Cost of Living in Belgrade

people, statistics don’t work in Belgrade, most of the people officially earn 200 euro, and in reality it is more like 4-5 times as much because of cache tax evasion, once when you arrive in Belgrade you will understand it

friends of mine are waiters, one works as a waiter “Kod Dace” he makes 700 euros plus tips 700 euros in all 1400 euros, other friend works at “splav” for similar money, and th third one at “Lavina restaurant” and if you are a waiter making less than 1000 either you work in some dump or aren’t waiter at all . Many people make a good living in Belgrade and buy apartments in cache money, I also know a surgeon who takes 2000 per surgery and every day has at least 2 he works in private clinic as maxio facial, many doctors make 500 a month plus have their own fee of at least 4 times as much, ask dentists etc how much they make so you will understand why Ablok almost 1000 apartments bought in cache

By the way,
Average salary is 46,000 din but it's average those on top of pyramid are making the average salary high.

It's better to take a look at median monthly salary after tax for Belgrade it's maybe max 35,000 din.
If you wanna live good here you need to be an IT specialist, manager for top corporations, run a good private business either you'll need to work 12hrs a day to achieve "normal" life standards. There's no place on earth that is the best but definitely Belgrade isn't near the best. Don't come here unless you have a job that pays at least 1000eur net monthly or you will just regret!

The salary index is wrong. People who work in retail/shops/factories/etc (and A LARGE NUMBER of those people have University degrees) don't earn more than 200EUR per month. When it comes to private businesses, only people who work in the IT sector can earn more than 400/500 EUR. People who work in government-funded places (schools, libraries, post offices, city halls etc) make 400 EUR on average. However, an average person in Serbia is working for 200 EUR, sadly. Even those jobs are hard to get. You must be a ruling party activist or you have to have strong connections to get a better job. My best friend is a DOCTOR OF MEDICINE and she can't find a job!!! She is working as a waitress for 180EUR a month! And she ghad graduated with the best grades. Her family is poor and they don't have any connections! This is Serbian reality.

@Alejandro. I pay for my 5 year old BMW arround 200 euros a year ( insurance, taxes, yearly inspection - registration) . The best city after Belgrade is Novi Sad with strong IT sector and cheaper accomodiation. This city is not far from international airpot Nikola Tesla which is in Belgrade and Novi Sad is some 80km closer to Vienna and Budapest

Serbia is not a third world country, as some possibly paid propagandists like to put it, I could say it is 2nd world country, while Belgrade being close to 1st world country, especially New Belgrade in which 800 euros is average wage. Belgrade's infrastructure can be compared to any city in the EU.
I used to live in 5 EU and 2 US states.

I am the owner of a small company, and shop assistant I pay 500 euros, while car-mechanics 750-1500 euros, and I still have a problem to find them, since really good ones have a small shop on their own and probably make more money on their own.
The city is very safe, and every corner of it is very safe, compared to other cities in Europe.

Nice 55sq apartment in inner city area is arround 200e plus 100e utilities with internet. You can get a cell phone plan for as low as 10e a mont with unlimited calls/sms and 2gb interent. The food is cheap, if you cook you won't need more than 100e. Add 30e for the montly bus pass and you another 50-60e for the occasional nightout and you get to a total of 500e. I've lived like this for the past 3 years.

Nick is pretty accurate in his statements but I'd like to give some extra insight, lived in Belgrade for 1.5 years now and I spent around $500/mo

Garsonjera (one room apartment, don't need more in Belgrade IMO) in the center is 200 euros and ~30-40eur utilities. Bigger apartments are more like what Nick said but maybe a little further from the center.

Food 5eur a day is a good estimate but I've spent less on occasion, KFC and other fast food chains often have promotions for a full meal for 200 dinars, and it can get even cheaper if you cook for yourself

No sense in getting the bus pass unless you absolutely must travel by bus every day and don't have the time to avoid patrol. Tons of people don't pay and I've never known anyone to ever actually get the fine if they pretend not to understand serbian

I've living in Belgrade for 10 years and this city is good for life if you speak fluent English and work in interational company.

For examle my monthly salary is 40000 din (about 330 euros). Just to mention that I graduated at Faculty with GPA 9/10.

