Cost of Living in 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.

Dears,
How much would be an ideal pay scale for a Solution Architect with 14+ year of IT experience in CZ-Prague?
What are the tax slabs.

Any inputs are highly Appreciated.

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! I have an offer of 2000 Euro net. Plan to rent an apartment on Prague 6 or Prague 8. Will I survive on 2k Euro?

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?

Can any one tell me for 13 years experienced business analyst in banking domain what will be the Net salary that we can expect in prague?

Hi!how much is the 2000 euro after tax in Prague?

Hello Daniel,

fall back plan is that I make now without bonus the 2650 euros in Germany net so 2700 net in Prague plus bonus 3000 net would have been more

however rent is a more in Prague for what I get now with 750 euros all is 65 SQM in prague would get me 50 sqm

Also consumer goods are way more expensive in Prague clothes, electronics, branded products cost way more then in Germany.

social live still a bit cheaper but not by much like meals out etc

Also the job in Prague would have been way harder, more stressful longer hours etc

but I would have gain in better social life

where I am the Retirement pension is way better then Prague also Social Security in case one loses a job etc

Again you right I said no already but still considering move back to Prague

so thanks for your comments

Well

I got an offer paying 90K brutto plus early Bonus of 17% plus 11K drive allowance

so 101K a month net is 70K plsu the Yealy bonus would make 3K euro net

I said no did I made a mistake ?

Joseph: No, you cannot retire on $800 month in Prague.

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.

Czechs can be rude bully people. The most rude person I ever met in my life was a Czech woman. Terrible, dark and hateful.

"#Anonymous on Jun 17, 2019 :
I have a fully furnished 2+kk 60m2 flat in a very nice gated community for 22000czk, all services included."

2kk is 1 bedroom. How much is a 3 bedroom, in the same gated community you're talking about, that is if they have such type of flats. I'm guessing probably around 35-40k or more including services. Much-much too much for local salaries.

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

Like I mentioned before don't move to CZ high prices on everything.I left CZ 8 months ago.

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!

To George# You're right about money grabbing property agents ripping people off.But as we know saleries fluctuate wildly.I've owned my house in Prague for over 13 years.If It wasn't for that I would've moved long ago.I must admit though like many I'm tired of the ongoing lies the government spewes out regularly, promising everything and delivering nothing.I may sell my house this year, haven't decided yet.But if I do sell it I'll move to South America where my utilities and food are a 3rd of the cost compared to Prague.

@ 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.

I think lots of different comments makes people confused. Could you please share you opinion about salary levels for nice (not bad, not perfect, not living at the center of city or bad aresa, also without savings) life in Prague? 1 person: 45K, 2 person: 70K etc. That would be good for estimating.

The problem is IT and finance are paid in CZK basically the same as Euro so it's a no win situation for anyone, truth be known.

"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.

Yes, I understand what you say, the situation is not good in most places in Europe. What I try to say is that here, in Prague, CZ, is one of the worst situation about housing/real estate.

# Andriy Several friends have relocated to Bulgaria,Latvia, Macedonia,and other areas in Eastern Europe.Sure rents and purchasing a house are more reasonable compared to Prague.But once again salaries don't offset the real cost of living, once again no financial gain.

# Anonymous
But if you look at percentaje of salary which is spent on place to live, is very few other civilised places in Europe which can be close to Prague.
1 Salary = 1 Rent (nothing luxury)

Must compare to Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam, etc. If in those countryes the rent will be eqal to salary, which is not, they will do somethin about it. Here, government don’t care, government/politics get paid by property industry in one way or other to continue in this way which is devastate for the normal citizen

Is right what they say about crazy price of apartments. 9-12 milion Czechs Korunas for a modest new apartment...this is not right in a place where average net selary is <35,000 Korunas/month. So if couple both have OK job, one full selary must to go to rental/mortgage. How can live like that? What if want to have kid? Maternity money very less...that mean yuo can end up on street very quick. Property markets in Prague is like a giant castel of cards. Building up higher, and higher, but all fake, because shud never be so high if consider how much people earning selary.
Slowly becoming very depressing and stressful live in Prague. Whoever consider come here, should go instead Germany, Netharlands, Sweden, Finland. Those realy are good places, Prague was also good just little years ago, but now change so much only to the worst. Pity, but this is reality.

