Cost of Living in Prague

Times have changed. The best days of Prague have come and gone.

I would like to know how much is the school fees, Current 50 sqm apartment in May 2022 prices ?

Saugat: 100,000czk gross monthly salary for family of 4 to live nicely. 80,000czk if you use public transport and live simple.

60000 Kc for two is not what I would call a comfortable lifestyle, more surviving than living.
Unless you choose a really small place, around 25k will go on rent + expenses alone which is 42% of your income. If your partner plans to get a job too…different story

I got a job in Prague and they are offering me net 60000 CZK per month. We are family of two and would like to understand if this amount would be sufficient to spend a healthy life style and save a little bit?

Hello, I got a job offer (entry level recruiter position) in Prague few days ago and they are offering 26,032 czk after taxes (in this includes the meal allowance and the relocation allowance which i can get for the first 3 months). After the first 3 months I can start earning commission, but it's uncertain how much or when i'll be able to count on the commission. My question is would this be manageable with the rent and the living cost? As I understood now the utilities cost went up almost double cause of covid. Should I move there or I'll be struggling ?

I forgot two other advantages:
1. Economic growth is one of the highest in EU, on par with Poland
2. Unemployment rate is very low

I have been living in Prague for 3 years. These are my conclusions :
Pros :
1. Prague is beautiful
2. Not so expensive place compared to neighbourhood countries
3. A lot of things to do in the city (concerts, bars, clubs, museums and etc.)
4. The city is close to other interesting cities (Berlin, Vienna, Krakow) and quite cheap to get there.
5. Quite big expat groups
6. Public transport works almost perfect

Cons:
1. Prague is getting more and more expensive city
2. Local people are cold and not friendly to immigrants. It makes difficult to adapt here.
3. Most people dont speak English. So probably they will not understand English in you local shop.
4. A lot of Ukrainians workers
5. Salaries are not as high as in neighbourhood countries as Germany and Austria
6. Quality of food is not great. Not so many fish products
7. Apartments are getting more and mor expensive. Mortgage is difficult to pay with Prague salary.
8. Long queues to wait for a doctor.

For 2 people you will need around 70000 CZK for good living for 2022 year.

Hello everyone, I am currently in contact with a company in Prague for a job offer in Project management for cyber security . I kinda am lost as to how much to ask. I have about 9 years of experience as a PM, as well as PMP. And total of 17 years. If anyone have a median range I would appreciate it.

47000 for a NOC engineer is rather on the low end. If you are at the beginning of your career, that would be acceptable but if you have +5yrs experience, ask for more! At least 55-60 (net)

@Anonymous123
If you live alone, it could be enough,but try to get at least 1800 eur. If it is it related job you can get even more like 2000 eur. You can find place wi 15k czk suitable for 1-2 persons

Hi ...is it possible to search job with more than 60k for It manager and how much does it cost for 1bed

@Ash, it could be not enough for you family. Rent will for you family would be around 20-22k. Food around 10k for month. And additionally your kids will need some school and kindergarden spending. So it could tough for you. 60k salary would be better and he can find job with that salary in Prague.

I forgot - Prague being almost in the middle of Czechia is kinda isolated for road/train trips. You can mostly visit Dresden. Other foreign cities are further away. Plzen is closer to Regensburg, Linz, Munich, Nuremberg. Brno's closer to Vienna/Bratialava and Ostrava to Katowice and Krakow.

Minimum of 50000czk net salary for a family of 3, and this is only if you use public transportation and rent a flat in cheaper areas such as Praha 8 - Bohnice.

The city is international for working and living is best spot to stay...LOL

Would 65k (net) be enough for a family of 3? The school would be covered. Not looking to live a luxurious life but wondering if we would be comfortable and not struggling?

Prague is amazing place to live and to work...LOL

If you work in IT you will find a decent job to cover your monthly expenses but it wont earn you enough to buy a flat or house. House prices are same as Berlin in Germany. I wouldnt recomend to move here if you want to work in tourism or any other industry. Prague has the most expensive real estate in Europe based on average salary if you want to buy a property....

Prague is a lovely place to visit! Every place has its ups & downs. As regards comments on language, everyone must realize citizens of any country would always love talking in their language! It's for foreigners to learn a few words of courtesy & practice which will make the host happy! Prague still remains affordable compared to some neighbouring countries. Of course who doesn't want zero inflation?! Be happy folks & best wishes!

