JoseSantiago , while I wouldn’t be comfortable answering the poll question, I can tell you that you could live quite comfortably in BsAs for less than $2k/month in a studio or 1 br apt, using mostly public transportation, and eating in restaurants quite often.
JoseSantiago , I am with @Bombonera on this one.
What we earn has nothing to do with what you need to survive and/or live a decent lifestyle here.
If you have access to USD , you can live very well. If you only earn Pesos , life will be tough
But it depends on many factors.
Where do you want to live ?
You can pick up a decent apartment in a decent area of the capital for $500 per month - if you want a bigger place, you will have to pay more .
Do you want to live outside the capital? - a gated community would cost you anything from $1000 per month plus maybe 250 in community expenses.
Maybe you want to buy - then you only have your annual property taxes to worry about.
Will you cook at home or eat out most nights?
Public transport or a motorbike or a car?
What other leisure pursuits do you have?
Running and walking cost you nothing but golf and tennis do.
Will you want to travel? Within Argentina, regionally, or internationally?
The list could go on - but it all depends on what you want to do when you get here - that is what determines the cash you need to live on.
I think the poll would have been better presented as:
"How many USD do you need per month to live comfortably in Argentina?"
Posting ones earnings on a internet forum isn't a good idea.
I'm skint.
I think the poll would have been better presented as:
"How many USD do you need per month to live comfortably in Argentina?"
Time and Time again people will only respond to this with "it depends"...
Posting ones earnings on a internet forum isn't a good idea.
I'm skint.
My salary most of my life has been public record. It showing up on one more forum doesn't bother me.
Time and Time again people will only respond to this with "it depends"...
Women especially. 
Women especially.
Amén 😂 😂 😂
Time and Time again people will only respond to this with "it depends"...
My salary most of my life has been public record. It showing up on one more forum doesn't bother me.
Well yes, it does depend on loads of factors, but I can state here quite confidentially that USD1500 to 2000 would be comfortable.
Well yes, it does depend on loads of factors, but I can state here quite confidentially that USD1500 to 2000 would be comfortable.
Thank you sir. Much appreciated.
If you do not rent an apartament 1000 dollars pero month Is enough to be in the upper middle class in Argentina. This Is now 390000 pesos.
JoseSantiago , while I wouldn’t be comfortable answering the poll question, I can tell you that you could live quite comfortably in BsAs for less than $2k/month in a studio or 1 br apt, using mostly public transportation, and eating in restaurants quite often.
LOL - I’ve never quoted myself on the forum until now. But can’t help wondering why you accepted the $2k figure from a guy, offered a day after a woman suggested the same thing to you?
Take a look at this site: Numbeo
Plug in your city in the US and Buenos Aires and it will give you a rough idea of what you would need in Buenos Aires to have an equivalent lifestyle.
If you've never been to Argentina, there are a lot more things to consider than just the cost of living. Especially if you're considering living outside the city of Buenos Aires (your comment about the possibility of needing a new roof suggests that you may not want to live in the city).
Personally, I think you'd be crazy to consider moving here without first visiting for at least a month, and for several months or more if possible. This place is very different from the United States. While you don't need nearly as much money, you need to have a lot of flexibility and patience and tolerance for problems. In some ways it's the first world here, but in others, it's very definitely the third world (or other world).
Very well said, amigoartistico . Patience is as important as pesos.
My two cents:
We moved to Argentina because we had been unemployed for a year in Europe. We had a side gig online but it wasn't enough to support ourselves in Europe in the long run (we were already living in a little town, in the countryside, and ate at home buying food at the cheapest supermarkets -- so we couldn't have it cheaper than that!). Our monthly savings were so small, that we stood no chance to ever buy a property or to get a loan to buy one.
When we moved here, we stayed in San Isidro, where my husband was from. We rented an apartment one block from the train station because we didn't have a car and we weren't sure how long we would be here. We estimated no more than a couple of years. However, life in Argentina is VERY different from Europe.
First of all, where I come from, there isn't so much social disparity/difference. But here, saying "San Isidro" could mean anything from a villa (favelas) to fancy villa (mansion) overlooking the Rio de La Plata. Getting an idea of cost of life online was misleading, because when I was browsing properties to rent from abroad, and filtered by "San Isidro", I was able to find affordable entire homes with a garden and apartments for the same price. I didn't know that the first one was on the border with the villa (favelas) and the second one was in the safer downtown.
Perhaps people coming from the Americas are more used to these differences, as "Los Angeles" can mean skid row but also mega mansions over the ocean.
We picked an apartment near the train station and the main avenue because we could easily move around with trains and buses. However, trains stopped at 11 PM and buses were scarce at night, so it also meant waiting 20' on the avenida at 1 AM. Again, it was a safe area, but not the nicest situation when you are tired and you'd just want to go home. Also, in the province there are no taxis, so you have to arrange for a remise (sort of taxi for hire) to pick you up... and you have to wait for those.
As a result, we explored the City of Buenos Aires only during the day, and it was a half-day ordeal at least as the train ride was 35-40' each way. At night, it was terribly quiet (dead), as the restaurants were in different areas of San Isidro, where it was impossible to get by public transport. As a result, we hardly went out at night unless we had family picking us up.
Rent increased every 6 months, and due to unfortunate rate exchange trends, our rent almost doubled (in euros) after 14 months. As a result, we had to move to an apartment half the size.
However, a few years later, for personal reasons, we finally considered moving to Buenos Aires City as what was a "side gig" grew into a full time job that could easily support the two of us and allowed us to save much more money. Why didn't we do it sooner?
Public transport was available also at night with higher frequency, you can hail a taxi at every hour, and there are so many places we can visit without having a car. As a consequence, we started eating out more and we really appreciate the wide range of food available in the city vs. the province where only Argentinian food was available. I was reading online of places like Palermo, Belgrano, Recoleta selling different food and ingredients, restaurants with a varied offer of dishes etc. Obviously, our monthly expenditures increased but our quality of life boomed. We attended events that would have been an ordeal to attend traveling by public transport in San Isidro, and we also bought our own place. This allowed us to stop worrying about rent increases and having to move every two years (the duration of a long term rental by Argentinian law).
As a reference, when we lived in San Isidro we spent 1,000-1,1000 USD per month for two adults, including private health insurance. Currently, we spend about 1,400-1,500 USD per month, and we now have a car, too.
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I was lucky enough to have an Argentinian husband who was open to move to Capital. I knew a girl whose Argentinian husband was also from the Province of Buenos Aires, although in a much more working-class only neighborhood. He didn't consider moving to Capital, as his family was from that city. She didn't resist longer than 4 years and they all moved to Spain.
That said, how one lives their life, what expectations and needs they have, is all very subjective. There are retired US expats in Palermo who can afford maid service twice a week, laundry service, and restaurants 7 nights a week and travelling to the US twice a year on their SS pension, which I suppose is around 2500-3000 USD/month. They probably spend much more than we do, but we are also younger and still trying to save and invest for when we will be older.
