Cost of Living in Taipei

After reading your article I found it very effective and informative.I really like your work. Keep it up

The "taiwan news" is spreading fake news which defames and harms the interest of all residents of the Greater Taipei as well as the reputation of the Greater Taipei.

However, sadly the inaction and irresponsible attitude of both mayors, Ko Wen-Je and Hou You-Yi of Taipei and New Taipei is regrettable.

If these both mayors were responsible a bit, they should secretly shut down the culprit "Taiwan news" immediately and detain all responsible people without bail indefinitely in prison with the hardest labor in return for defamation of the interest of the residents of the Greater Taipei.

Rubbish made up statements from mainland Chinese Wumao.

Ignore folks. They are bitter people wreck every internet forum!

Ignore the ignorant comment by dumb Chinese below.

The title is President Tsai.

Enjoy the pollution in Beijing.

Why is milk so expensive? $11+ for a gallon of milk?

@Anonymous: Either you are completely blind or completely moronic. I'm inclined to say both. In the document it CLEARLY states that the average household in Taipei has 1.29 working adults. 2.2 = the figure for the number of adults, period.

Anyway I'm done arguing here. Now the average salary in Taipei is 36k? Lmao. This site is laughable.

if you do a 591 search under 1 bedroom they show a lot of Studios which are not 1 bedroom, its a cheaper studio. There are 1 bedroom apartments in Taipei and they are usually newer buildings like the one I rent in Songshan. Ive lived in both most of my time in Studios now I have a 1 bedroom apartment. Almost every true 1 bedroom apartment I found in Taipei is above 22k some go as high as 40k but most of them are around 22k-29k. Studios can be found cheaply anywhere but then you don't have a seperate bedroom with a door.

I can rent a Studio for 14-18k but a single bedroom costs over 22k in center of Taipei I just checked rent 591.

MONTHLY income is not the same as Household Income. The statistic for Household income include 1-multiple family members. They are not averaged (Not divided by the number in household) That means when you have a Household income of 60-70k in some cases its 2 people's salaries combined to reach 70k.

This website is joke!
Average income in Taipei is around 55K - 60K
40K is probably Taichung.
Nobody is controlling the fake abroad contributions here?

@Administrator

So you are not going to look into the fact that the contribution has dramatically altered the figures within a few months? Comparing the mid-year statistics and the statistics NOW, the rent has sored by 50% and the salary dropped by 50%. Isn't there something fishy there? Have you not received waves of "contribution" that have manipulated the figures?

As for the sources I provided, if the household income is 1.6 million in a city, how on earth can the average salary be only 40k? Even if you take the percentage of female workforce and other incomes into account, that is still ridiculous. 40k*12 is not even a third of that number. Btw the average working population within a household is 1.34 in Taipei City. Not 3.

Finally, according to official statistics, average salary in all of Taiwan is around 50k. Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/wages (It's hard to find something in English as you obviously wouldn't be able to read Chinese).

Now a one bedroom costs 26k in Taipei city center? Is this a joke? It's not even 15k.

And again the salary is way higher than 40k in Taipei city. This site is turning into a joke.

#Jack Barnes, It's safer than western countries
People are well educated and well behaved than most Asian countries.
MRT system is very clean and efficient, you have to buy a transit card - 悠遊卡
Their transit card can also use at shops like 7-11 or coffee shops.
I really like this city more than Canada, it's my 7th year in here.

Average income in Taipei is way higher than this number.
About 55K a month.
Some people use different IP to type the fake number try to lower the average, we all know it isn't real!

No the average has been given as 40k to 50k NTD per month for Taipei city only (including bonuses).

Outside the average drops except for Hsinchu.

Average household income is all members of the household and all assets, that's a different thing!

Lol these numbers are a joke. The crowd source is absolutely laughable. The average salary in Taipei is 60-65k (data from actual household income report).

Graduates make less money everywhere in the world.

Average Salary in Taipei is around mid 40k before Income Tax. Also per capital Credit Card debt in Taipei as of 2018 is now raised to 250k NTD a person. 50% of young workers earn roughly 22k-25k, 50% of them carry debt. The majority of Wealth in Taiwan is held by the Boomer Generation.

average monthly salary 56K NT after tax? where did the figure came from? ask around and get feedbacks from the local graduates and/or those who have less than 3 or above 3 years and less than 5 years work experience. trust me, majority of them will answer you they are getting paid less than 50K/month (before taxes)

@NYCTRADERZ

You talk as if soaring house prices are a good thing. Laughable.

