Cost of Living in Sofia

@Samuel: 2.374 BGN gross means 1.851,58 BGN net (check for example the calculator on http://www.pariteni.bg/?tid=20&oid=600 ). This is exactly 946,70 EUR net (FX: 1,95583) and not 1008 EUR!!!
In 2018, it will be even less since the social expences are expected to be higher.
The job as a help desk call center agent is not easy. They will totally enslave you with very long shifts and uncompetent managers.

For this money, your life in Sofia will not be great. You will cover your basic needs, but will not be able to buy any luxury goods at all. Sofia is not much cheaper than Spain and the quality of food and services is worse. Don't beleive Eurostat or any other fake statistics.

"...the prices in Bulgaria are pretty much the same as those in Germany, divided by 2..."

Such kind of information is totally wrong and misleading. Prices are currently exploding, esp. if you buy products with minimal quality standards. Just some examples:

1) Local Cheese: Yes, you can find cheese for 8 lev/kg. But this cheese does not contain milk and is made from palm oil and the water part is over 50%. Quality bulgarian white cheese costs around 13-15 lev/kg. The bulgarian gouda cheese (kashkaval) costs 18-20 lev/kg (good quality). For comparison: 1 kg Gouda at REWE in Germany costs around 4,5 Euro/KG and is much much better.

2) Beer: The bulgarian-made beer is just ethanol, water, flavors and preservatives. This including the beers produced by license: Stella, Becks, Amstel, Tuborg etc. Such a beer costs around 1,20-1,60 lev /0,60-0,80 cent. In Germany, at ALDI you can buy a no-name beer for 29 cent, which is 1000% better. A real good german beer (original Krombacher or Becks etc.) can be bought for 79 cent in Germany. An imported Krombacher costs in Bulgaria 2,40 lev/1,20 Euro.

3) Milk: In Germany, for 1 Euro you get 1L Bio Milk. In Bulgaria, for 2 lev you get no name product with low quality.

4) Butter: Deutsche Markenbutter 250g - 1,99 Euro at REWE Germany, 5,80 lev at Fantastiko Sofia.

Dan, with 400 euro after rent you will have more than decent life in Sofia. In fact your standard of living might increase and you can eat out and party every day. You will probably be the richest student in your social circle. The prices being divided by two is mostly true, but there are exceptions. For example eating out, street food and cafes are more than 2 times cheaper in Sofia, but supermarket prices are sometimes just slightly cheaper than the likes of Aldi/Lidl/Penny in Germany. Also alcohol is much cheaper. Btw I live in Nuremberg so I can compare the prices relatively good. As for the driving license part I don't think you can just take the driving exam but you can sign up for a driving course in Sofia. There are theory tests in English( idk if there are in German) and the course itself is like 8-10 times cheaper than in Germany - about 300-350 euro. The price is also often negotiable depending on how much hours you want to take.

Dan, the prices in Bulgaria are pretty much the same as those in Germany, devided by 2. So if you can live with 800 euro in Germany, you can live with 400 euro in Bulgaria. It wont be a decent live though, not at all. As for the driving license, i think you can do the driving test in English, not sure in Deutsch, but maybe you can. But it takes time even if you already know how to drive. The good think is you can always pay to get your license easier. :) You know, the corruption is everywhere in Bulgaria. Have a nice stay!

Deepak, I live in Rousse and I Can tell you 8000€ is very, very good offer.

I am offered a job of 8000 euros, is it gud for living in Ruse with my wife and 6 year old son

Currently, salaries of 6.000 BGN net and above are becoming more and more common. Especially in the IT-Industry, but also for Finance Experts. Mid-level Management can go up to 10k gross. So don't sell yourself below value.
With 1.000 BGN you will live like an animal and will cover only your basic needs.

Normally white bread is 700g, not 500 and doeasnt coast more then 0.90/1 lev
just saying...

for 1 person living alone - 800 leva is normal and many people will say - perfect.