I don't know why they keep showing completely fake prices like the price of a coke. Try to find just one restaurant where a coke costs 35 KC, impossible. Or a water for 25 KC, where in Prague? Maybe these where the prices 5 years ago

I like Dec 18, 2019 comment. I live in the USA. Im sure we beat you in lack of common sense and rationality. This place is terrible. I just want to get out of here. I know all places have their cons but have you seen our "leader"????? Get. me. out.

Hi guys, today i ve got an offer in prague to work and live there, they offered me 2000€, is it worthy loving there? I saw all the comment and all the stats above, this offer seems to be decent, like not good but limit ok. I need some advice from you guys. Thanks

“ Anonymous on Dec 08, 2019 :
Get a flatmate and you can live decently on 1450 Euro net.”

Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Yes, I know you are probably right, but it is outrageous that Prague transformed itself, in the space of just few years, from a low-cost,
affordable place that it was, to the bloody ripoff place it is today, where the limits of common sense and rationality have been crossed many moons ago.

For those of you looking to come here to the CEE El-Dorado, keep your sanity and save your nerves, go elsewhere!

How much money is ok for one person to move to Prague?

I moved to Prague one year ago and can break down my salary and living expenses as a single person living in the city.

I earn 55k before tax, which is about 40k after tax. This is quite a bit ABOVE the average.

I spend 15k on a 53 sm2 apartment, with bills (3k) and Internet (529), so 18,529 CZK a month.
I spend roughly 1 to 1,2k crowns a week on groceries, so 4 to 4,8k a month.
I have a cleaning person, I pay her 200 CZK an hour, so it is 2,4k CZK monthly.
My phone bill is the cheapest tariff I could find, 350 CZK a month.
The public transport card for 1 year is 3650 CZK, but if you divide it monthly it is 304 CZK.

I like to go to the cinema (roughly 140 CZK at the art cinemas), have drinks out (beer and wine are insanely cheap here at mostly places, take full advantage when you come here), go to a restaurant once/twice a week (lunch can be 150-220 CZK, dinner per person is about 250-300k).

After my main expenses I have something like 14 or 15k left over every salary, and I usually finish the month anywhere between 6k to 9k CZK to go to savings.

Overall, I think I have a very good, privileged life in Prague compared to many. My flat is rather good quality and cheaper than many other ones in comparison to current market prices, and is also pretty close to the city center by tram.

I would not move to Prague earning less than 40k CZK before tax, but I like to live alone. If you don't mind sharing an apartment with one or more people you will of course spend much less.

Hello!

How much would be an ideal salary be, not a lot, but with enough savings, to live in Prague with my wife and 2 years old kid? I have 7 years of experience in IT and what is the market standard salary that an IT engineer of my experience gets offered in Prague?

Hi! Plan to move in Prague with my family (wife and 2 kids (1 Yr old and 2 Yr old) what supposed to be the salary income to survive? Will 2k euro net is enough?

Hi all,
I live in Vienna (Austria) but I am considering to move to Prague with my girlfriend.

I should have a salary of 2.400 euro net per month (14 months) but I am not sure that it is enough considering:
- social system
- health system
- rent

At the moment I am not working but the social system in Vienna it is really advanced, therefore I would have time to learn german and maybe find a job.

I do not really know if I have to accept the job offer.

Do you any experience like this?
There should be anything else I have to consider?

hi .does anyone can tell how much average barber can earn in Prague?
thanks in advance...

Hello! My Name is Petr, im from Ukraine,Kiev. Im a nuclear engineer, live in my own flat with like 1K$ netto per month.
Now, I have a proposal to go to Prague with 35000 brutto, with the following increase during the year to 40000-45000. I think to rent a one-room studio for 10 thousands, live on the rest (26,000 will be net, I think).
Help me please to decide, ist it okay? In general, aftrer 5-8 years, they proposing for me 50000-55000 brutto.
I would like to travel minimally, go to the gym.
What do you think about that?

Hi Anonymous on Aug 05, 2019!

It is approx 1455 eur after taxes. You can use: https://salarycalc.eu/en/

Hi everyone! Its interesting to ready everyone's experience. I hope everyone has settled well and enjoyed staying in Czech Republic. I will be moving to Prague end of this year with family ( 2 adults + 2 very young kidds). NET INCOME OF 4k USD per month is it enough to have a normal life? I plan to rent apartment 2+1 in district 5,6 or 7. Thank you in advance for an advice.

@ Anonymous ”I said no did I made a mistake ?”

What's the point of asking now after you already said no? Have no idea what you said no, what your fallback plan is, what your expenses are, whether you are single or with family, etc. etc. , but independently of that, 3000 EUR to have as a net income is not shabby at all, nor would it put you up there with those living in the lap of luxury, for that you would need I would say at least 5-6k EUR net per month, and of course upwards of that the sky is the limit. Same as in London you probably need 20k/month for a glimpse of luxury living.