What are some of your government data from? You guys are having the most pointless argument in history. The average household income in Taipei is 1.5 million per annum. 55-70k per month (1800-2200 USD) on average is about right.

And give me a fucking break. In which country isn't the average skewed to the ultra rich? I feel like none of you idiots really know what the word "average" means.

Lisa A, thats cause you work for a Foreign company enjoy those benefits. Most people in Taiwan dont work for foreing companies. I make about 250k a month and hire engineerings and other employees from HTC, HongHai, Ren Bao, Gogoro so I have a good idea what people make in Taipei and its not a lot as I have data sheets for all job sectors including bonuses. Also have direct knowledge from friends and family cousins and HR friends to draw from thousands of examples along with Taiwans own Treasury ministrys statistics. In fact Google has raised wages 33% on all ex HTC employees and increase benefits forcing HTC to raise wages to retain its current staff. Taipeis real average and medium has always been about 40k

Agreed Robbin, I've been living in Taipei for 18 years, 58,000 is 30% more than every Government statistic on Salaries in Taipei. Whats more is this is after tax. The ultra wealthy dont live on wages but assets. Wages for average Taipei citizen including bonuses after tax according to Government Data is about 40k pre tax...After Tax is probably 38k

At this pont Tokyo is a good investment in 2018. 15 mins from Center of Tokyos downtown....300k USD for Brand new 3 Bedroom detached house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w

Now this is a sane investment as rental can fetch quite a lot. Salary is high to justify the cost and there are many renters in this part of town.
Japans real estate bubble has burst a while back due to aging/ dwindling population something Taiwan is about to go through.

JIN you insulting facts sounds like youve made a very bad investment and youre about to realize a severe less. No need to attack someone else for your bad decisions. You're about to lose a lot of money and calling others idiot isn't going to help your situation. Best to don't put all your eggs in one basket with real estate investments so you don't get so defensive. There is a lot more balance in some western markets right now like the US, Canada for example is not as Toronto and Vancouver has seen severe losses recently.

Lots of markets are in a bubble now, even in Uzebekistans capital Azgabat a 1000sq ft condo goes for 500k USD! There is no reason for this as I've studied the area/rent etc. In Malaysias Sabah reigion in the Jungle there are poorly built condos selling for 500k USD! All are incredible bubbles of speculation. Jin I can clearly tell you're a speculation buyer....its called gambling, you can make a lot if the timing is right but you can lose a lot of the timing is bad because the rental value is incredibly low compared to purchase price. Singapore and HK still demand a decent rental return on price.

Why not also compare the ratio of rent and property price to other Asian cities such as Bangkok, Seoul, Shanghai, etc.
Beijing property is almost at least twice as expensive as Taipei property. Don't you think the property price in Beijing isn't acceptable either, you idiot. It is very idiotic of you in the first place to compare Asian cities with cities from America or Euro.
Unless being suppressed of the property price by the current Taiwan government, Taipei property price should have already caught up with similar cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, etc. So it is just a matter of time, Taipei property will climb up to where it belongs where its colleagues are now. (The property price of future Taipei can be predicted accurately now just by looking at its colleagues)
Crooked Semi-foreigner ! Fighting for Taiwan doom will never work with your idiotic slander !

Totally agree, that Anonymous is prob a mainland investor who has realized a bad investment. Also incredibly ignorant assumptions I see below from Jessica Hinz and Anonymous seems like they have lost money or about to lose money on a Taipei Real Estate Gamble.

I can tell you my Properties in certain parts of the US have an ROI of about 10-12% on rent.
I can buy a 15 million NTD House and rent it out for 80,000 NTD a month in markets outside of Taiwans crazy Bubble.
A real Estate Investor makes money on both Cash Flow from high (ROI) on Rent and from property value increases.
Amatuer real estate gamblers try to take lucky gambles once in a while on speculation prices..

I own 37 properties in the US, Australia, and Saigon(condos), Bangkok(condos), Singapore.. My Family owns properties in Taipei. I can tell you the ROI (Return on Investment) for Taipei is horrible in 2018. The only people convincing anyone to buy a house might be a home owner who has their money locked up here and hoping for equity only return.
Thats called a poor odds gamble,.. Without rising rent due to high wages to earn along with equity its a risky market. 2006-10 would have been a good investment in Taipei. Taipeis wages are the lowest of the Asian Tigers btw, there are multiple reasons why HK and Singapore markets are being priced up none of those factors are happening here in Taiwan.