Hi to all foreigners in Bulgaria.
I am writing to you just to clarify the situation with the salaries.
I am Bulgarian from Sofia and I worked at the biggest companies in BPO sector.
The salary was 600-750 euros net or 1200-1500 lv.net.
In my last job I received 1000 euros net salary or 1900 lv.
I can tell that some salaries mentioned here 2200-2500lv for work as a slave in call centres are more than good for the standard of living in Bulgaria.
Yes it is dependes on you live style and your vices!!
Do not think this money will be paid for nothing!!!
Please know that the amounts mentioned are more that good comparing with another countries in Europe.
I recommend you to get know with our country and language before starting your life here.
It will be great to speak or try to understang the local language and to travel around the country.
Most of the young peolpe speak English but for sure use some dictionary with Bulgarian words and espressions.
At the begging can be hard for you: new country,life, cuisine,etc.
Bulgaria is good for foreingers for working and living in good / acceptable conditions.
If you do not like the country or the conditions you feelfree to chose Sofia Airport for you next step.

Hello
I just got a job offer from Telus to work as a game support agent in my native language. From what they told me, the net salary will be arpund 650€ +100€ of rent allowance. They said that they have free gyms, health insurance and stuff. But , and even after reading the comments here I am not really sure. Anyone would like to give me the feedback regarding the jib/company/salary?
And what about the city? How clean/calm/safe is it? I know it has a lot of beautiful monuments, but how good is life in it? What about the public transportation?

Public transportation is BGN 1,60 for a single ride. When you change from one tram to a bus, or another tram or trolley or Metro, you will have to pay again.
Fines are BGN 40,00 (and there is control very frequently).
A carnet of 10 rides is BGN 12,00
A day-ticket for unlimited transportation on all buses, trams, metros and trolley buses are only BGN 4,00.

to AT
Yes, quarter means a district of the city. The HRC Culinary Academy is located exactly in the City Center near the National Palace of Culture. You can search for apartments in the city center or in the Southern and Eastern parts of the city. Lozenetz is the nearest, but expensive district, then any of these could be also ok - Strelbishte, Hipodruma,Beli brezi, etc. You can use trams, buses, metro, trolleybuses almost any kind of public transport available, to get there.

really?

I've heard that the salary is very low in Sofia, but for2200 BGN would be great...

Many Thanks anyway #Andrea

Hi Guys,

I got a offer from a company in Sofia,
I would like to know if it a good offer, I am married.

Starting salary: 2200 BGN gross

Relocation assistance: Accommodation for the 1st month + 300 BGN gross from the 2nd month; reimbursement of flight ticket up to 150 Euro gross ( see also the file attached)

Monthly income: 2500 BGN gross ( salary+relocation bonus) approx 2000 BGN net ( 1000 Euro net)

Social benefits: Food vouchers-60 BGN per month /30 Euro per month; Additional Health Insurance; Sport activities; Training and development programs ( for further information see the file attached)

Many Thanks in advanced

I am crying, can't believe this stupid country pays foreigners such a great salaries. Locals are lucky if they have 300-400 euros a month for a salary. Officially on the news said: More the half of bulgarians work abroad, so they can survive and provide for their families. I hate you Bulgaria!

And almost everyone less than 35 years old speaks English here in Sofia.

Juan Pablo, i wouldnt be in sofia on 1500 lev a month, not with the price increases that happen each year.

Hello everyone,
I've been offered a job in the customer service with native speaker skills.

I've been offered 950€ gross per month. it should be 745€ net. plus 25€ net of travel card, 770€ net.
According to today rate should be 1854BGN gross, 1454BGN net. plus 50BGN of travel card, 1500BGN net.

Summing up: 950€ gross, 745 € net. (770€ net with travel allowance)
1850 BGN gross, 1450 BGN net (1500 BGN with travel allowance)

Consider that my basic need is a single bedroom apartment to live alone, a monthly subscription at the gym. Workplace is on line 1 of metro.

In your opinions, how should I handle it in Sofia with that amount?

Thank you.

There's a web site called bgrabotodatel.com which basically means bgemployer. There are many reviews and opinions about many employers in it but only in bulgarian language unfortunately. You can use the google translator to read some of them. About CMSG people are devided, there are mixed opinions. It's definitely not the best place to work at, probably an average one. As for Sofia, it's a relatvely safe place if you avoid the ghetos, especially at night.

@Kubilay

1500lv gross (1150net) is the absolute minimum that you should ask for. About 2000lv gross would be good deal, anything above that would be considered great.

