I was recently asked about the cost of living in Brazil, specifically Rio, and afterwards thought this would be interesting to know about other major mongering locations as well (i.e. Colombia, CR, Thailand, etc). So, since I have way too much time on my hand during this holiday season, I decided to post my experiences about the cost of living in Rio De Janeiro.

In general, I would think many of us have traveled to X place to monger and subsequently wondered what it would take to turn a vacation spot into a permanent place to live. Here are my 2 cents on Rio – Now, I would love to see some follow-up postings with other experiences….. This posting is completely based on one main thing that is important to me: Quality of life. I am did not move to Rio to live in poverty conditions, but to live in the best area I could afford on my salary that provides convenience, safety, and just the best quality of life for me.

At the time of this posting, the exchange rate is about USD$1 to Real $1.72

1) Housing: The number one factor influencing cost of living in Rio is housing costs. There is no real estate bust in Rio and rent and home prices are going up and up. I personally will only live in one of two areas, Leblon or Ipanema…with a preference towards Ipanema. While a long discussion can be had if an eventual real estate bust will happen, I highly doubt it. Zona Sul – Ipanema, Copa, Leblon, Flamengo, Botofogo,etc, are for the most part built out. There is no room for new constructions and Ipanema and Leblon are small neighborhoods….again, with limited room for new construction (tearing down an old building and putting up a new one), prices will continue to rise or at least stay at the level they are now. Currently expect to pay in the R$2500 – R$3000 range for a basic one bedroom and half apartment in Ipanema/Leblon, with R$3000 – R$4000 becoming ever more the norm. When looking for an apartment also consider condo fees if they are charged separate (usually they are), as they can range from R$400 – R$800 depending on the building. Also, a garage spot is a big plus even if you do not own a car right away you will probably eventually will want to own one (As I did). Monthly garage rentals are about R$250.00 otherwise. Copa, Botofogo, etc, the rent is less – about R$2000 a month and up (slightly less for studio apartments – not my cup of tea). Buying? At this point, a “decent” apartment in Ipanema/Leblon is about R$600K+, and in Copa about R$400K+. I recently heard about a studio for sale in Ipanema on the 3rd floor without an elevador for R$300K.... (Insane!)

2) Electricity – Running my A/C each night, with normal consumption averages around R$240 a month

3) Natural Gas – About R$40-R$50 (most apartments use natural gas for heating the shower water)

4) Internet/Telephone – For long term residence, I have found the monthly plans with minutes cheaper then pre-paid cards. I have Oi Total, which provides me with 500 minutes of talk time that is shared between my land line and cell phone, as well as Internet for about R$200 a month. As a back-up – since Internet is the most important enabler of my life in Rio – I also have 10MB Cable Internet service from Net. Again, a combo of Internet and Cable TV (more on this in the next section)

5) Cable TV (and Internet) – I absolutely cannot stand watching the basic free channels that are available without cable TV, i.e. Globo, etc. I have a full digital plan, that includes HBO, CNN, Fox, Cinemax, Sony, Warner, etc (I.e. basically all the same programming you would have in the US). This also includes a DVR. For the Cable TV, Internet combo, plus net fone, the cost is R$315.92. Again, I have two different Internet services for back-up purposes.

6) Supermarket – Prices slightly higher then US supermarket. Great deals on vegetables and fruits can be found in the open markets that take place on various street corners depending on the day of the week (In Ipanema, Tuesday it is in General Osario, and on Friday in Señora de Paz. 24 oranges (I like fresh orange juice each day), is about R$8, a dozen bananas R$2, broccoli $3, etc

7) General stuff – TV’s, electronics, etc. For the most part 2 – 3 times more expensive then the US. The same applies to decent furniture and other other household items.

8) Nightlife – depending on where, the cost is on par with the US. However, cheaper place can be found in centro or Lapa. Generally a beer is about R$4.00 in most average bars, lately trending up to R$5.00 for a chopp (A glass of draft beer)

Getting back to real estate/rentals – keep expectations low. For R$2500 a month do not expect luxury in neighborhoods like Ipanema or Leblon. Comparatively speaking, rentals in that price range (ie.. aprx USD$1450) are much nicer and more spacious in the US.