Anonymous 2 down is making some idiotic political statements why barely understanding Real Estate prices, I think he/she must have an invested interest in Taipei.

Don't want to argue with some hopeless people here seemingly doesn't possess a single Taipei house and seemingly living on rent. A sympathy to you but you need a skill for a better pay or else complaining will not realize your dream and instead waste your whole time.
The price and rent of Taipei/New Taipei is already the lowest (at the bottom level, just waiting the right time to ascend to a big surprise) among its colleagues, the four asian tigers, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong.
So it is just a matter of time that both price and rent shall be catching up to its colleagues within 2 or 3 years the most.
It is absurd to see even the price and rent of lower-waged Beijing property is higher than Taipei/New Taipei. No wonder even Beijing starts looking down on Taipei/New Taipei with contempt now, thanks to this imprudent government suppression (actually self-infliction upon itself) upon its potential Taipei/New Taipei property market unlike Beijing where the property price has been raised at least
one or two times during the last 3 years and then now the outcome this unsophisticated government reaps is challenge after challenge on top of poor Taipei contempt from Beijing.

Tpeboy is right.
It's very hard to get ahead without family money and assets in Taiwan, salary rares are simply too low.
I am also a high earning long term resident of Taiwan know many business people.

Business people abd company owners don't share enough profits with their workers that is the truth .

There are also a lot of empty high end apartments.

At least rent is fairly cheap in Taiwan. I currently pay just 10% of my earnings for rent.

Wow, Taipei salary is a lot higher than my country Russia.

Anonymous- No There are Tons of empty apartments in New Taipei City it is above 20% vacancy but less than 25% according to the newest stats but anyone with eyes can see the huge amount of new construction going on with no buyers and empty buildings. Even in Neihu and Nankang theres a lot of empty luxury apartments.

I rent an apartment for 46k and much of my area is empty and new.
People you should WANT TO IMPROVE TAIWAN....stop arguing against helping the poor middle class here. Real estate alone isn't going to drive an economy! Yes there are Ultra Rich in Taiwan and its sad to see the gap widening between them and the middle class.

Anyways I'm doing fine financially but as an ABC I want to see locals here doing well too and I see the greed of these big bosses ruining it for Taiwan.

Lucia Simpson how do you know those that are commenting for people to have better wages in Taiwan arent high income? You sound like a Moron. I make over 350k NTD a month and have created a dozen jobs here in Taipei for locals and I pay them a premium over the low pay here by a margin of 40%. I can see how faulty the system is here the owners are greedy keeping the vast amounts of Profits for themselves this is shown in EVERY FINANCIAL REPORT its ridiculous. It would benefit you to read.
Everyone one of my friends in LA in their 30s now owns a house worth 500k usd to 1 million Without help from Parents. No one I know in their 30s in Taiwan will ever dream of owning a house outside of their rich parents helping or an 80% mortgage.. When Google bought out HTC engineers they automatically gave a 30-40% raise to the new hires forcing the greedy Taiwan companies to follow suit to keep Talent. HTC now says it will give raises to employees to try to catch up to Google.

Taipei is the PRECIOUS BRAIN CONCENTRATION AREA where the ultra rich and big bosses stay to direct empire businesses around the world, in area such as in Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong and so on so the status of Taipei would match the status of property with the higher expectation of property price sooner or later.

Renting out is the quickest in Taipei/New Taipei comparing to UK, in experience, a tenant contacted one of my friend in less than 3 hours after Tipei property posting and the tenant accepted the deal, all was done within 4 hours which seems never happened with any property belong to my friends and family members in UK. So it is not true mentioning vacancy rate in Taipei is as high as 20% but would rather say there is almost no vacancy rate for property in Taipei/New Taipei, almost all properties in Taipei/New Taipei are fully occupied and the demands are also quite high too comparing to UK.

The property price in Beijing is even much more expensive than Taipei/New Taipei though the salary in Beijing is low as merely HALF OF THE SALARY in Taipei/New Taipei.
However, Bonus payment amount including stock shares in Taiwan is the highest in Asia and the bonus amount is up to 20 times of the annual salary ( proof? higher standard of living in Taiwan) which is rarely seen in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The property price in Beijing has almost doubled during just within the last 3 year though the property price in Taipei/New Taipei hasn't moved a bit upward during the same last 3 years due to the property suppression from the current unreasonable Taiwan government.
However, there is no whatsoever downward pressure present anymore in term of property price due the the pressure from the current government because the current property price in Taipei /New Taipei is already at the bottom line so nothing to lose from the Taipei/New Taipei property purchase but the only remaining is to reap gain in the coming few years, that's all.

