The Cost of Living in France

For the fifth year running, France has been voted the best place in the world to live by some magazines and journals. This is the reason why hundreds of thousands of educated and qualified people are moving to France to live or to retire.

Being the best does not mean it is perfect, there is a cost, not only in the cost of buying food and shelter, but adapting to a different culture and values.

Comparing income and expenses is simple, there are many websites offering this service such as the one I mention in this reply to a letter today ( http://www.worldsalaries.org/france.shtml ) – but if you need the adrenalin buzz of wheeling and dealing, building a business or developing new ideas – France may not be the most fertile place for your skills and imagination – in fact it is hard to succeed in business anywhere, but just nigh on impossible in France.

It all comes down to the unmeasurable “quality of life” – (if you know parameters I can use to quantify the quality of life I would like to learn)

Her is the mail I replied to a few minutes ago……

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Hi Tony,

I really enjoyed your post, I can’t remember the link, but you had written “Wisely, Paris built their Disneyland outside the city & they plan to keep it there.”. You articulated in that article exactly what my wife and I experienced in France at different times and exactly why we want to move there- in France life is not always judged in terms of money value.

I have one question in particular I’m trying to answer to help assuage some anxiety I have about this move:
I get the impressive that the French generally save a lot of their paycheck, I think I read somewhere that they saved 10%, which is about 11% more than what the average American saves. I also have the impression that food costs are rather high compared to the US, and rent seems a bit higher too (in Grenoble I’ve found 800 Euro seems to be the going rate for a one bedroom place). I have contradictory impressions; a lower salary, a higher cost of living, and yet higher savings rates than in the US.

The approximate salary I have found for my work is about 50K euro in Paris, and less in the provinces, although I’m not sure yet how much less.

Would this be enough to provide for myself and my wife, own a car, and still save money?

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Hi,

Income in France is low – average is about 22,000 euro a year – you can get a better idea about income from this site – http://www.worldsalaries.org/france.shtml

However a salary has a lot of social charges paid by the employer – it virtually doubles the cost of employing someone – for this you get the best health care in the world and excellent social services, education etc.

Housing is,expensive, the rent for Grenoble sounds about right, 800 euro a month for an apartment.

Cars are comparatively expensive, as is fuel, about 5 euro a gallon

Food I am told is more expensive than the USA, quality is good and the French are very careful shoppers.

The French are traditionally savers and the 10 percent or so of earnings does not surprise me.

You hit the nail on the head – it is impossible to put a value on the quality of life. With the sort of salary you have been offered you would be considered a wealthy person in France and could live comfortably, nut never luxuriously.

Hope this helps

Best wishes

Tony