Cost of Living in Istanbul

one of the best countries to come for longer holidays ;-)
will always come back...
culture, infrastructure, local people with real dignity and hospitality - most of them.

excellent roads infrastructure
hotels,pensions for every budget everywhere
language with latin letters :)
excellent food
excellent sight seeing
excellent tea culture
excellent herbs/ nuts shops on every corner
secular european country
beautiful and energetic women :-)
country that did not sell out its soul and traditions to corporations and "mcdonald "culture"
overall very safe
good facilities (paid & free) for sport in every town/ city
local products mostly of good quality

cons:

these bastards ;-) cant live without smoking cigarettes, including indoors.
conservative society (for some - can be good)
many/ most of local men very protective over local women (insecurities, small penises?)
cannabis highly illegal
some scams here and there. and some short thinking people. overall funny stuff. catch me if you can...

Overall lovely and big country. Just explore it. It does not end in Istanbul or holiday resorts.

Helena, Alex, Moustfa....you are completely correct in your comments and fair minded people. Congratulations to you for having a balanced mind and heart.

My God, most things are priced similar to US in dollar terms, some are even more expensive than US, for example, milk, meat, beer and gas. Average salary in dollar terms is less than $500. How people survive?

The source for taxi-meter is needed to be updated...( On the table is fir the year 2018....03/04)2023..22:48 İstanbul.. Cem

I was walking up and away from the grand bazaar tonight to visit a shop in the Fuat Paca Cd. Today at 19:20 when I found a shop that sells the equipment I was looking for. On the way there I used my GoPro 9 (with a cracked back screen, that makes it a less valuable GoPro road reseller) to show my wife where I bought the juice squeezer. It was just around the corner where we turned around and headed back to the hotel.
So I walked into the shop and asked the Clerck how much the machine was , at that point I stopped filming and clipped the GoPro to my belt. Talking to the shop attendant. And he said wait a bit for the shop owner to get there. At that point two youngsters also came into the shop and between them and the clerk I was distracted and I was looking around the shop.
After the purchase I checked the equipment and found that one was of a lesser value so I returned it and only paid for the models I wanted!
Walking out of the shop I wanted to document my find further and went for my GoPro and found that it was missing, I double checked my pockets and jacket and then proceeded back into the shop to check if it didn’t fall off my waist belt and to enquire inside.
The owner insisted that he didn’t see a camera anywhere in his shop. Nonetheless it’s stolen now and I need to warn other tourists that they have to be extremely vigilant. Maybe walk with someone to help you stay alert and vigilant at all times!

Whish international school is accepting the children for 4500eur / year in Istanbul? Unfortunately the costs are at least twice , the people who answered the question is most probably around 23 years old and they do not have any kids. Sorry guya, life is not so easy here, get prepared.

There are too many exaggerated and false comments againts Turkey here. I am a Spaniard living in Istanbul for 2.5 years, Turkish people are excellent, humourus, friendly, warm and reliable. In 2,5 years, neither I nor my friends have experienced any problem. Yes, especially in the last year, there have been serious economic problems, the country's politics and inflation etc.., 65% of Turks do not support Erdogan, people are get by more difficult than they were 2 or 3 years ago, I believe that everything will be better than before after this government leaves. Despite the heavy traffic, Istanbul is really beautiful.

I am a US citizen and lived in Turkey about 100km from Istanbul for about 6 months. My experience living there was very positive. The turkish people are great, very helpful, kind and decent. My landlord I rented apt from used to come and help me on my one call. My average cost of living for a very good furnished apt, food, transportation was under $1000 a month. The car and gas is expensive and renting a car can be expensive as well as prices fluctuates a lot. Rental cars companies can rip you off and taxis as well. Avoid restaurants around touristic areas as well as guides and random people asking to help you.

I find the negative comments a huge exaggeration. Turkey is safe and beautiful.

Erdogan is doing as much economic damage as possible to turkey.Turkish citizens are sitting on their hands while Erdogan is bombing Iraq and Syria plus Kurdish rebels on the Eastern part of Turkey.All of this over 4 lives lost years ago to avenge just 4 Turkish lives costing many millions of dollars adding to additional debt to turkey economy which makes absolutely no sense at all.Currently $1 USD = 18.67 lira.Just the same Erdogan wants to make a name in Turkish history for himself without any regards to how much Turkish citizens are suffering just another dictator.