However, as soon as the current unreasonable Taiwan government is gone probably after 1 or 2 years, property price in Taipei/New Taiwan is ASSURED to skyrocket higher than that was experienced in Beijing during the last 3 years. With profit earning from businesses, have never lost interest in hunting for deals in Taipei/New Taipei properties until now so already secured many good properties under umbrella because well aware of in the next 1 or 2 years, the profit returns from Taipei/New Taipei properties would be indeed much more greater than what Beijing property profit during the last 3 years.

There is a good reason NONE of Taiwan's Wealthy are buying houses the last 2-3 years. Most buyers are middle class who are not educated in investing real estate and buying because of cultural conditioning of owning a house at any cost even if their mortgage is 60-85% of their income. When in doubt with investing follow the rich, they are NOT BUYING HOUSES in Taiwan.

In other news Stocks have been doing well as an investment in Taiwan vs Housing due to unaffordability of houses.

Taiwan government is burning government fund in the unsustainable stock market.
Whereas, wise government such as Japan, Korea never waste government fund unlike the foolish Taiwan government.
Taiwan stock price has been lifted as much as 30% during last year, but while happening correction of stock market price across the globe. The foolish Taiwan government foolishly wants to stop the correction of Taiwan stock market price unlike everywhere else where there is no interference from any government to stop the stock market price correction.
Let's see if Taiwan government has enough fund to sustain the unsustainable expensive Taiwan stock market price. No more fund..., then see which one collapse first either the unsustainable Taiwan stock market or Taiwan government

TPEBoy, you can't compare the house price between Taipei and L.A.
Taipei is one of the four asian tigers or dragons so should be compared among the four asian tigers nation which are Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea and not with unrelated L.A.
Taipei is the cheapest city in term of property price among the four Asian Tigers nation and the problem is due to the mismanagement of the current Tsai government.
Sooner or later the property price in Taipei would catch up its

According to your link its actually lower than 51,000 its 49,989 NTD average for Taiwan before Tax. Taipei makes more than most countys except Hsinchu but you have to remember the stat above is for After Tax not Pre Tax. Maybe most of the respondants on this website are Foreign English teachers and not locals and it skews the numbers up?

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$346.78 million in shares on the main board despite the Taiex's gains on Tuesday.
"I suspect today's buying largely came from government-led funds, which aimed to boost local share prices ahead of May 20, Alex Huang said, referring to the two-year anniversary of President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) inauguration.

Taiwan shares end higher, led by TSMC

Taiwanese are getting poorer and poorer, thanks to the effort of both previous president Ma and current president Tsai for suppressing the price of property market in Taipei and new Taipei city.

So comparing to the property market of Hong Kong and Singapore, Taipei and new Taipei city are extremely dirt cheap so what the government has done so far is really unfair and harmful to Taiwanese.

Even the good-for-nothing developing nation like Thailand where the property price of Bangkok is much more expensive than Taipei and new Taipei city. What a shame !
US$2.2m in Bangkok buys marble baths, butlers and a Bentley
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/us22m-in-bangkok-buys-marble-baths-butlers-and-a-bentley-0

Taiwan government have the responsibility to make its people richer comparing to its level playing developed countries such Hong Kong, Singapore, etc but making poorer and poorer to its people, Taiwanese by lowering the price of property market of Taipei and new Taipei city by its government itself is unimaginable and very sorrowful.

Raising the property price of Taiwanese capital, Taipei and new Taipei city is essential for the status of Taiwan to maintain as an already developed nation among all either developed or developing nations and consequently Taiwan would no longer be LOOKED DOWN by China as a poor, dirt cheap Taiwan.

China is still a developing country but its capital, Beijing where the price of property market is much much more expensive than Taipei and new Taipei city, the capital of Taiwan, a developed country.

So Taiwan government urgently have to really work hard to close the gap of the price of property market among its level playing developed countries such Hong Kong, Singapore.

During president Chen, the stock trading center just collected one-time service fee for a stock trading of both stock buying and stock selling so there was no service fee for stock buying but collected a service fee of 0.1424% of the whole capital for stock selling.

However, the stock trading center start ripping off the online stock trader by collecting service fee two-time for both stock buying and stock selling so the service fee is costing the online stock trader twice 0.2848% (=0.1424% + 0.1424%) now compared to before under president Chen.