Hi Joseph

If you are coming here to retire, you would of course not be tied to live within Prague or surroundings for that matter. There's plenty of places within 45min-1hr of a train ride from Prague, where you can live in a house on that money, including the rent, however it would be a frugal life at best, no luxuries. If you would buy a house up front, which would be pretty cheap outside of Prague, in a rural area (something between around 40-50 000 EUR 1-1.25mil CZK would buy you a fixer upper with a plot), but within Prague...forget about it. Even if you had to buy a flat outright, assuming you can afford to spend around 250 000 USD for a 70-80 sqm. flat, which is at the low-end so it would not be a new property but an older flat, that 800 USD to live on, assuming you would have to pay health insurance and many other things as a non-Czech, and probably non-EU citizen too?, you would have very little left to "live" one out of that $800. Sadly, we met multiple US retirees here at expat get-togethers who were in the process of sorting out their Czech "exit" and either return to the US of move to some other country, because their dream retirement place has in the meantime seriously deteriorated and the small pension or savings that they came with here, to boost their quality of life considerably at the time, nowadays barely affords them a decent life. One notable exception was an elderly lady we met who, along with her now gone husband had the brilliant idea in 2001 when they moved here to scoop up multiple flats with the proceeds of the house they sold back in the US when they relocated, and now those 3 flats she has, plus the one she lives in, all within "old" Prague, Petrská čtvrť area, I'm sure altogether it's worth at least 1.5mio $, maybe more, not shabby at all and probably 7-800% return as they bought each in a bad state and renovated it.

The conclusion...no, Prague is far from being a cheap retirement location..think Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, over there you bucks will go the furthest and probably quality of life is better than here.

Hello Saad

To be honest, 90000 CZK (equivalent of 4000 USD) would be very less if gross, and if net, it would be barely manageable for 6 people to live on, as in you would be in a real struggle.

Things to consider in your budget:
- minimum 30 000 CZK would go on rent, and I would say this is a happy case if you find a 3 or 4 bedroom apt, which I would assume is quite small still for a family with 3 kids + a grandmother to live in. Forget about any houses with garden or anything like that, for a house you would have to pay that entire salary
- the other expenses, what they call poplatky here (water, heating, refuse, etc.), plus electricity, internet, mobile phones will run you at least another 10 000 I would thing for a family of 6.
- transport, basic food shopping, without any going out, I would say maybe 15-20 000 for 6 at a rather frugal level with cooking at home, taking home-cooked food to work/school, etc.
- health insurance costs, don't know what your employer might cover, but I'm quite certain they will not cover all 6 of you, so factor in probably at least another 7-8000/month, which by the way is mandatory in some cases (as in the visa of your family members will depend on health insurance contributions)

So as you can see, without adding and casual or luxury expenses. I assume if coming from UAE hopefully the time spent there and the better pay has afforded you the possibility to accumulate some savings, so if you just want to spend 1-2 years in Prague and see how you'll get along it might be a good experience, but definitely consider doing some hard negotiating to try to increase your pay. If your spouse has an in-demand degree/occupation, then of course things could be a lot easier, if she can get at least a part-time, well paying job, although I don't know if she would be willing to do so with 3 children.

If you have a chance to consider offers from other locations, such as Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Scandinavia, definitely look at other options too, as Prague is very quickly becoming very expensive for local pay, and even locals are starting to leave in droves due to the big cut in quality of life with all these hikes, mainly in property prices/rents, but of course many other services followed suit, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of relief anytime soon.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I make 53k/month net. Rent and util are around 22500/month. I have to pay around 11000/month bank loan in my homr country. So i am left with 19.500/month. I dont who said that Prague is cheap when it comes to going out for a simple coffee let's say. They charge for the milk if you ask for it. It's like my home country in the 2000 wtf. Anyway i started this journey because i wanted to see how it is to work in another country so i am stuck for 2 years but i am not sorry. Advice for new people thinking about moving to Prague, get ready for the language barier, few people speak english, which was a surprise for me. If you go to Romania, that some people call it the sh**** country in Europe, even in the supermarket the cashier speaks some enghlish and on the streer people dont treat like a piece of sh*** just because you are a foreigner.
For a city break Prague is beautiful but thats it. If you expect people to respect you as a foreigner dont even bother.

