,090
Rent @ $425/week -22,100
—————————————
32,990
Electricity (incl. winter) -1,500
—————————————
31,490
ADSL/Phone Package (40GB/month) -1,260
—————————————
30,230
Car Payments ($15,000 @ 17.25%) -6,504
—————————————
23,726
ONE Trip to EUR/US -4,500
—————————————
19,226
Car Insurance (MUST HAVE) -1,000
—————————————
18,226
Contents Insurance (MUST HAVE) -700
—————————————
17,526
Dental Care (After insurance) -1,000
—————————————
16,526
Medical/Dental/Vision Ins. -1,956
—————————————
14,570
Rental Bond (one-off) -1,700
—————————————
12,870
Food -7,200
—————————————
5,670That leaves $5,670 NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS for your mobile communications, retirement savings, general savings, clothing, shoes, entertainment, dining out, insurance excesses, savings for a home mortgage, vehicle maintenance, fuel for the car, natural gas for the house, pet care, and other incidentals. Of course, one could go without the health insurance and dental insurance and car insurance and contents insurance, and get a cheaper rental, and not take the trip home every year, and not use electricity for heating, etc. But that only makes life more miserable for those of us used to a reasonable standard of living. Wink
Now let’s look at costs in the US. I’ve based this on the same gross salary, but in US DOLLARS. It’s pretty common knowledge that if you earn $50,000 NZ Dollars in NZ, you’ll earn $60,000 in US Dollars for the SAME job in the US. This was essentially my VERY over-indulgent budget in the US, living in a city of 400,000 in a nice part of town. The gross income has been changed to protect the innocent. Wink
Rental property: 2-bedroom, fully livable
Car: 2005 model in GREAT conditionGross Income $72,000
Income Taxes -9,932 (incl. refund)
—————————–
Net Income 62,068
Rent -7,200
—————————–
54,868
Renters’ Insurance -300
—————————–
54,568
Phone/Internet/Cable -800 (package)
—————————–
53,768
Food -3,840
—————————–
49,928
Car payments -3,768 ($10k @ 8.9%)
—————————–
46,160
Trip to Europe -2,500
—————————–
43,360
Car Insurance -1,500
—————————–
42,160
Dental Care -800 (with insurance)
—————————–
41,360
Medical/Dent/Vision -1,920 (employer-sponsored)
—————————–
39,440
Bond (One-off) -1,600
—————————–
37,840
Electricity -1,440
—————————–
36,400That leaves $36,400 UNITED STATES DOLLARS for your mobile communications, retirement savings, general savings, clothing, shoes, entertainment, dining out, insurance excesses, savings for a home mortgage, vehicle maintenance, fuel for the car, natural gas for the house, pet care, and other incidentals.
A difference of $30,730!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m sure New Zealand is great for “lifestyle” … loosely defined. Wink
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I found you on Google when I started looking for information about the cost of living in New Zealand. I have a friend, studying down there right now, who said that she had never, anywhere else, had to stuff a bit of shampoo back into the container if she thought she had measured out too much for her hair in the shower, just to save a few pennies! She said she didn’t mind living that way while she was traveling, but would not want to live that way all the time if there was little else to compensate her for all these continuous tiny sacrifices. I was going to apply for a job in a geological technical field in New Zealand, because of the interesting seismic activity there, but I have read enough on a few blogs and forums to decide against it and try another location. Would still like to visit.
Sad to say that NZ is a way better place to visit than to live.
You’ve made the right choice, you won’t be sorry.
I found you today.
I read this blog. This immigrant likes living here but does warn about the costs. http://www.practicallyperfectblog.com/prices/
rent in US is only $7200/year…???
That figure for rent really depends on where in the US you live. $600 a month will get you a nice 1 bedroom apartment where I grew up in Michigan but that will get you a room here in southern CA…and it isn’t uncommon for the rooms to go for even more than that. I think your income tax figure is off too. However, even if you double the income tax rate and triple the rent rate you are still working with far more disposable income in the US. I live in a high cost of living state, but they seem to adjust their wages a bit to offset this. It looks like wages over in NZ are much lower, yet the cost of living is higher. You cannot be surprised when people leave to earn more money for the same job and higher standard of living. I am seeing that happen in my state. A lot of people are leaving CA for states where you can buy a house built before 1950 for a reasonable price. “starter houses” here are in the mid $300K range, unless you want to live extremely inland, or in the desert! And that is socal, never mind up in the bay area.
I spent a couple weeks in NZ and fell in love with the country, but I definitely spent some serious $$$ and it’s not like I was traveling via private jet and staying at the Ritz while bungee jumping every day. And even I am aware that I couldn’t spend like that if I lived there. When my friends come visit me here, they drop a nice chunk of change too. But I could just tell that visiting NZ VS living there permanently would be VERY different in terms of standard of living, cost, making ends meet….
my friends that visit me in socal say that too…that they can’t imagine living here….socal has this image of it being all glamor and hollywood and expensive parties with celebs, followed up by surfing/chilling on the beach all day long…sure, if you’re on vacation, or if you’re rich, you can pull that off, but most of us rent apartments and drive used cars and go to work our 9-5 jobs. And I would bet the contrast between media portrayal/reality here in socal isn’t even close to how it is over there. but here there is definitely a BIG difference between visiting VS living here. I have a great job…I am paid well…I am lucky…I don’t live “on vacation” but I’m not worrying about making ends meet all the time…I feel (perhaps unfairly) that I would not be so lucky in NZ, even if I was able to find a job in my field.
I spend less than 10K every year on rent where I live, but I could spend less. The problem is that New Zealand propaganda is persuasive in that it claims the “lifestyle is worth it”. That there is something so special about living there that any sacrifice is worth it. It isn’t. There is no good special lifestyle there. It’s penny-pinching and going to a pretty beach. That’s it. Want to live that way for years? Maybe if you are a pothead surfer dude. Otherwise…being poor and coping with the behaviours of those people who live there is, well, awful.
Nz has become really expensive in the last 5 years. I am on a medium income of $50k living in Auckland and with this salary can only live paycheck to paycheck – I bit like when I was 18 and just starting out! I can’t afford to eat out ever and having a few drinks with my friends after work is about once every 3 months instead of a regular friday night activity. Food is really expensive and the best most nutritional food is the most expensive. It is easy to feel like you are existing rather than living and yet the propaganda on TV keeps saying how lucky we are to live here and how beautiful the scenery is etc. Sure, if you can afford the petrol to go and see that scenery…not. Nz never used to be like this. It is a shame really and why Nz is losing its best people.
Also one other thing – if you haven’t purchased something in a while and then go to do it you often get a rude shock and feel really ripped off. For example I went to the post office to post a parcel containing one small childs book and a card to my nephew in the UK and was told that the postage would be $25nzd standard airmail or $45 if I wanted the fastpost courier option. I’m sure I paid about $20 to send a whole box containing 6-8 gifts overseas about 5 years ago. This is one example of what happens regularly with everything you buy and no one except the MP’s (who get payrises every 6 months) has had a pay rise to meet this sudden increase in the cost of everything. So poverty and 3rd world disease is becoming quite prevalent in nz.
Try running a business in this country. New Zealand preys upon it’s hard working and contributing citizens. It’s wicked. And the compliance costs and requirements are appalling. Forget the propaganda, being small business in NZ is hell on earth. What is left after the crooks at IRD take the cream is a subsistence existence. Check out their penalty regimes. Most loan sharks don’t stoop to such behaviour.