Cost of Living in Taipei

Is 45k NTD enough for Taipei or perhaps a 2nd tier city in Taiwan?

#madhawan misra
I think it's the same problem around the world.
Even you have full time job in EU or Canada, still can't afford living there.

#manu narang
No, 30K is not enough to survive in Taipei.
Cost of living in Taipei is crazy high.

All high income workers are all in Taipei city, of course

I work in Hsinchu science park, they give me 150K a month.
Very nice !

An "average salary" is deceptive and means nothing. You should use the median salary. My girlfriend who is a college educated nurse only makes about 36k ntd each month.

The average rent price of 1 bedroom in city center is outdated, that was about 12-15 years ago, now you can only rent a studio for 15-20 k. The average salary of 65 k is also unreal, yes, some people make over 100k, but most uni graduates only have 25-30 k, those with uni degree and 5-10 years of experience can get around 50-60k.

Average salary 65K NT?! That's bullshit seriously. You only get that kind of pay in Taipei at least 10 years of work experience (provided you are really fortunate to keep hopping from one company to another every 3-5 years and promote at least once every 2-3 years). However,buying a house is virtually impossible in Taipei for new generation people.

#Nicholas
I'd love to help you, do you have any contact like email or insta?

International community should be aware of the undemocratic actions of the new Taiwan government which is turning itself into more and more like an Undemocratic Tyranny.

The new Taiwan government recently announced to seize or recover money by Force from the saving of people who fail to pay the fee of the national health insurance.
Most of the fee of the national health insurance is directly deducted through the salary. And those who did not pay the fee of the national health insurance are the unemployed Taiwanese. So it seems the new Taiwan government is targeting to punish and destroy the unemployed Taiwanese not paying the fee of the national health insurance instead of providing benefit and subsidy like UK, etc.

The international community have to stand up to protect the unemployed Taiwanese from being exploited by force undemocratically without human right by the Tyranny of the new Taiwan government and demand the new Taiwan government to govern her people democratically along with human right or the new Taiwan government should be shut off from the international community for punishment, not allowing to participate such as world health organization, etc
Please remember your action today benefits you an unexpected protection tomorrow, thanks to the effort of international community for human right and democracy.

Hey guys am swedish and i want to study engineering in Taipei and I want some opinions of those that live/have lived in Taipei would be very helpful! Also i would like to know how the whall youth culture is , as how they have fun and if they speak english in general. Thanks

The new Taiwan government is going to to force the unemployed Taiwanese to pay for the 年金 insurance within a year probably starting from 5th May 2017.

The unemployed Taiwanese are the most pitiful creature among the developed counties because they do not receive benefits or subsidies from their government unlike the other developed countries. Even worse, the jobless Taiwanese also currently have to pay the heath insurance which costs them at least 700 Taiwan dollar a month.

The 年金 insurance is only targeted to the jobless Taiwanese and it would cost them at least 850 Taiwan dollar a month. The most terrible part, the unemployed Taiwanese would be heavily fined with the amount ranging from thousands to ten of thousand for the late payment of the 年金 insurance fee. The new Taiwan government also mentioned the relatives such as spouse, etc were also responsible for the payment of the 年金 insurance fee of their jobless Taiwanese.

Probably from 5th May 2017 , the unemployed Taiwanese have to pay both fees of the 年金 heath insurance and the 年金 insurance which would cost them at least 1,500 Taiwan dollar a month (700 + 850 =1550).

TV broadcast a sorrowful news repeatedly today through all news channels which mentioned a Taiwanese family of 5, husband, wife (born 1990 very young), 3 sons (., 6, 8 years old respectively) committed suicide by burning charcoal and their landlord found their dead bodies in their room today. The landlord said they owed them 4 months of rent with the total amount of 36,000 Taiwan dollar. There were also a bill of warning of late payment of electricity fee in front of the door. It was said the electricity was long cut off before they committed suicide, meaning they had lived in their flat without electricity for many weeks or probably months before they committed suicide.