3 bedrooms apt. for 22k CZK? Good luck with finding one, even completely empty (unfurnished)

Why are utilities so shockingly expensive in Prague? I've just moved here and while the rent is quite high, I was more surprised to see the costs of the utilities, because it's basically more than what I was paying in London and checking comparisons here on Numbeo with other cities, it seems its even higher than Zurich!

I'm renting a not-very-big 2+1 flat as they call it here, its less than 70m2 altogether including a decent sized balcony, in a newer building, and I'm paying 4150 expenses per month, which they told me is prepayments and that it should be lowered a bit maybe after 1 year, as I'm just one person and previously the flat was occupied by a couple. But still, 4150 CZK is close to 150 quid or about 165 EUR, which seems excessively much - mind you the flat has no gym, pool or any of those amenities. And of course I'm paying for electricity and internet separately. The amounts for these expenses seem to vary quite widely, but overall I haven't seen much lower amounts then 2.5-3000 CZK/month. So my question to somebody that lives here longer is: who pockets all this money? Are the developers somehow clawing back some more money via some nonsense charges, or how exactly can such amounts be justified? Being very well insulated as I can see so far, I don't think there's too much heating needed that could explain this huge amount for "poplatky".

Hi guys, I'm 22 years old with only HS diploma and I'm looking for work. I know English, Bulgarian and a bit of Czech. So far I have found only customer service jobs and they pay around 33000 CZK gross, which I wonder whether it'll be enough, adding that I'll have to pay rent (10-15k per month?). Can you advice me? Should I maybe consider Brno? I work in a factory now and I'd like to get out of here ASAP. Thanks!

@ George, Thanks for the nice explanation. It seems housing-origin problems are major. When I look at internet for flat adverts, I can find some good ones with affordable prices but mostly is a little high than I expected. But as you said, lots of Europe big cities have same problems. My company arranged 5 months flat for me but then I hope that I will find a good one.

I forgot to mention that I am married and my friends' 50K+ comments was for 2 person. (Max 25K rent with utilities, public transportation and reasonable going out days / entertainment options.) I hope this will help people who are looking for salary/expense information.

Recently I got job offer from Prague and after little research accepted. I have 2 friends there, already living for 3-4 years. Both of them said that 50K+ net is enough for decent life in Prague. We will see in 3-4 months, and hopefully survive there.

I want to ask to negative commentators about what is the reason of fluctuations and also can't people see decent future? What is the difference from global slowdown all over the world? Please feel free to share news, articles etc. when you have time. So I and also people like John can understand situation clearly.

It's unfortunate all of Europe is taking a huge financial nose dive.Being positive is better but it'll only get much worse.This is only the beginning of collapse throughout Europe.The U S won't bail out Europe either, sure of that.

"The company pays 25,800 CZK per month utilities not included.Prague is a nice city but I really don't know how people can afford it."

No magic involved, they just struggle a lot, get multiple job, enlist the help of parents (locals), some were lucky to inherit some flat or house, but for many, it is a daily struggle indeed and that is why while there is a strong influx of expats here, while many local people, as well as expats from 1st wave, those "locked out" of being able to have an affordable life are leaving Prague to greener pastures.

Hi Costin

I'll just leave a few thoughts and answer some of your questions:
- regarding the salary, I'm afraid that your salary offer in Prague looks to me like a downgrade of your current buying power in current city, at least according to Numbeo, the main reason of course being the huge dent that the rent would put in your monthly earnings here in Prague; including allowance for the 1 child, your net will still be a rather low 34164 CZK, this is about about 1330 euros expressed in Euros, which might seem more than double what you have now, however the fact that you own or can use a flat there for free, makes a huge difference.
- a 1 bedroom apt. (what they call here 2+KK or 2+1) which I guess is the bare minimum a couple with a small child needs, will cost you at the very least 14-15000 CZK/month in rent only, and this is for something rather basic and quite far from the center, and probably some 4-5000 CZK on top of that for all the other utilities. So its unlikely that you can find anything for less than 20000 CZK per month in housing costs, which translates to almost 800 euros
- if you simply deduct 800 from you net salary estimate of 1330 euros, you can see you are left with 500-550 EUR, so back to square one, wouldn't seem to me like an increase in standard of living compared to Oradea, Romania

Add to that the fact that many things are quite a bit more expensive here, again taking mainly numbeo as reference. Your net salary in Romania seems to be +50% above the average net salaries in that city, whereas here, your average net salary would only be some 15% above average

My advice - if you really want to move, especially with a small child and put roots somewhere, Prague is NOT the place for you, not in this context where property prices are gone through the roof, and not unless you have a very well paying job, I mean at least double or more what they offered you. Look instead to Scandinavia, Netherlands, Germany, the UK even while you still can, as the quality of life is still above here IMHO, as well as you have to consider the future of your child. He/she will be much better off with an English or German or Scandinavian education than with Czech - I don't have kids and Czech schools might be good indeed, however they don't particularly emphasize from what I've heard towards a "global" education that would put the kids in a very favorable position for a future career, as for the opportunities here in Czech Republic, they are not bad, but far from being considered 1st class.

