Cost of Living in Doha

Qatar is a fabulous country. You can get a day pass on their subway for less than $2USD. Bus service is free and cabs and Uber are the same price, both inexpensive. Wages are lower than the US. However, there are no taxes, your money is your money. Laws and norms are quite freeing. Certainly not as barbaric and oppressive as US laws. No crime, safe in all places at all hours.

Crime is very very low. It is quite a well organised city (doha), and the large number of expats (many nations) means Doha is a very international cosmopolitan city with international standards in most things. But in relation to costs ...

Your 3 biggest costs for living will be (i) rent (ii) schooling (iii) food and bills

It is all about where you live vs work, the standard you are expecting and your lifestyle.

You can pay 25,000 qar a month for a high end 1 bed apartment or 7000 qar for a 2 bed villa in a compound on the outskirts of the city. Just go to property finder for qatar and you can see the costs yourself.

Private schooling is very expensive for the average salary person and unless your company covers the costs. It can range from 20,000 qar a year up to 70,000 qar a year. Just go to the school websites and you can see the fees yourself.

Bills are the next biggest costs you will have limited control over, especially air con and qatar cool. Rough est is around 300-800 qar a month for bills, elec, gas, water, internet (but it depends on your usage). Go to vodafone or oreedo website in doha and see for your self. Also go into talabat doha and the supermarkets (lulu, carrefour etc) and see for yourself.

Transport is surprisingly cheap in doha (unless you have to use uber every day from afar). If you are serviced by a bus or metro, it is very cheap (but takes time)

If you eat in alot and cook yourself, you can save alot on food. If you go out to high restaurants, your drink/smoke alot, and have expensive hobbies...yes it will add alot to your expenses. But you can control these.

The World Cup has caused massive hikes in rent and bills. The above prices don't allow for that. Whether the prices come down will have to be seen, but you can see on the above websites (don't take my word for it).

Companies however have reduced allowances for employees or they do not raise them to allow for inflation. So you need to check what your employer says in their employee handbook. Also note, if the allowances are not in your employment contract, they are not legally protected. The government is very strict about ensuring employers pay their employees on what is in their employment contract. So if you don't see it, you are not protected on that. The responsibility is yours to check. Do not take verbal promises or email. It has to be written into your employment contract.

Wherever you live, live simply, don't be extravagant, check out for yourself online current prices. The general advice though is, if you have your family with you please check the costs carefully before making a decision. If you come single status, you should be able to save, but you will need to sacrifice and live modestly and manage your budget.

I wish you peace. And if you find you can afford it, then you will like it in Doha (the people in qatar are generally nice, and most expats are also)

Want to know whether Qataris are interested in freeze-dried vegetables and fruits?Let's briefly understand the freeze-dried food, which is the abbreviation of vacuum freeze-dried food. Make the product "fresh" during freeze-drying, and then enter the packaging procedure.Most foods such as meat, rice and noodles have a long shelf life, while fresh vegetables are difficult to preserve. It is difficult to store pickled vegetables as substitutes for fresh vegetables. Freeze dried vegetables may be a balance between fresh food and storage.I don't know if Qataris like freeze-dried food，Want to be informed, thank you.Please reply to my email if you have any comments.THank you .

Is it possible to live for 12k QAR for 2 members. ? Do we need to pay advance for house ? Can a 1BHK will come for 3000 QAR ?

Rent and schooling are the 2 biggest costs you will have. A large company will contribute to it, but allowances have not kept pace with rises. Average salaries for low skilled range from 1500 qar/month to professional at 50k qar a month. You cannot have the same lifestyle as you had in your home country but it's tax free. Don't expect to live like a king, you have to economize like you did in your home country if you intend saving money. Fuel is cheap, taxis are cheap, tram is cheap compared to Europe. Everything else is more expensive. Eating out is expensive unless at food courts. It's safe, safer than most cities in Europe. Alcohol has a huge tax, so if you like drinking, it will be very expensive. 2500 qar is not alot to survive on.

My God! Somebody has been offered 110,000 QR per/m. The average salary in Doha is a round 2700 euro per/m and than Nate showes up here and say 110,00 also 29,415 Euro per/m..... Dear Nate you are my new king of the Qatar. :-) Can I be your bodyguard, please?

I have been offered a job for 16000qar/m, i have a family with 2 kids, one is school going. Is this salary enough forca family of 4?

Thanks for the informative blog about apartment rent tips, for more details visit: http://capitaloneqa.com/

i found it more expensive for accommodation which would be big problem for family compared to salary rate

Hello I am Tshering Penden from Inadia.
So my salary is 2500 Qatar royal including all allowance like transportation, fooding and accommodation. So I need rough calculations of living expense in qater. Is it enough to lived there.