@Alexandra

You'll be able to cope with just english, but have in mind that in general the employees in the supermarkets do not speak english, otherwise they would have found better jobs for at least twice the salary. But I don't think that english is generally needed at such places, everything is displayed, shown and computerized. Most young people do know english, it may not be perfect but they'll help you with directions for sure. Taxi drivers do not speak english in general but if you just tell them the address they'll take you there. Be careful not to take taxis that are more expensive than 0.80-1.00lv per km. See their price tags on the front window before taking it. Do not be naive like some foreigners. There's a subway which you can use, it's new and cheap. People with perfect english you can find among students, IT specialists, at the Business park, some clubs, internet forums, facebook groups, other foreigners, etc.

Hi. This is a veeery useful website, cheers to whoever made!
Thank you for all the information about rent and expenses but I had another question that so far I see it wasn't addressed. I am a foreigner so I do not speak the language. I am assuming it will take me quite some time to learn it. Will I be able to get along with just english? From going to the supermarket and asking about the fruit section to being able to ask for directions on the street? How about if I needed to find a team of 10 people with perfect english/accent? Would that be an easy task?

Thanks!

Within a few minutes I've found a few nice furnished 2 bedroom apartments in districts not far from The Business park in Mladost or close to the city center for approximately 150 euro per month - Mladost, Darvenitsa, Lozenets, Pavlovo,Lagera, Buckstone, etc. So yes, it's possible. For 250-300 euro you should expect luxury. And you'll need 600-800lv for food if you're eating in restaurants all the time.

I am earning about 2100 gross which is 1700 net, so you'll get around 1750 net. This would be more than enough to handle. The rent for a nice 2 bedroom apartment would be 350-400, 50-100 for home bills, 50-100 for transport and 300-400 for food and drinks. So you'll spend around 60% of your salary for basic living needs, the rest is for you to save or spend for whatever you want to.

Hello Amelie,

I live in Sofia for 1100 BGN so you should be fine with 1800 BGN net or gross by the way?

Besides your employer who is helping for the rent, you should definitively be fine in downtown, and far better if you live outside of centre.

I work in the IT field. Indeed the 1st line technicians earn about 1200-1400lv net but you're a foreigner and a native speaker I presume, so your salary should be at least 2000lv net. The tax for the salary they told you (2800) should be no more than 600lv, which means that after tax it'd be around 2200, as the previous guy said. Don't know why they've told you 1400, you better ask what's the catch with that, because 1400lv net for a native speaker in the IT sounds offensive.

The avarage gross sallary in Sofia is about 1100 leva. So yes your sallary is very good, unless you are working in the IT sector. This salalry will be slightly above avarage there.
2800 gross means 2200 net.You can have a nice life with this. With this calcualtor you can see your net salary - http://www.pariteni.bg/?tid=20&oid=600.

Visiting the clubs in the city center costs me between 30-80 leva for the night( with 80 leva you will be able to buy a whole bottle of Bushmills and a couple of sodas almost anywhere in the city center clubs). Visitng the clubs in "Studentski grad"(students campus area, you should defenerly go there if you like night life) will cost even less.

Visiting restaurans in the city center at night normally costs me below 15 leva.

Trips to the province are also very cheap. You can sleep in nice hotels for as low as 20-40 leva. There are many many tourist towns you can go and have a nice weekend, jsut search them (Troyan, Arbanasi, Triavna.. ). Normally a weekend travel will cost me around 200-250 leva.

I work in Sofia and find it vey hard to spent more than 1400 leva without the rent. On avarage I spent around 1200-1300 leva with the rent( my rent is very cheap tho, around 250 leva + utilities) and i go out at least 3 times a week and spent around 250 leva for TAXI as i dont have a car.

So here is an example of a very busy month(I doubt anyone goes out so much):
- 4 visits to clubs 4*65 = 260 leva.

- 10 visits to restaurants 10 * 15 = 150 leva.

- make a weekend trip = 250 leva.

- rent a luxury aprtment with 1 bedroom in the city center + all the Utilities = 650 leva.

- food = 21 lunches at resaurants while you are at work = 5-8 leva = 21*8 = 170 leva. Other food and drinks = 210 leva
total food = ~ 400 leva

- Tranport = 140 leva ( if your car spends 10/100 km. means you can have 1400km on Autogas or 700km on gasoline.).