Good luck with everything, hope it works out well for you!

# Daniel I'm not trying to create a scene or disable your input.Understand any site that gives net saleries or anything remotely close to financial advice isn't really stating true numbers.Yes all governments are corrupt that's a given unfortunately.My sister has worked for the Czech government for about 18 years now as I mentioned priorly.That doesn't mean she agrees with the governments methods to defraud people needlessly.But as a government employee she must follow their orders or be dismissed, even worse retaliation from the government directly.Understand that government and employers work together to create net salaries complimenting each other's financial portfolios,it happens more often than people realise.Many employees are too afraid to mention anything about their net wages for fear of retaliation by their employers.Jobs aren't plentiful in Prague or throughout Czech for that matter.24,600 CZK per month is the actual net minimum wage in all of Czech.Its easy to generate information as to minimum wage but not accurate.Numbeo isn't at fault for inaccurate costs because Numbeo depends upon others for accurate data.Government officials line their pockets with the Czech people's money.You could drive by any government officials house and see an elaborate home and wonder how they can afford that? Corruption is how it's done on their parts.However government employees such as my sister don't have the same living quarters by any means.

For clarification purposes regarding salaries, for the end of 2018, these were the numbers, for a single person/no dependents:
Czech Rep. as a whole = 33840 CZK gross, which works out to about 25377 NET
Prague = 41851 CZK gross, which means 30901 CZK NET. This translates to almost exactly 1200 EUR/month or 1347 USD/month. So no, the average net salary in Prague is not 1075 USD, its quite a bit higher than that.

As for the number here on Numbeo which I see is now showing 28788, this is not far from the official statistical info, so I guess could be taken as truthful enough. This being a website that relies on user-input, its normal that there will be slight differences from official statistics.

There are many net wage calculators online, I used platy.cz for the above

Anyway you put it, cost of housing, be it rent/mortgage is WAAAAAAY too high in Prague compared to what people earn on average. I went thru the experience of having to find a new flat myself recently as my previous one was being put on the market for sale, and finding the new flat too rent felt MUCH more difficult now that the last time I went through having to find a flat, which was in early 2017.

By much more difficult I mean the prices went up significantly (I had increased my budget by 15-20% compared to what I was paying in current flat which itself was increased after 1 year in 2018), and despite that the number of results I was getting in my searches were like less than 1/2 compared to roughly 2 years ago, as well as I notice landlord are getting a lot more picky, a lot more demanding, as they obviously can sense the great position of bargaining they find themselves in - its not uncommon to see some people advertising a flat at one price and then few days later the ad is updated with a new higher price. Plus many will insist to add a clause of inflation-linked automatic rent increase once or twice per year.

I've had someone tell me that his landlord, for an average sized studio flat (1+1) in Vinohrady , had wanted to increase the rent from 17000 CZK that he was paying for the last 3 years, straight to 24000 CZK, saying that this is the "fair price" according to the market. To make things worse, the way it works here all the fees of a real-estate transaction are payed by the buying/renting side, meaning that agents are also quite aggressive with their tactics, often encouraging the owner to put a higher rent than what he had in mind, because for them its a direct benefit (higher rent = higher fee).

At the end of the day, besides the obvious problem of lack of enough newly built places, there's also a huge lack of regulation here to dissuade this kind of blatant profiteering, hence why nowadays you see everyone and their mother becoming real estate agents over night, some without any kind of license, simply doing it as a side job to get some extra earnings, probably so they can afford their own ever increasing rent :)

Monthly net salary is $1288 according to Czech Statistical Office. And its the lowest possible salary for single person without kids and other tax discounts.

#Hugh Europe might as well join Russia and be one big happy broke family.Sounds harsh but reality is reality.

@Someone

57k Net is OK for a single person, definitely. Budget about 20k for rent+fees (1bdr flat or studio) if you're not picky about being in a central area. If you want to be in a central area, add at least 5k more and probably you'll be in a smaller space.

Unfortunately cost of living in Prague is increasing by the minute, anything from rent to other costs, so maybe try to also negotiate a higher salary.