Another important point to remember outside the difficulty of finding a decent apartment is many apartment owners require a fiador, or co-signer, for pretty much any apartment that you’re going to rent. The co-signer must own other property. Basically that property is put up as collateral in case the renter defaults. Some do accept a deposit – usually in the 3-6 month rental range. A fiador option is also available through the bank – you pay a fee to the bank for them to become your fiador. The most common option for most foreigners – especially initially – however are short time apartment rentals - Of course the highest cost option of all. Just remember PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE!! If you do find an apartment at a good, reasonable cost, in a good location – grab it!!! This is an absolute seller's market…good deals do not last long! I lost a very good apartment many years ago because I wanted one night to mull it over – regretted it for awhile. I wanted to negotiate, but the owner basically just shrug and in so many words said "take it or leave it" and some else grabbed it.

Overall the drop of the dollar has not really impacted me too much….I have just adjusted my spending habits accordingly. The days of R$4 to USD$1 obviously were great and everywhere it was cheap and I did not have to think twice about going out eating and drinking each night. Now that of course has changed and life has settled into a more "normal" routine that includes eating at home more often. Also as time progressed, I started to monger less since i no longer need to try to cram in as much banging as I would in a weeks vacation. Plus, like most mongers I know, started down the path of a normal cycle in having a relationship with a local girl.

Price wise, I would put Rio now on the cost of living scale of most major metropolitan cities in the US.

Of course mongering costs come on top of this …. Lets say one night in a terma a week, about out R$300+ and one freelancer (ie.. the Balcony Bar) for about R$100- R$150. With drinks, etc, about R$500 a week for minimal mongering.

I hope this post catches some traction for other mongering destinations and different perspectives from other expats in Rio.

Hi LM,

I will try to chip in what I know about the cost of living in Rio de Janeiro.

I bought my apartment in May 2003, and it cost about R$800,000 and at the time, the exchange rate was 2.9. The apartment is located in the Lagoa area, and is about 50 years old. It has 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen, dining room, and study. It has 2.5 bathrooms. The main reason that I bought it is because it is more roomy than most apartments you will find in Rio. It is about 200 square meters or about 2000 square feet. It has a nice view of Christo and Lagoa from all rooms of the apartment. Condominium fees are about R$1000/month. This has only gone up about R$100/month since I purchased the apartment.

I purchased my car in Nov 2006. It is the popular Chevy Astra which is also a very popular car for taxis as well. At the time, it cost R$47,000. That includes air conditioning, 2 liter engine, MP3 player, rear object detection and leather seats. The car burns both gasoline and alcohol and I always purchase alcohol which goes for a little less than R$2 per liter.

Although I have a car, it does not have many kilometers on it because of the parking situation. So mainly, I use public transportation. The bus is very reasonable and costs R$2.35 one way. The metro is about R$2.80 one way. Taxis have increased considerably since I arrived in 2003. Just to enter the taxi now costs R$4.70 and it once was R$1.70. All that said, I think that the public transportation in Rio is much more economical than São Paulo and less than most other cities in the world.

I am back in the US for a few months and I am surprised how expensive food is here. I definitely think that basic foods such as meats and vegetables are less expensive in Brazil. One quick example. One of my favorite fish in Namorado which goes for about R$8/kilo. So for a nice big bigger than 2 kilo fish costs about R$20. You cannot buy Namorado in the US, but I wanted to buy some fish and the equivalent is sea bass. One two pound sea bass here in the US (it is off season) costs about $30.

For internet, I pay two charges. The first one is with a company called Super IG and it costs R$40/month Then I use OI/Velox and that costs about R$100/month. I get about 2 megabits/sec download.

Would the cost of living be cheaper in some of the other cities of Brazil, like Recife, Forteleza or Belo Horizonte?