So given the current sorrowful situation of the unemployed Taiwanese, further forcing them to pay for the 年金 insurance out of their empty pocket of the unemployed Taiwanese is indeed very heartless. Hope the new Taiwan government would be merciful not only to the unemployed Taiwanese but also to the government itself because revolution always arises out of this kind of hopeless situation throughout the history. Instead the new Taiwan government must cancel the program of subsidizing 20,000 Taiwan dollar for the new salary of 31,500 Taiwan dollar and reduce the living cost to alleviate the burden of its mass people. Affordability which also means cheap is the secret that makes people content and happy. The right decision you, the new Taiwan government, make would leave you a good mark in future history or else it would be endless curses.

The new taiwan government took over the office on 20th May, the day before yesterday. Yesterday one day after taking over taking over the office, announced to raise the bottom salary from 22k Taiwan dollar to 31.5k Taiwan dollar and said the government would subsidize 20k Taiwan dollar over the new salary, 31.5k.

No nation on earth is rich enough to subsidize 20,000 Taiwan dollar per person per month. So this new policy from the new government shall not only cripple the credibility of the taiwan government as the government indeed has no sufficient fund to support this destruction policy so consequently need to print endless money which consequently would not be accepted by the international market to the extent of currency collapsion, but also burden the affordabiliy of employment for the employers in the future probably when the government collapsed due to the over-funding of this very stupid policy.

Hope the new government would be prudent and cancel this death policy immediately.
And instead use a small amount of fund to subside where the people need either employed or unemployed, and restore the living cost to an affordable level and this would help much more people in need than subsidizing 20k taiwan dollar per month individually.

Average earning for fresh uni graduate is around 28000 NT/month. Cost per meal (1 pax) on average is around 100 NT if you eat outside (cheaper of course if you cook on your own). Hence, meal alone, it will set you back around 7000~10000 NT/month, another 1000~1500 NT for transport. According to the official report from ministry of manpower of Taiwan, more than 700 Taiwanese choose to migrate to other countries like US, Japan, Korea, Singapore just to name a few.

Taiwan accommodation is extremely expensive, even more expensive than the more developed Japan.

At Osaka, Japan, you can get a single room at the price of TWD 278, USD 8.3 (Reference ; hotel name : Hotel Diamond, Osaka)

At Taipei, Taiwan, the price of a single room at the same level of condition as the above Osaka hotel shall cost almost more than 2 times, probably TWD 900+, USD 26.9

Being too expensive is the reason why tourist stay away from Taipei.

Hope Taipei has the price range that is comparable to Osaka the soonest possible, and then prosper immediately with the flush of many million tourists due to the affordable accommodation price.

Hope Ma president keeps his last promise which is not to use currency as a weapon to drive up export and restore the value of Taiwan currency to the benchmark point which is 27 NT dollar per a US dollar the soonest possible.

With trust, there is a bright future.

I love Taipei so much, Taiwan is a very advanced country in Asia.
Perfect transportation system, clean public space...
People are nice.

The numbers are generally a bit on the low side for expenses such as rent, and a bit on the high side for incomes after tax.

Average meal would set you back 150 NTD in a restaurant chain these days. 200-300 ntd business lunch. I pay 26k ntd all in for renting a 3bdroom apartment in the suburbs. In Taipei city itself I'd be paying 35-50k/mth, so the numbers aren't too far out for that.

Beers price varies very much according to if you are drinking in a bar or restaurant or outside the local convenience store!

Young grads incomes are about 22k-30k for a first few jobs. A lot of people in Taipei, even managers, would make 50-60k NTD/mth and think that is a fairly good income. They might get a couple of months bonus if lucky per year. Of course you get some people earning a relatively large salary but they are really really rare. I mean people earning over 100k/mth as a salary, it's really not common. That's only approx 3000 USD/mth!

The average income for Taipei is hugely skewed because of large numbers of very wealthy people owning businesses and property but then a lot of younger people on peanuts. Also Taipei city is full of older people, most young people live in New Taipei City outside the core city.

What you need to look at is the MEDIAN and split between Taipei City and New Taipei City.
You'd also want to look at earnings at each age.

