Cost of Living in Raleigh

Summary about cost of living in Raleigh:

Four-person family monthly costs: 3,163.70$ without rent (using our estimator).
A single person monthly costs: 883.42$ without rent.
Cost of living index in Raleigh is 30.22% lower than in New York.
Rent in Raleigh is, on average, 63.51% lower than in New York.
Cost of living rank 108^th out of 488 cities in the world.
Raleigh has a cost of living index of 69.78.

Restaurants	[ Edit ]	Range
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant	13.72 $	10.00-25.00
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course	60.00 $	35.00-100.00
McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal)	8.00 $	6.00-8.70
Domestic Beer (1 pint draught)	4.25 $	3.00-6.00
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle)	6.00 $	5.00-7.00
Cappuccino (regular)	3.94 $	2.25-5.00
Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle)	1.72 $	1.00-2.50
Water (12 oz small bottle)	1.46 $	1.00-2.50
Markets	[ Edit ]
Milk (regular), (1 gallon)	3.28 $	1.80-4.50
Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb)	2.70 $	1.50-6.00
Rice (white), (1 lb)	1.92 $	1.10-3.00
Eggs (regular) (12)	2.22 $	1.29-6.00
Local Cheese (1 lb)	5.03 $	2.69-8.40
Chicken Fillets (1 lb)	3.94 $	2.00-8.00
Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat)	5.74 $	4.00-8.00
Apples (1 lb)	2.22 $	0.99-3.00
Banana (1 lb)	0.59 $	0.50-0.89
Oranges (1 lb)	2.38 $	1.00-6.00
Tomato (1 lb)	2.41 $	0.75-6.00
Potato (1 lb)	1.08 $	0.89-1.50
Onion (1 lb)	1.02 $	0.75-1.40
Lettuce (1 head)	1.75 $	1.00-3.00
Water (1.5 liter bottle)	1.79 $	1.00-6.00
Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range)	13.00 $	7.00-15.00
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle)	2.45 $	1.43-4.29
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle)	3.10 $	1.25-4.75
Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro)	6.20 $	5.75-7.00
Transportation	[ Edit ]
One-way Ticket (Local Transport)	1.25 $	1.25-2.25
Monthly Pass (Regular Price)	42.50 $	25.00-45.00
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff)	2.50 $	1.95-5.00
Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff)	2.50 $	1.95-5.00
Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff)	35.00 $	20.00-60.00
Gasoline (1 gallon)	2.46 $	1.91-2.79
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car)	22,000.00 $	21,000.00-24,000.00
Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car)	20,259.00 $	19,000.00-22,000.00
Utilities (Monthly)	[ Edit ]
Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment	138.33 $	95.00-200.00
1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans)	0.25 $	0.05-0.27
Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL)	56.21 $	45.00-75.00
Sports And Leisure	[ Edit ]
Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult	31.82 $	15.00-53.00
Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend)	10.50 $	5.00-15.00
Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat	11.00 $	9.00-15.00
Childcare	[ Edit ]
Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child	815.42 $	485.00-1,200.00
International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child	11,333.33 $	9,000.00-18,000.00
Clothing And Shoes	[ Edit ]
1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar)	43.08 $	26.00-65.00
1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...)	42.47 $	22.00-60.00
1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range)	76.36 $	55.00-95.00
1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes	102.45 $	60.00-185.00
Rent Per Month	[ Edit ]
Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre	1,335.83 $	1,000.00-2,000.00
Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre	969.12 $	800.00-1,200.00
Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre	1,950.14 $	1,461.70-3,600.00
Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre	1,450.47 $	1,250.00-1,800.00
Buy Apartment Price	[ Edit ]
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre	277.81 $	200.00-371.61
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre	146.45 $	121.83-278.71
Salaries And Financing	[ Edit ]
Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax)	4,064.64 $
Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate	4.03	3.38-4.80

Prices in Raleigh, North Carolina

These data are based on 1090 entries in the past 18 months from 146 different contributors.
Last update: May 2020

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8 Comments so far

#Anonymous on Jan 14, 2020 :