The bright spot in turkey is Erdogan leveling many areas of Iraq and Syria including the Eastern region of turkey where kurds are the most concentrated.So far over 500 missiles have been launched against Iraq and Syria hitting their mark slendidly.Turkish citizens aren't grateful for very much if anything.Atleast Erdogan has the guts to iradicate kurds and Kurdish rebel supporters instead of allowing Kurdish rebels to run out of control in turkey.

Aussie here with Turkish heritage. Just spent 6 weeks in Turkey through our winter with relatives. Breaking through the polished tourist surface of Istanbul it is in fact true that the people are really struggling and miserable. We in western secular democracies (which Turkey once was) take a lot for granted.

Someone mentioned below that there are amazing shopping malls and great food in Istanbul... The sad truth is that most Turks don't get to enjoy these malls or fantastic food. The only people that visit these arab funded, arab built shopping malls are arab tourists who fly in by the droves as Istanbul unfortunately becomes their new play thing.

To those who think Turkish people hate all other countries, get down and kiss the soil you walk on. With most all people living under the poverty line, struggling to pay their rent, wondering where their next meal will come from, earning less than $10USD a day, all while tourists from all over the come and do what locals cant even dream of enjoying without even a thank you, its not hard to see why they have become so bitter.

Yes we all know the media in most countries are controlled by a handful of corporations, but in Turkey, the supreme leader runs a tight ship and Turkey has generally had a nationalist rhetoric parroted through 95% of news outlets for years now as a method of brainwashing the masses into accepting their meagre life full of hardship, with the blame being pointed squarely at other countries and external sources, not their own leadership.

If we lived under such a dictator that sold off all our national assets, natural resources and land, dumbed down the masses, syphoned trillions of dollars out of the economy into his own personal accounts, and muzzles 95% of news outlets, you can begin to understand how this sentiment would form.

Turkey was unfortunately in a better position 20 years ago than it is before ultimate greed and corruption got in the way.

I am amazed at numerous negative comments about local people...I have been living here with a residence permit for 8 months and I find local people very friendly and helpful. No single negative experience, let alone taxi drivers, yes, but lets admit the fact, they are similar everywhere.
I am grateful to Turkey that it is so warm and welcoming!

As of oct 13 2022 $1 USD equals 18.57 lira.
It's sad to know many lives are being disrupted no matter how much or how little anyone makes.Fortunes that were built are lost forever. Students in Izmir invested money in their educations and now they cannot afford to continue to complete their goals.Even when Erdogan is gone financial security will take decades to recover if ever.One person mentioned turkey has better malls etc than USA UK etc.However none of the glamorous malls including the gold chairs Erdogan sits in are owned by turkey it's all debt.Those shiny expensive things mean nothing without a flourishing economy with the ability to pay for it all.Everything is priced way out of reach for most Turkish citizens simple things like a kilo of potatoes.I must agree with one of the comments about Turkish citizens shunning most every country.Not only is it a bad repretation but it spills down onto the economy as a whole.Negative attitudes towards tourists visiting who help stimulate the economy.NEVER BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU WE NOTICED AND NEVER RETURNED FOR HOLIDAY AGAIN.

Most of the negative comments are from people and clearly they are anti Muslims. Turkey is one of the best country where you can live safely as compared to USA. There are no events recorded like mass shooting on school kids but in USA its been reported many times. Most of the citizens are friendly. Yes you are right there are economic downturn and high inflation but we are experiencing same kinda inflation in North America too. At least food is cheap and very tasty. Living cost is fairly cheap as compared to the USA and Canada. Overall its safe and I feel way more safer here as compared to the streets of New York and Toronto downtown where you can get stabbed or mugged by any black or red neck racist psychopath. I don't know which world you are talking about there are many cases reported almost everyday in USA and India but not in Turkey. Feel safe enjoy your trip with kuch more positivity. Good and bad people are every where but majority of the Turkey is safe and nice. Food is amazing and shopping is outclass. Malls are wayyy wayyyy better and beautiful than UK, USA and Canada.

Taxis do not operatör on official tarifs but they overcharge 300%.
Uber is not allowed in Turkey.