If you don't have your own apartment, you should pay about 200 euros for 40-50m2 apartment.
Hopefully I have my own apartment.

Utilities costs are about 100 euros.
If you have your own apartment calculation is following: 330 - 100 = 230 euros monthly for food.

If you don't have your own apartment 330 - 200 - 100 = 30 euros monthly for food.
That mean that you have only 0.3 euros for food per day. So you can only eat bread every day.
So if you don't have your own apartment you can't live in Belgrade if you have average salary in Serbia (which is about 350 euros).

This country is sucks.
Every year 30000 young people go from this country. That is one million people in ten years, and Serbia now has about 6 million people.
So statistic tells everything.

#Anny they are ripping you of i am renting a 70 m2 for 300 eu in the city center

@#Anny Why are you lying? For 800 eur you can rent a HUGE appartment in the best area of the city.

I love Belgrade,culture, people,real food, they have green markets or Maxi and other supermarkets where you can buy real non GMO food,Serbia is the only country in Europe without GMO food.Yes I agree prices of flats are not correct you should check cityexpert.rs for the prices.I'm paying one bedroom flat 800 euros.

Dane, don"t comment if you don²t know nothing, not every internet page needs to have racist haters like you, first of all Belgrade is not dirtier than other huge cities (lot cleaner then Berlin) there are some really clean parts and some really dirty ones, second "unfriendly for live" - biggest lie of them all , Serbs in general are now quite known as quite friendly people ,especially to foreigners , third Belgrade is not poor, I am sick and tired of people like you because everytime I want to find out something more about Serbia ,there are some people who want just to bullshit against them like they are on some payed agenda. Du sollst mit das aufhören !!! ( I am a German who has allready visited that country for 14 times and I find it amazing)

belgrade is very dirty, poor poeple and very unfriendly for live

just to add to my previous comment..2k includes 2 kids birthday a year, winter nad summer vacation, dentist, you need to buy new phone sometime, I need good clothing for job, weekend are dining out, modest during worl week, and so on... this is price for middle class life all inclusive, few Ks saving a year.

Cool website, I didn't even know something like this even existed.

#mohamed
try http://www.infostud.com/ or https://www.halooglasi.com/posao for general work

#Yousuf
yeah, 100k should be enough for 10 days, no problem.

Belgrade is really not that expensive if you have an average European salary. Problem is, most of the residents don't - average net salary is ~500e, maybe even lower.

I don't know about the "living like a god" part, though. My current salary is ~1850e; and yeah, it's true, i can save like 900e per month, no problem. But that's because I really don't have anything to spend it on. There is only so much that you can do in this city, it gets boring rather quickly. City is not that great, it's dirty and people are mean, rude and frustrated (unless you are a stranger, they have a fetish for strangers for some reason). People is Hamburg, where I lived before, are much friendlier, but the city is more expensive.

How much would my total expense in serbia be for 10 days of visit? Is 100,000 dinars enough or do i need more? I this includes just my expense excluding my residence. Just whoring around and weed with food. Anyone please?

I was wondering...How much does it costs to buy an apartment or a single family house in Belgrade?
Is it easy to buy if you are a tourist in Belgrade?

#FX27

I recomendate you to rent an apartment in part of Belgrade called Vidikovac.It's nice part of town with many trees, parks, resturants, caffe...It has bus lines: 23 - each 4 min, 53 - each 6 min, 89 each 10 min.And near Vidikovac stop bus 37 which goes each 6-7 min, I think that 37 go near Viline Vode.For 200 euros per month, you can rent a 90 square meters apartment in Vidikovac ( renovated ).In Vidikovac, you can rent a flat 37 sq. meters 150 euros.Bus 37 need 35 min from Vidikovac to Viline Vode.But if you want to be near city, you should try to find a flat on Banovo Brdo.It's great too, and it has over 10 bus lines + tramway lines.Its 15 min from Trg Republike with bus.On Banovo Brdo, you can rent a flat 42 sq. meters ( luxury ) 200 euros.

is a base salary of 1000eur net plus bonus(cca 500eur)enough to live in BG, I am single?