So in order to encourage Taiwanese to enter into the stock market, government must remove the dishonest double service fee collected by the stock trading center.

If possible, government should set up an online platform where there is no service fee for online stock trading.

Expensive double service fees and stock transaction tax are the stumbling blocks which must be removed in order to create a healthy, dynamic Taiwan stock market or else the current Taiwan stock market is too expensive for the local to enter.

Hope government takes care of the local stock trader by removing transaction tax just like foreigner are allowed the free stock transaction tax currently as well as removing the service fee for online stock trader.

Stock trading tax is not comparable to income tax because there is no guarantee income as well as no guarantee heavy loss for stock trading, whereas income tax is from 100% guarantee income. So even collecting the stock trading tax for the outcome of heavy loss trading is undemocratic but instead authoritarian still practiced under the current Tsai government.
Furthermore, stock trading tax is only unfairly targeted to the local, Taiwanese but not to the investment from abroad, foreigner. So with foreign investment withdrawal, the stock market drys like an African forest because the local is not stupid to consider to pay tax even for the heavy loss stock trading and consequently the local don't invest a lot or not at all in the stock market.
Free money for the government especially by collecting the stock trading tax shall harm the stock market as it is not SUSTAINABLE.
Great Europe and US have no stock trading tax so Taiwan should follow the right lead or Taiwan stock market has no future.

Taiwan government should not use tax money of billions of dollar investing in stock market, driving up the price of stock market just like before under Tsai government and consequently only most foreign investment withdrew from the stock market with billions of dollar profit recently, leaving the current price of stock market unsustainable. It is not a government place to play fire in the stock market with tax payer's money or else gifting billions of dollar profit to the foreign investment coming from Taiwan Tax Payer's money as well as lifting the stock price to an unsustainable level unlogical and unreasonable and unreachable to the local for the long run which shall collapse the stock market sooner or later and consequently the stock market shall not be recognized by international investment.

Overview, government should allow the free run of stock market, no interference, not collecting tax whatsoever including the stock transaction tax just like under president Chen's era and not investing of tax payer's money into the stocker just like ignorant Tsai in order to pop up the stock price to an unsustainable level which is indeed much more harmful in the long run.

#Jason Bourne
It's good to teach diving in Taiwan, I know a Canadian girl is teaching in North Taiwan and make a lot of money.

Government stats for Taipei city which say Average Salary once EXCLUDING business owners, Corporate Executives, Day Traders, Real Estate developers are approx 48k prior to income tax

I pay 15% income tax in Taiwan on my hard earned salary and you complain about your TINY 0.3% transaction tax.

What a joke!

Taipei city and New Taipei city have quite a gap in incomes. Most people who work in Taipei city commute from outside Taipei city. So that skews all the income stats.

Also older people and govt workers tend to get paid better than younger people or private sector workers. Many govt workers receive generous pensions. Also Taipei city has many rich business people and property owners. It skews the numbers.

According to govt stats Taipei city median earnings are around 47000 ntd per month.

Outside Taipei city earnings drop a lot except for Hsinchu science park.

Basically professional managerial types get a range of 50 to 70k basic here.Of course accountants doctors and lawyers general managers and some engineers earn a lot more than that.

70k after taxes is way too high! I've lived in Taipei for 30 years. I call lie

@Anonymous

First of all, what you're saying are personal anecdotes. They are about as credible as the user-contributed figures on this site.

Besides, it's pretty obvious that you have never gone up to the contribution page. No. It doesn't ask "your personal monthly net salary". It asks "average personal monthly net salary" of the city, which means the figures are added by what the contributors perceive as the monthly net salary of the city. If you don't buy it then fine, not my problem, but just remember, it corresponds to the official statistics pretty closely.

Btw the household income in Taipei is around 1.5 mil. That means the average salary is around 60-70k. 60k after tax sounds about right.

Basically its a site in English for Expats, which tends to skew the Wages higher than they actually are in reality. Also remember it says 59k NET after Taxes which means the average salary is around 65-70k in Taipei. Most people making this salary are Teachers. Most people who make a lot more are not on salary but own businesses or are employed from overseas like myself but this number is rare and not enough to skew. If Locals found this site and contributed in proportion to Expats the actual Average salary in Taipei would be closer to 40k after Taxes.

I think it tends to look higher because the people contributing are not locals, they are mostly Expats.

It says average, why people here just crying about their low wage and said it's not true?
The data just proved that a lot of people actually make higher income than you.
So stop complain and be a man.