Almost all of those who make unfounded comments about Turkey are Middle Eastern or Asian people. If you do not have the same culture as the Turks and if you do not respect their culture, you will suffer the consequences. Especially young people in Turkey do not like political Islamists and if you have the same culture as political Islamists, you will not be liked by the Turks. Westerners always make good comments about Turks, because except for some suburbs, Turks have always had a western way of life. A European does not feel foreign in a European country like Turkey, but if you are from the Middle East, you will feel that you are a foreigner in Turkey as in every European country.

Furthermore the Turkish government doesn't allow any foreigners to purchase any real-estate in Istanbul or its suburbs by foreigners new law on maximum 25% quota on foreigners

HELLO PRAJAKTA

Unlike many here I'm going to give you honest advice only because I've lived in Istanbul almost 20 years now. The Turkish government isn't allowing anymore residence permits for foreigners in Istanbul including 97 suburbs near Istanbul for this reason. 25% is the maximum the Turkish government allows foreigners living there no matter what part of Turkey it's in.So resident permits aren't being issued anymore. But other areas away from Istanbul are fine
As far as you being accepted as Indian it's not a problem at all because Turkey overall accepts anyone from any countries.Type in on Google search engine 2022 25% maximum foreigners allowed in Istanbul it'll list all of the cities in the suburbs not allowing residence permits. Good luck with your move to Turkey welcome.

Istanbul is a nice touristic city. Very historical and modern at the same time. Food is amazinggg, transportation and accomodation are cheap especially nowadays after the Turkish Lira devaluation.

Locals are not bad. Knowing some turkish worda will be highly appreciated by them as they are very proud of their language. Even just truying to say turkish words will make them look at you in a different way. Some are noce some are not. Like in allll countries, locals will try to over charge you. Just do your homework and search the web about costs and prices and you will be fine.

Or you can just contact me and I can help you roaming around in Istanbul, visiting historical and nice places.
As a Lebanese (male 41years old) I liked the turkish cuisine but you have to know where to have it. I am living in Istanbul since a year and a half and got to know some authentic super tasty restaurants (the high budget and the low budget ones).

Clothes shopping is a must qhen visiting Turkey or Turkiye as they changed its name now. I got to know some deals where many many locals couldn't know like buying an original US Polo shirt from US Polo shop in the mall for 90 Turkish Liras (original price is never less than 300TL). There are pazars also but you have to know where the good deals are at.
Also there is a biggg market for luxury second hand clothes starting from 20000TL (more than 1000$) for some authentic Diesel or Harley jacketa also you can find fine branded t-shirts for less than a dollar.

Local perfumes, leather, aunglasses, caps and many many products will shock you for that quality/price ratio.

It will be my pleasure to assist you if needed. Feel free to contact my via mail:
yabanjee@gmail.com

(Locals will laugh at my mail) :))

Regards,
Amer

Tourists aren't coming to turkey much these days especially since Ergodan is swapping spit with terrorists like selling Syrian refugee women to China for breeding purposes.

We are interested in tourism. We live in Tekirdağ- Süleymanpaşa, two men are 35 years old. We can help with historical touristic places to visit and guide and accommodation. We can find places close to the city or the sea for you to stay. The fee is $100 for 1 day and 12 hours. The languages ​​we know are German, English and Turkish.

These prices are wrong. At present prices increase every other week. Earning overseas funds while living here is workable and you are likely to find it about half to a third of most countries costs. Is it safe? Unsure. On the roads no. Road rules yes. But no one follows them in Istanbul. I wontcomment on politics other than to say you will find it difficult to sign up to a lot of services as everything is now connected to the Turkish ID. If you are living with a local your experience will be a lot easier.

Hi everyone.I have a question.

What is the monthly cost of a single man in Istanbul?

Thank you for for your honest answer.

Moving to Istanbul
2 adults, 3 kids (2 school going, 1 todler), how much expense should i consider monthly including rent, grocery, etc?

hello! Turkey is a safe country. I say this as a foreigner who has been living in Istanbul for more than a year. Yes, there are problems in the economy, but who doesn't have them now? Write, ask questions, I will share information.

To Anonymous March 30 2022
Answering cost

Currently 1 usd to lira 14.783.
The only reasons why it's expensive because of lira devaluation against usd euro and British pound sterling.
If you have a steady income in above currencies you will be fine. However if you are working making lira you won't make it.