Total: 1850 leva.

So even after such a busy month with so many expenses you will have 350 more leva at your disposal.If you want to cut your expenses my suggestion is to find a cheaper apartament( you can have nice apartments for about 350 leva) or come to Sofia with a roommate.

I have a job proposal for Sofia . 1300€ is a good salary in sofia?

kind regards,

You have to ask the landlord about the dogs, it's something that needs to be discussed. You can rent a nice house in the price range of 500-1000 euros. Check the rent sites in the previous post, they have english versions. The house however will be aside of the city center, so you'll need a car as well.

@marsela you can take a look at these - http://www.tu-sofia.bg and http://www.nbu.bg . As for the a job , yes , you can work in the meantime. There are lots of opened IT jobs in Sofia at the moment. Just open jobs.bg, scroll down a bit and click on the Information Technology banner.

@Gray , check www.bulgarianproperties.com and www.mirela.bg , there are plenty of nice apartaments in the price range of 200-300 euros in nice and central districts.

Hi people, I'm looking to maybe live in Sofia for a year. What would be the best way to go about renting a property for a good price? Regards, Gray

Hi,

My wife has received a job offer as a QA Lead in Sofia for 2800 Leva gross/month.

We are two. Is this money ok? Because i think it's a little low. Can someone give me an advice about this?

I'm a tester too so after we arrive in Bulgaria, i will be looking for a job. But is the money that they have offer enough for both of us in the firsts months?

Thank you all!!

We have received a job offer in Sofia.
Since we have 2 small children, would you recommend me on specific "child recommended" areas in the city?
Another question I got - we have a dog and a cat that we would like to bring with us. Do you know how acceptable is renting an apartment with pets?
Thank you!

I have offer for job, 300 euros + apartment. Is that ok, for living in Sofia?

Good Afternoon.
I'm moving to Sofia with my family (wife and 2 kids - 13 and 8 year old), and would like to know if the gross salary that the company is offering to me (5500 euros) would be enough to have a good life there.
Please send your comments.
Thanks,
Henrich

I used to live pretty much normally with a net income of 1466 levs per month. It is around 750 euro. I was able to rent a flat in a good district, do the groceries and go out sometimes. I was using public transport for my transportation. On good months (when I spent less) I used to save some money (like 200-300 levs a month). The good thing was that I was renting a flat without central heating (if you rent one with central heating, you will pay a lot for heating water in summer and additionally - for heating your apartment in winter). The one without central heating will consume a lot of electricity during winter, but my bills never exceeded 80 lv (around 40 euro) a month in winter (in summer they were extremely low, like 10 euro). Last time I was in Sofia was 3 months ago, then I moved out. I hope that helps :)

http://www.zdnet.com/article/when-a-tough-history-becomes-your-asset-bulgarias-plan-to-be-a-major-force-in-technology/

Hallo there.
i just had a joboffer with this salary:Relocation package: flight to Sofia + one month of accommodation in one hotel.

- Gross per month: 1,663.90 BGN / 831,95 EURO

- Gross potential commissions per month dependant on performance/targets: 15% : 249.60 BGN / 124,8 EURO

- Food vouchers: 30 euro per month

- Private health insurance

- Opportunities to grow up and develop the professional career within multilingual environment.
Could you tell what life stile i can have with those money??

I got job offer in Sofia for 2000 euros gross salary
What does it means in neto salary and is it enough to have a decent life concerning the fact that my family will move with me and my husband need to find job too
I also have two children 4 and 10 years old so school and kindergarten will be extra expence
I also have posibility to negotiate for the salary (but not too much) so what do you thing will be the salary that I should ask for

Hi,

I have been offered the job to teach Yoga in a company. I have more than 14yrs of experience. How much salary should i quote. This is going to be a company regular job.

Please i needed a Job in Bulgarian and any one to help me witha Job? Please e-mail at oroboson@yahoo.co.uk

Hi guys,

I am from the UK.

My wife and I have holidayed many times in Bulgaria and love the lifestyle. We love it so much that we are looking at taking early retirement next year to live permanently in Bulgaria. I am currently receiving a pension from my time in the military which pays me about £600 a month. We will also rent our house out here in the UK. After the mortgage payment we will have another £150. This takes our monthly income to approx £750 sterling. We will be looking to purchase a house outright in the VT area. We dont want tourist areas so will be looking for village life.