#IamTW

I didn't see any homeless in Taipei.
Not as much as Tokyo.
And most of my Taiwanese friend got more than 35K...
I think it depends which university you graduated or what kind of skill do you have.
If you have particular skills, I don't think you will get lower salary in Taipei.

The "Average Monthly Disposable Salary (After Tax)" is way off from the reality. A fresh uni graduate here get paid for 25K ~ 30K NT (30K NT if you are really lucky. The unemployment rate here is actually many times higher from the official figure shown by our govt, do not simply believe whatever is written here. Simply stroll around the city in Taipei and you will see quite a number of beggars/homeless) and in fact, lots of information shown above are inaccurate and incorrect. Please update your info or else more people will be mislead by the wrong info provided.

I'm looking at your numbers for Taiwan in July 2015 and there is NO WAY you are able to find a 1-bedroom apartment in the city centre for the prices you state - the reality is about DOUBLE THAT. So please don't understate everything. The cost of meals in Taipei is also in the neighborhood of $150-200 NTD and not as little as you think either. Your numbers look like they are several years old - you should do a revision - would be glad to help you with that.

@Manu

250000 in Xinyi District, Taipei... just the average.
There are lots people spend more than 250000 per months, believe me.

250,000 NT is per month after tax, medical and all other deductions.

@Expat Life

Hi. Not to worried too much. If you are renting a studio (with bathroom), it should only cost you between 7K~11K NT.
Price of food, transportation, entertainment etc tend to be cheaper compare to the U.S. A simple meal would probably cost you around 100~150NT and a decent meal in the restaurant should cost you about 300~600NT/pax. I would suggest you to try out the food in the night market it delicious, reasonably cheap price and lots more.
Beer (canned 330ml) would probably cost you between 30~60NT from the convenient store. Cinema ticket tends to be expensive, a adult ticket could cost you 300~350NT.
50K/month (after tax) would ensure a decent living for you and your wife that's for sure (with little or no saving at all).

Accumulated NT dollar value of a month has almost been lost in 2 days, today and yesterday so far.

The despicable manipulation of NT currency from no-brainer Taiwan is bad and dangerous for NT dollar holders.

So it is time to dump NT dollar to retain your money value and never ever touch good-for-nothing NT dollar for safety.

Something is wrong with the current Taiwan government regarding the handling of the value of her currency being dragged down mercilessly for almost 10 percentages in less than a year.

Looking at the root cause of the Russia Rubles currency falling up to 40 percentages had nothing to do with the Russia government so Russia government is not a part of the problem causing the currency crash but external factors, especially from Europe.
The attempt of Russia government to rescue her currency value so far is respectable though it seems no hope and hopefully enlisting others ' help might settle her problem.

Ok, let's review the root cause of NT dollar falling for up to 10 percentages. The Taiwan government is the sole culprit behind all of this. The reason why they have been committing this crime is to help businesses which earn abroad, with more money during exchange back to NT dollar.
No consideration for others with NT dollar holding, right?
No problem without consideration from the no brainer government, trash NT dollar and turn it into other currency where the respective governments care her currency value unlike the no brainer Taiwan government.
Even if citizens like me don't want to hold NT dollar, possibly NT dollar might end up being dumped by all in the future.
To prevent this terrible situation, Taiwan government must abolish the central bank playing currency monopoly pocketing a fortune and strengthen NT dollar like China currency.

Prices for beer are off, those prices are convenience store prices, not restaurant prices.
Rental prices can vary from Xinyi city centre of 70k ntd/mth for 3 bdroom to suburbs for approx 20k ntd/mth or into the county for less. Salaries are average 40k/nth month. These figures also don't include the sad fact that many women get underpaid and many people get laid off at 50.

Can any one tell me how much u will spend a month with 2 bedroom house or flat with food and tranportion?

most jobs pay around 60k??? No way, most salaries round the 40k

Rents about 10000 to 20000 NT. Most jobs are about 60000nt

The Volkswagen is off, around 920000 TWD for one

What are costs in Taipei compared to Yonghe? I think I heard that Taipei is considered one of the more expensive cities in Taiwan, but wonder how much more than Yonghe.