I live in Istanbul u s citizen with a steady monthly pension in usd.Im living very well on my pension. Prices have drastically increased for Turkish citizens making lira.

1,500 lira 2bd 1 bth unfurnished house or apartment monthly
500 lira monthly food cost 2 people.
150 lira monthly electric and water combined.
150 lira monthly transportation.

1,500 lira monthly rent.
500 lira monthly food.
150 lira monthly transportation.
150 lira monthly electric and water combined
150 lira monthly phone.
2,450 lira total monthly expenses

Note: Public transportation as in city bus which are on-time 85% cheaper than taxi. Open markets fresh fruit and vegetables 75% cheaper than supermarket.This is the actual cost monthly for 2 people

I agree with all of your comments about Turkey. But not all of us are rude. I'm not trying to praise the Turkish people but we really have welcoming and kind people around here. Unfortunately these behavior only belongs to local citizen. Most of scamming are usually happens in business, and if you're tourist better get ready to robbed. Yeah I'm saying that because this not only happens to foreigners. They also try to scam us in many ways. Dare to say we get used this type of tricks so we don't usually beleive them. The thing is if you come Turkey to visit jsut don't try familiar companies. Give a chance to local and boutique ones. But ain't gonna lie if I was a foreigner Turkey isn't in the top 10 place that I would visit. All other things you said about economy and politics is true.
Thanks for your time.

Women are desperate for money and they'll do anything men want especially foreign men with money their bodies very cheap

Gasoline is not 14 TRY /l but 21.. https://www.opet.com.tr/akaryakit-fiyatlari/istanbul-avrupa

I read negative comments about Turkey and find them very political and not very honest. Yes, Turkish economy struggle and people not very happy at this time but still country has precious opportunities. Turkish hospitality is famous in the world. Food, history, beautiful nature plus very cheap... So many reasons to visit! I believe in after Erdogan everything will be much much better...

Beautiful and cheap country. Nice people and I enjoyed to be here

For many years Turkey was doing so well with work options and a heavy influx of tourism.Even with all of the tourism Turkish government and citizens were not only rude to people from every country but blatantly arrogant to visiting tourists and foreigners who opened businesses in Turkey. Prices doubled for any business licenses small or large to foreigners.The Turkish government was so arrogant they told foreigners opening businesses it'd be double the cost for a business license.Turkish businesses normally charged 50% more to tourists no lie. I refused to pay an additional 50% more for food especially since Turkish citizens paid the regular prices sitting next to me. It's a known fact Turkish government and its citizens never liked anyone from any countries. They've always acted like they were better than any other countries it's true. But many countries have walked away from Turkey with no friends left abroad.Not even IMF International Monetary Fund will loan Turkey money because Turkey has defaulted on 3 large loans already and more defaults are on the way meaning every country puts money into the IMF so in essence Turkish government has stolen from all countries.

If u come turkey you first eat kebab and get out of turkey

the biggest refugee camp in the whole planet. close to 3 million refugees living in this city. mostly syrian and afghans.

One of the scammiest place on Earth, they’re pretty creative on trying to overcharge tourists. Is advisable to go with a local

80% population of Turkey working around a 140 euros per month right now. You do the math.

As of December 16, 2021 $1 usd to 14.86 Lira.It looks like the other poster was right about Lira being 25 to one dollar by June 2022.I can just imagine how much more the Lira will lose against the dollar by years end. It's a bad situation here in Turkey for everyone because the cost of living has outstripped wages earned by far. The government isn't doing much to help and funds are running out quickly. I used up what savings I had last month just to buy a little food just like many others have I'm sure. Turkey is holding a debt from the IMF for over 57 billion usd unable to make even interest payments. It looks like Turkey is doomed hope not.

Arena post Dec 9 2021

I agree with your information on the Lira crashing not good for Turkish citizens at all.But citizens have been unhappy with the government allowing so many Syrian immigrants into Turkey and many have taken jobs from the Turkish citizens too.

The minimum wage will be drastically cut mid 2022 or sooner unfortunately.Currently there's over 1.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey and more are coming each day to further burden the economy.