Will my monthly income be enough to support my wife and I?

Many thanks in advance

Harry

Hi everyone.

I have an offer for a job in Sofia for 870 euros, around 1600 leva i think. Is it enough to have a normal life there? This value is excluding taxes. What it will became after taxes?

Is is easy to find rooms to rent? And how much do they cost with all the expenses (water, gás, electricity, etc)

Thank you in Advance for your help.

Can i lead my educational and accommodation expenses by doing a part time jobs in sofia. Pls anyone tell me that is there available part time jobs in sofia. How much they pay to a student hourly.. Pls tell me..

Hi All.
After reading all the comments here (and knowing almost nothing about Bulgaria), the least we can do is to say THANK YOU to who ever created/maintains this site.
Of course there will be some mistakes because no situation is the same for everybody.
I did learn that (and i could be wrong of course) the cost of living is lower than on other countries i lived in.
I believe this is intended to be a way for most people to find some useful information about the countries they are looking for.
And for the people who are responding to all the requests from members, i just say THANK YOU again.

For someone like me that doesn't know anything about Bulgaria, this is a really good site to get some information.

And then decide if it's worth it to make the relocation or not.

So don't come here criticizing the people that are only trying to help.

If you can do a better job, then be my guest.

@Peter S: First, I don't know what is "gamers support agent". If this is somewhat qualified (IT) work, probably it is not worth the move, otherwise, along with the rent allowance it is basically average. 250 BGN could get you an unfurnished single bedroom apartment, or furnished studio (for fewer you can get a room in a shared apartment, possibly including bills). Numbers here are relatively correct, considering rents are for fully furnished flats.
1400 gross is something like 1000 net, which is a livable income (especially if you have no dependents), but in order to save something, you have to really save. Eating home can be in the range 300-600 for a single person, depending on what you eat, bills - 100 to 200 (biggest difference from heating in the winter), transportation - 50 BGN for public transportation monthly pass. Put a couple or so hundreds for various unexpected things. This is the bare minimum. From there on is leisure and saving.

According to the latest data official national statistics (obviously with notable underestimation) the average salary countrywide is BGN 813 gross / BGN 637 net. For Sofia district it is BGN 1073 / BGN 841 respectively. Some professions are heavily underpaid, like state employed educators and medical personnel (several hundred BGN, with all benefits), but in the private sector any qualified work is expected to pay at least 1200-1500 BGN in Sofia. Call center / support should pay between 1500 and 2000, engineering work - 1500 to 2500, IT / programming - 2000 - 3500. All for neither junior, nor very senior positions and representing some median. There are exceptions also, like architects - due to the collapse of the constructions business, now there are many architects and few work for them. Non qualified work range from low paid store attendant (500) to higher pays for skilled construction workers (like 1500-2000), but evidence is anecdotal as these sectors are quite "grey". There is significant pay divide related to competence in digital technologies and foreign languages (specifically English), but it is present in any developing country, I think. In general most non-qualified work ranges between 500 and 1000 BGN, in my limited observation. Out of Sofia situation is quite different, and the unemployment is by far the worst problem.

"Angel

"So you will have about 1200-500=700lv monthly. 700lv/30days=23lv daily expenses. My opinion is that you need ~15 lv for food daily (you can live actually with 5lv/day) and you have 8lv remaining for transportation, outgoing and everything else. If you can rent a room for ~300lv then 900lv/30 days is fine (at least I am living with less than that average)".

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!

Hi guys,

My girlfriend has received a proposal for a work in Sofia. Her salary will be 1300 euros/month (after tax).
I would like to know if this sum is sufficient together correctly, knowing that I have not found work yet.
And second questions, is it easy to find a job in Sofia (I'm French, my English is not too bad and I have a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and no other qualifications...)?

Thanks,
Aurel

what kind of lifestyle would 6000 leva a month accomodate me in Sofia? exclude rent from the picture.

@Henrik 2000 leva are enough to live decent in Sofia, I was taking around 1600 and I was working there 2 and a half years and with those money , living in a duplex that was really close to work so I was not spending money for transport. 4 months ago I moved in Bucharest because I receive better job offer and I can say that the life is a little better, but depends what do you want.