#optimist Definitely, I'm living on less than 67000 dinars a month in the center of the city. 700 euros is 86392 dinars

filip i am renting an apartment in stari grad for 180 euros a month

#Filip that's for a luxury/huge apartment. If you're paying over 200 euros for an apartment as a single person in Belgrade you're paying for space you don't need or you're getting scammed. Search on serbian listings for apartments and you'll find decent one person apartments in stari grad/novi beograd for 200 euros or under.

#Marko gives a HUGE overestimation

Unless you're getting ripped off or renting a luxury apartment rent will be around 150-200 euros in the center, depending on your needs. A single room apartment (which is all you're going to need unless you plan on staying in it for a majority of the time) in the center will be around 170 eur. Bills will be 50-100 eur depending on the size of the apartment.

300 eur for food is ridiculous unless you're exclusively eating out every day. Most expats/foreigners spend maybe 4-5 euros a day on food and that's with eating the more pricey food. Maybe 180 eur with a few nights of eating out.

300 euros for other expenses is way too high unless you want a car, which you definitely won't need in Belgrade.

This is all outdated. I checked srbija-nekretnine.org for real estate in serbia, also average salary on national bureau and prices of flats decreased a little bit, while the cost of food increased.

-rent and bills 350 eur a month

-food 300 eur a month

-300 eur for other expenses

With 1k you will live like a king, and would not have to worry about anything...

You'll be fine here with 700 euros a month. You can live like a king with 900 or more a month. Any non luxury apartment is going to be around 150-200 euros a month and garsonjeras (single room apartments, perfect for if you're single and don't plan on staying in it too much, or just plain don't mind it like me) will usually be 130-170 euros a month. Utilities vary a lot but are between 50 euros for the garsonjeras to 100-200 for bigger apartments. On average you'll be spending around 310 euros on utilities/rent if you don't rent a garsonjera. Although I was there during winter of 2015-2016, so my utilities were higher due to heating costs.

$3-4/day food budget is all you need if you don't eat out much and eat healthy. Produce is LAUGHABLY cheap in Belgrade. Like, you could probably feed a family of 4-5 WELL on $10/day if you aren't too picky with your veggies and meat. Contrary to at least the U.S. (and probably much of the western world), snacks and fast food are much more expensive than healthy home meals. For the same price as two snickers (around 80 din) I could buy a meal worth of fresh veggies.

I spent around $700/mo while I was in Belgrade and I was constantly ordering out/going out for coffee and buying gifts for my girlfriend and taking taxis. I never went hungry (well, except when the stores and restaurants were all closed because of holidays, but that wasn't a money issue!) and I lived a very comfortable life there. My costs went like:

-Food (non take out): 17% of budget
-Taxi: 5% of budget
-Rent and utilities: 43%
-Take out/entertainment/gifts/etc (luxuries): 35%

People generally don't have a problem over there living with $500/mo salaries, but for western quality of life I'd recommend $650-700. You don't need a car because the bus transportation system is pretty good for getting around the city. It's cheap but barely anyone pays for it anyway, if you're not taking a very popular line it's unlikely patrol would even get on. But patrol doesn't seem to like to card foreigners anyway, I always get ignored by them because I'm obviously an American.

Anyone telling you that you need more than $700 to have a good life here is either spoiled or is not living alone. Just stay clear of the luxury apartments those prices are ridiculous.

#Luis

With 1000€ montly in Belgrade you can live like a God

@#fatma
for food and night life is enough about 1500/1800 eur

@Pierre, depends on the lifestyle you are used to.
1400 euros is enough for normal life, with a car.

Minimum salary by law in Serbia is around 180 eur per month, so 30 eur per month is not possible according to local laws.

Veg food is pretty cheap in Belgrade, in markets 1kg of frozen vegetables is around 1.5€, fresh vegetables on open markets is even cheaper than that. Fruits are from 0.5€ apple on open market to 1.2€ bananas on markets.
3 bad apartmant is from 250-500e depending on location, but 500e are lux or in very centre... So with 1500€ monthly in Belgrade you have no worries, it is 3.5 average salaries and 8 minimum salaries... Even with 1000€ you can have a good life in Belgrade.

You can stay in very nice apartments in the centre of the city for about 50 euros a day, that price being shared among 3-4 people comes down to 15 euro per person per day. Check teese links: http://skyapartmani.com/ , http://www.apartmani-beograd.rs/