Ergodan has managed to make Saudi Arriba angry boycotting their products so Saudi Arabia pulled all turkey products off the shelves.But other middleastern countries are also a big part of trade and they've followed the same path as Saudi Arabia did boycotting all products from Turkey.

Currency it's 1 usd to 13.72 Lira really bad for citizens. I believe the Lira will be at 1 usd to 25 Lira by mid 2022.Ergodan has managed to anger more than middle eastern countries but other countries around the world.

Turkey is supposed to be an ali to the U S but on many occasions has threatened to kick the U S airforce out of Adana for no reason especially since the U S military is a big part of security in Turkey.

The U S government gave a stern warning to Erdogan by Mike Pence when Trump was the president. Pence said grave consequences are on the way for Ergodans wrecklous behavior and the outcome is obvious. But like I mentioned before Ergodan has made many other countries angry but unfortunately Turkish citizens are feeling the fallout.

Turkey has been on a downward spiral for 20 years now financially. None of the high rise buildings in Istanbul Ankara and other areas of turkey are paid for its just debt.Investors have left turkey and the IMF isn't giving anymore loans turkey already owes 47 billion dollars to the IMF and turkey has missed 4 payments so far. Turkey owes many countries money without a doubt and the majority of loans haven't been receiving payments. Turkey is quickly turning into another Syria basically turkey is broke because no country can live on loans very long. Nobody in their right mind would invest one dollar in turkey. But you can " MORAD " since you seem to be a financial guru.

Turkish people are suffering since current exchange rate is $1 usd to 13.75 lira.Turkish citizens wanting to visit or live in the U S will have a very long wait time just to visit the U S. I went to the U S embassy in Turkey to make an appointment/interview to visit the U S. But I made the appointment in January 2021 I was told the U S embassy would contact me to schedule the interview but no answer and it's been almost 1 year now. So I visited the U S embassy in Turkey last week to find out how much longer it'll take? I was told no exact date of an interview could be given,and not to ask again in a rough tone. Other Turkish friends of mine have been trying to get a visitor visa for the U S some have been waiting over 2 years and no answer yet. It seems the U S has closed off visits to the U S from Turkish people but friends from other countries are having the same problem.

Anything that has American mixed in the gene pool isn't welcome in turkey. But overall Turkish people don't like or welcome anyone outside of their country. Its always been like that.Erdogan like his so-called management cannot bring back any value to the lira against the dollar. Endogan put his own financial interests before Turkish people and here's why.So far Erdogan has sold well over 50,000 Syrian refugees privately to China only women and female children to enhance Chinas badly needed working population. However one ship which had over 15,000 Syrian refugees inroute to China from turkey was caught but nothing was done about it.Turkish investors have lost everything investing in things Erdogan recommended. The dollar is dominating world currencies and it'll continue to do so for decades to come and beyond. Remember this if visiting turkey though many Turkish are desperate financially so most foreigners visiting will most certainly be targeted for robbery.

That's true unfortunately. The Turkish lira has lost nearly 800% of its value against the US dollar since 2008.

I am a Canadian and looking for doing business in Istanbul.I am looking for some one who had contact to sell domestic product like food items( dried food, fruit,etc) , furniture, medicines in domestic or international.Just to provide the I like to give 10 percent of profit from every deal.

If average salary is 3600 lira, how people live with that? A lot of people must be struggling. I pray for Turkey, its people, everyone except the dictator wannabe Erdogan.

Hey I love Istanbul Turkey people's I wanna come n enjoy your country ....I saw your Istanbul movies and the name is day dreamer in Mx player .... I loved it..... Seriously and my WhatsApp number is +919999723050

I don't care how bad the virus gets Istanbul is over crowded and losing half the population in Istanbul wouldn't bother at all

most of the prices are accurate.
the prices which clearly wrong are :
-Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught) 17.00 TL must be 25 TL,
-Loaf of Fresh White Bread (500g) 2.88 TL must be 4 TL
-Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) 3,388.78 TL must be 4000 TL

It's being discussed by the labor commission to reduce minimum wage to 2,000 liras per month due to the lira losing value rapidly.

Dar cat costa facultatea in Istanbul, mai exact Minar Sinan sau conservatorul? Multumesc, o seara buna!

Istanbul has turned into a dangerous place for the past 5 years and it's getting much worse.The majority of Turkey is getting more dangerous due to terrorism.