Sounds like Rio is the NYC of Brazil,

Trek

Sao Paulo is quite a bit more expensive than Rio, and with a lot fewer options when it comes to public transportation. In Rio you can get everywhere for a couple of Reals. Sure, it may take you an hour or two, but you will get there. In Sao Paulo, they have a lot less buses - night and day compared to the neverending stream of them you see in Rio. So, you'll probably need a car if you live in Sao Paulo, whereas in Rio it's more of a luxury, at least if you live in Zona Sul.

What Blues and Marvin didn't really touch on is you can live on a lot less in Rio - if you don't mind giving up some (or most) of the comforts of the US. I've never been to LM's place, but BT's place is a palace that would be considered high-end in any US city. It's by far the nicest apartment I've ever seen in Rio. I could live with less, but like most people, I find your average Rio rental to be small and certainly not a place I would live permanently. And the places we rent, they are considered luxury by most Brasileros. I'll never forget, in the small apartment I used to rent regularly on Rua Bolivar, the bed was shot, with the mattress flattened to a pancake over the years and the box spring on it's last legs. I had a girl over, and she absolutely raved about the "great bed".

It's all relative, but LM and BT have given a good estimate of what it would cost to have good US-style living quarters in Rio. Of course, I'm sure they all have great stories about plumbers, painters, electricians, etc which are always disasters in Rio.

Blues, if I had only had the wisdom to buy back about 5-6 years ago when I first arrived in Rio!! Your R$800,000 apartment is probably well worth more then a million+ by now. I just never honestly thought I would stay permanently...more like part time, but things changed along the way. Unfortunately I missed the bus with real estate prices going up and the dollar going down.

As Cat mentions, there are cheaper places to live in Rio - for example in Zona Norte (But why anyone would choose to live there just to stay in Brazil is beyond me), plus it seems Barra de Tijuca is cheaper - but unless you plan on taking a taxi or bus everywhere, a car is pretty much mandatory there. It sounds like Blues got a huge apartment - but the unfortunately that is more of an exception then the norm...Most apartments are shoe boxes....probably what living in NYC/Manhattan must be like.

I would have agreed on the meat (Unfortunately I can't eat fish) until recently, when a Fillet Mignon crept up to over R$70 a kilo in Zona Sul. Restaurant wise, a decent pizza in a sit-down restaurant will set you back R$30+, as well as a Domino's pizza. Somehow Pizza Hut has managed to charge about R$40 a pizza....

As Cat stated, getting plumbers, painters, etc to do a good job at a reasonable price is a challenge for even Brazilian's - much less a foreigner. Just expect to fight and be overcharged for each repair.

I remember moving into my apartment and installing Net....even that took a little "tipping". The cable guys told me that they could not get the cable to run into my apartment and had problems accessing the wiring - asking them to try a little harder with a little cash in hand magically got the cable installed afterall. The key to survial in Rio is having "jeitinho" (Here is your definition on Wikipedia :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeitinho)

Without it, becoming frustrated with how things work (and don't) can drive someone crazy.

From what I have seen, Sao Paulo is pretty expensive as well... the good areas (i.e. Alphaville, Jardins Gardens, etc) are on the level of Zona Sul. But I would expect cost of living to be much less in Recife, Forteleza or Belo Horizonte.

São Paulo is really expensive from a transportation perspective. São Paulo is much more spread out and taxis are more expensive to boot. So it is not uncommon to pay $R100 for a taxi ride.

Using the metro in both São Paulo and Rio can be trying because there are so mo many people packed into the cars. You need to start moving toward the exit slowly and patiently about one stop before your exit or you might miss your exit.

I am back in the US right now and life is definitely more difficult in Rio but I think that part of that is life in the big city rather than differences between Brazil and the US. It is just as easy to get ripped off in the US if you don't speak the language and don't know what you are doing.

In early 2006, I decided to do a full renovation of my apartment. The renovation cost about R$100,000. They did some good things but overall, it was a shit job and the workmanship was really shoddy. But you just keep going on.

My view on plumbers etc is that it is hit or miss. My wife takes care of all of that, and sometimes she finds a good hard working person and others it is a sleezeball.