Cost of Living in Amsterdam: Our Monthly Budget
We have now been in Amsterdam for almost 3 months and have finally started to figure out our cost of living in Amsterdam. Our monthly budget was off our first month since we were settling in, but now we are able to track our spending and have an idea of our living expenses (and travel expenses :)).
Amsterdam is not a cheap city to live in, but is less expensive than some major cities in the Unites States like New York, California or Seattle, Washington. Amsterdam has ranked fairly high as one of the best cities in the world for living a happy and healthy lifestyle. Now what does a “happy and healthy lifestyle” mean? Most rankings look at things like: obesity levels, life expectancy, air and water qualities, average number of hours worked per week, number of outdoor activities, and other health focused initiatives. You can find Amsterdam ranking high in a number of different studies and surveys across the world which means many people are looking at this city as a potential spot to lay down their roots.
So the big questions people have about living in Amsterdam – what is the true cost of living? Charlie and I are happy to break down our monthly budget so you can have an idea of what it costs to live in this amazing city!
1. Rental Prices
This is going to take up a chunk of your monthly income/spending. You can get more bang for your buck by living slightly outside of Amsterdam, but if you are looking to live on the canal in the heart of the city, get ready to pay the big bucks. Charlie and I have a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom apartment (approx. 100 m2) and pay €2,700/month. We are living on a more famous canal, so you can find a similar sized apartment for slightly less (maybe down to €2200-2500/month), though expect to see those prices for 2+ bedroom apartments in the city. If you are looking for a 1-bedroom or a studio, you can find those for closer to €1000-2000/month.
2. Electric, Gas & Water
Utilities can be quite expense and there are a handful of providers for you to choose from, so make sure you shop around! Most utility providers will do package deals for electric and gas and that tends to be the cheapest option. Once you’ve picked your provider, they will read your meter and determine a monthly rate for you to pay. What’s interesting is that the rate they provide you with may be way more expensive than your actual usage throughout the year. As an example, our provider said we needed to pay around €315/month. We were surprised it was that high, however, the provider will monitor our usage throughout the year and if we don’t end up using that amount, they will actually refund us at the end of the year based on our actual usage. Some providers will allow you to track your usage through their website. If you track your usage and find out you’re using much less, you can go in and update the monthly payment to be closer to what your actual usage is.
Water is paid out separately but also month to month and is not nearly as expensive as gas and electric. On average for a two person apartment you’re probably looking at paying between €25-€35/month.
3. Health Insurance
Everyone who lives in the Netherlands is required to get health insurance, even if you are only living here temporarily. The great news about health insurance here is that it covers the cost of consulting with a General Practitioner, hospital treatments, prescription medications, and more. All health insurance providers offer the same standard package – you can find a package to suit your needs on a comparison site. Some of the main ones are ZorgWijzer.nl, Zorgverzekering Informatie Centrum and Independer.
There are different insurance packages that you can choose from, however, Charlie and I picked the standard package which includes medical care (GPs, obstetricians and midwives); hospital treatment; (most) medications; post and antenatal care; limited physiotherapy, exercise therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and dietary advice; smoking cessation therapy. We pay a total of €287/month for both of us combined (Charlie’s employer does not help out with insurance coverage).
4. Cell Phone, TV & Internet
This is one of the cheaper services that we pay for monthly! We chose Vodafone for our cell phone provider and Ziggo for our TV and internet. Ziggo and Vodafone work together so it’s like having everything under one roof for us! For our cell phones, we pay €30 each for unlimited data. We don’t have unlimited international phone calling, but we use WhatsApp mostly to call our family so we are calling them through our data plan.
For TV and Internet, Ziggo was running a special for our first year where for just under €40 we get high speed internet and approximately 80 channels (with a few in English!) So total between our two cell phones, high speed internet and 80 TV Channels, we budget €100/month. Comparing this to when we lived in North Carolina, we were paying upwards of $300+ for two cell phones and just internet!
5. Transportation
We do not have a car, so we don’t need to budget for gas or any car insurance (yay!) We do however take the train and tram around which costs us some money each month. Hopping on a tram for 5-10 minutes to get to another area of Amsterdam only costs a couple of euros, though taking a train to another city within the Netherlands can run upwards of €15-30 for a one way ticket. We budget €50 per person on our tram card, so €100/month total. If we are buying a train ticket to another country for a larger trip, we file that under our “transportation” budget and typically book that ticket online rather than paying at the station with our tram card.
6. Food & Groceries
One great thing about the cost of living in Amsterdam is that my trips to the grocery store are much less expensive! In North Carolina, I would find myself spending anywhere from $100-180 on groceries per week, but here I can get by with spending €80-100/week! The food here is much more fresh, so it doesn’t last as long, leading me to purchase less groceries and go more often. The refrigerators and storage space in the kitchens are also smaller, so I can’t have a huge pantry with many snacks. This forces me to be more mindful when going to the grocery store which in turns means I spend less!
Not only do I not buy as many groceries, but the groceries are also a little less expensive as well! We budget €400/month for groceries for two people. We cook Monday through Friday and a little on the weekends, though tend to want to try new restaurants around the city on the weekends.
It’s hard to give a budget on what eating out might look like, though Charlie and I tend to eat out around 3 times a week (Saturday lunch & dinner and Sunday brunch, for example). We also like to take weekend trips which means eating out more as well! An average cost of us going out to dinner in Amsterdam is €40-70 for two entrees and two drinks. It’s similarly priced to North Carolina – it all depends on where you go! There are some cheap places to eat around the city, and also some very expensive places. 🙂
7. Travel & Miscellaneous
As you can see from the above, there are many monthly expenses that we keep up with, so we try to set aside approximately €200-500/month for travel or miscellaneous things. This can be to book a weekend trip somewhere or to pay for flights to another country a couple months ahead of time.
We also have a gym membership (which not everyone has!) We have a monthly membership with TrainMore for €65/person, which is €130/month for both of us. The cool thing about TrainMore is that every time you go to the gym, they discount €1 off your membership for the month. So before you get charged, if you went to the gym 10 times that month, your monthly membership is discounted to €55 instead of €65! It’s an awesome incentive to go to the gym – we budget €130/month as if we don’t go at all, and then when we end up paying less, it’s a treat!
Some months we will go over this budget and others we might not travel at all. That’s the benefit of keeping track of monthly spending so you can see what months you are over or under so that you can appropriately budget for the following months!
Our Budget Overview
As an overview, we budget approx €4,000 a month for our basic living expenses (not including eating out) and anything that we have left over for the month we put toward savings/travel. Having a monthly budget can be tiring at times and also stressful, but keeping track of finances is something I highly recommend to understand the cost of living in Amsterdam!
Amsterdam is a beautiful city to live in, but an expensive one. If you want to enjoy the fruits of the Netherlands but on a more comfortable budget, consider living in Rotterdam, Den Haag, or Utrecht. Those are three cities that are a short train ride from Amsterdam but the cost of living is slightly less!
If you are considering moving to Amsterdam or somewhere within the Netherlands, check out our Guide to Moving from the US to Amsterdam!