I've lived in various parts of the metro area for 20 years now. Work brought me. I keep having to move farther out to afford housing, and have to drive everywhere, because busing is great inside the city, but not to the connecting towns. West side is most expensive b/c of RTP. Some sections welcome immigrants, others do not. Some areas are really racist period, and others are not. Cost of living keeps going up because it is growing so quickly and trying to attract people from areas with a higher cost of living. Many small businesses also haven't thrived in the last decade because of the housing bust. The bit about property taxes on pets and such...nonsense, but yes, cars, boats, and other big vehicles are definitely taxed once a year. The school system is insane if you want to make choices instead of staying at your base schools. Childcare is expensive! Pay doesn't always keep up with inflation. Healthcare keeps going up at an astonishing rate, which might have to do with all of the med schools in the area. It's a sprawl outside of downtown itself, and the city keeps eating up more of the county each year. Strangely though, after living in rural and suburban areas in several states growing up, I still like this area despite all of its challenges. And yes, the prices are pretty accurate.

#Rebel on Dec 18, 2019 :

For those asking if it’s really that bad here... I make about $38,000 and I cannot afford to live on my own. I just have a little bit of debt so that’s not eating up my money, but by the time I pay taxes and health insurance, my paychecks look pretty sad. You can’t find a place to live here for less than about $1000/month unless you want to live in an unsafe neighbor or waaayyyy (and I mean WAY) out in the suburbs.

#Anonymous on Nov 19, 2019 :

Raleigh not so good, like it was in 2012-17. Joe, if you have good job everything will be great, otherwise you will fight with hordes of cheap labor(students, latinos, asians) for really small job pool and salaries. Prices goes up 35-40% in last few years, but salaries no.

#Joe on Nov 07, 2019 :

Are the numbers here accurate? Is it really that bad in Raleigh?

#Gary M. on Oct 26, 2019 :

Raleigh is a big-big village, locals really ignorant liers, and silently blame immigrants or newcomers. I'm immigrant from Germany with CS degree and 2 years experience in web development field. No job if you don't have local certificate or experience. Great Raleigh area mostly with low salaries and surviving life style for people. Raleigh maybe good for pensioners. I had also survived after one year been there (computer sales assistant with salary $12-15/h) and move to Chicago where I feel much better now.

#Rick Carter on Oct 06, 2019 :

Real salaries for newcomers 2000-2200 after tax, forget about 4k+! So expensive to live and survive here in RTP area - rent 1800-2000 with utilities, taxes high enough, people ignorant to you, and just pretend to be friendly and good only in blah blah blah or zero promises... I looked 6+ month for job in digital marketing with minimal range 35$ per hour and spent all capital for such experimental move from Sacramento to "best place to live", in fact real job market in between 20-35$ per hour for white collar and 7.25-19$ for others - in reality no money in Raleigh, lots of shops and biz closes, next month my family will move to Arizona where I found job. Here in Raleigh everybody works and afraid to be fired, dumb lifestyle of little goats. Immigrants from Europe / and local students works for 8$/per hour without "American exp", and mostly all 7 days in week to pay for bills!!! People look for better job for more than two year in average, otherwise some their colleagues "white natives" got 75-120$ per hour for nothing to do(drinks coffee from 10-12, and leaves office at 3-4pm). I tried local grubhub/postmates/doordash delivery to pay bills(avg before tax 180-200$ week/ 120-150 miles), but nobody gave any penny tips for delivery(why?), how this gig economy lives, impossible to earn - like some type of volunteering job. People no have cash and social protection. Never come here without any job or with babies, all services so costly and people mostly don't like newcomers!

#Luke Kosmo on Apr 08, 2018 :

Raleigh (and NC in general) has become more blue so more taxes with deteriorating living environment.

#James Dubreck on Jul 17, 2017 :

Your cool excludes taxes imposed on Raleigh residents.
For example: automobile property tax averages $600 per year
Automobile inspection+registration averages $70 per year.
Personal property taxes on pets, tools, recreational items, jewelry, etc. Average 350.00 per year.
Gas tax is .56/gal state
Sales tax is on EVERYTHING, FOOD, CLOTHES, NECESSITIES,etc.

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