@ Anonymous (latest comment, Mar. 27)

Depends what you call average salary. Average salary overall? For locals? For expats? I would think most people checking Numbeo are of course expats, and the average salary of an expat that came here to work as a professional is far above the general average. I would think 55-60 CZK net is the average an expat earns, or possibly higher, although of course the median might be lower due to the outliers that earn multiples of the normal salaries.

When seen in that context, it is not really 20 x years of net annual salaries needed to buy a new flat for an expat, but more like 12-13 yrs if we take the price of a new flat to be around 8mio CZK + 30y interest, so you get about 30-33k/month of mortgage. Yes, that is high, especially at this moment in time, but honestly, the more I live here the more I start to realize that when people kept telling me a few years back when I moved here that the prices (of property) can't really go lower, they were right, as the constant stream of newly created jobs and the new arrivals to take those jobs, simply have no available new housing to move into, and the government is doing sod-all about it, thus things cannot change into the next years, its simple math. I for one will continue to rent, as for me, right now renting makes much more sense, albeit its getting increasingly difficult to find a decent flat to rent, but unlike 3-4 yrs when I moved here when monthly mortgage was just about the same or even a bit lower than renting, right now mortgage would be at least 30-40% per month, at least for me, so its out of the question. I guess one thing is for sure, nobody will buy flats in Prague at these price levels for the rental yield, as this is slowly heading lower and lower.

The cost of living is ridiculous in Prague. Rent for a good 1 bedroom apartment is 20000 CZK per month. If you earn 30000 CZK per month, it is not enough because you have to pay something like 30% tax and food costs 4000 CZK per month at least. So there is no way you can survive on the average wage. I think you need at least 40000 CZK per month to survive.

www.hays.cz salary report will give everyone a good example of the Czech labor market.

I read all recent comments, so can we say that typical needings for 2 person are:

Mandatory: 25K for rent (2+1 or 2+kk) with utilities. 9K for food and other needings like transportation, mobile phone etc.
Other: 7K for going out, sports etc. 3K for shopping.

Waiting your comments, thanks :)

@ Rocky
60k CZK net per month is almost double the average earnings here in Prague, so it is a good salary, you should be able to easily save a bit every month off that salary.

@ Rose
Highly depends on your personal preferences, whether you can manage sharing accommodation, how far from the center you can accept to travel etc. If you will want to live on your own, close from public transport and not more than 25-30min from the center, this budget will be rather tight. You have to factor in that at least 55-60% of that net salary will go on accomodation& related expenses if you're not going to share a flat, as its hard to find anything below 12-13k per month, to that you have to add 2, maybe 3k common expenses and another 1k or so for electricity/internet which usually isn't included.

Good luck with your move and if you haven't signed the contract yet, try to negotiate a bit higher salary, based on the skyrocketing cost of living here, especially cost of accommodation in the last couple of years, hopefully they will agree to increase it a bit, as it will make a world of difference to have some extra money to spend on yourself.

Hi,

60K CZK per month net salary is good for single person in Prague? Or is it too high?

Yes...52K net is enough for two people. No more than 22K for flat rent. Use public transportation. You will be ok with 52K.

Anna...it is ok salary if you do a flatshare with someone.

Yes. 55000czk net salary is enough for single person in Prague.

Hello I am looking for a share room in Prague 2 or 3 the budget is up to 5000 czk
phone number 728312959

@Zika: Yes, social security is obligatory for every employee, doesn't matter where are you from. It will be deducted automatically from your salary every month.

Of course, I am talking about single person or a pair, not raising a family in a huge 4 bedroom apartment in the city center on a single person's paycheck.

Hey folks,
Since I am a non EU citizen, if I am planning to work in Prague, will I need to pay for social security?
Because if I check the net salary calculator I see a lot of fields of deductions, so I am wondering if they all apply to us as non EU.

Hi I was offered a job in Prague for 40,000Kc,

I would like to know if that is enough as a single parson to live in the city
?