This is a post dedicated to all of my overseas followers. Thank you for supporting. By now this blog is being read in United States, Australia, Spain, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, China, Chile, Canada, UK, Colombia and, of course, Argentina. I hope to reach more people from all over the world so they can understand how much things cost here.
What triggered me to write this is a news from weeks ago: Buenos Aires have partnered with hotels and Airbnb to atract digital nomads.
In summary, the idea is to atract people to live in the city for a time, while working for their company remotely. This post will help to know roughly the prices in the city. Not Argentina, because is huge, and prices may vary. Besides, you should realize some things beforehand to understand the situation a bit better.
Remarks:
- We have a huge inflation, around 50% a year.
- Government has some economical programs. The most important is precios cuidados, which has some products with fixed price, until the government authorizes their increase.
- We love dolar. There are obstacles and quota to buy the american currency the official way. So there is a huge parallel market to buy dólar blue, as we call it.
- Related to the last one, whoever goes to a cueva (an informal place to exchange currency) will get AR$168 per dollar. Otherwise, whoever pays with debit or credit card (or get cash in an authorized exchange house) will pay according to the official quotation, which now is AR$ 95 per dollar. This values are from today.
- Prices of goods vary from town to town, from neighborhood to neighborhood, and even from market to market. Here you will see an average.
Having made the necessary clarifications, I will tell you how the research was done. I was checking prices for the two last weeks (so there are minor changes). I will create six categories: living, transportation, food, leisure, services and other. Prices are in pesos, official dollar and illegal dollar (oficial y blue).
Living:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two room apartment rental | 24000 | 253 | 143 |
| Three room apartment rental | 30000 | 316 | 178 |
| Expenses | 4000 | 42,10 | 23,81 |
| City tax | 700 | 7,37 | 4,16 |
Rental is monthly, without considering electricity, gas and water. Expenses and city tax will vary depending the size of the apartment and its location.
Transportation:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUBE card | 90 | 0,95 | 0,54 |
| Bus | 22 | 0,23 | 0,13 |
| Subway / underground | 30 | 0,31 | 0,18 |
| Train | 18,50 | 0,19 | 0,11 |
| Taxi (Start) | 85 | 0,89 | 0,50 |
| Taxi (every 200 meters) | 8,50 | 0,09 | 0,05 |
| Liter of fuel (V power from Shell) | 106,90 | 1,13 | 0,64 |
SUBE is a proximity card wich allows paying bus, subway and train trips. You buy one time and then put money on it until it is over, and then recharge it again.
Food:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All purpose flour x kg. | 45 | 0,47 | 0,27 |
| Skim milk x lt. | 120 | 1,26 | 0,71 |
| Butter x 250 grs. | 143 | 1,50 | 0,85 |
| Spaghetti x 500 grs. | 58 | 0,61 | 0,35 |
| Sugar x 1 kg. | 65 | 0,68 | 0,39 |
| Yeast x 50 gr. | 24 | 0,25 | 0,14 |
| Tea x 50 un. | 75 | 0,79 | 0,45 |
| Jam x 454 gr. | 150 | 1,58 | 0,89 |
| Bread x kg. | 190 | 2,00 | 1,13 |
| Sunflower oil x 900 ml. | 230 | 2,42 | 1,37 |
| Olive oil x 250 ml. | 250 | 2,63 | 1,49 |
| Alcohol vinegar x 1 lt. | 90 | 0,95 | 0,54 |
| Egg x 30 u. | 230 | 2,42 | 1,37 |
| Dulce de leche x 400 gr. | 160 | 1,68 | 0,95 |
| White rice x kg. | 90 | 0,95 | 0,54 |
| Stew meat x kg. | 750 | 7,89 | 4,46 |
| Milanesa meat x kg. | 900 | 9,47 | 5,36 |
| Parrilla meat (asado / vacío) | 650 | 6,84 | 3,87 |
| Chicken x kg. | 350 | 3,68 | 2,08 |
| Still water x 6,25 lt. | 227 | 2,39 | 1,35 |
| Coke x 2,25 lt. | 185 | 1,95 | 1,10 |
| Quilmes beer x 473 ml. | 86 | 0,90 | 0,51 |
| Malbec wine x 750 ml. (medium quality) | 260 | 2,74 | 1,55 |
| Tomato puree x 520 gr. | 58 | 0,61 | 0,35 |
| Canned Tomatos x 400 gr. | 71 | 0,75 | 0,42 |
Leisure:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | 359 | 3,78 | -No aplica- |
| Netflix | 669 | 7,04 | -No aplica- |
| 2D movie ticket | 670 | 7,05 | 3,99 |
| 4D movie ticket | 820 | 8,63 | 4,88 |
| Theater ticket | 800-3000 | 8,42-31,58 | 4,76-17,86 |
| Draft beer | 200-350 | 2,10-3,68 | 1,19-2,08 |
For straming services, such as Netflix and Spotify, the payment method is credit card, so there is no illegar dollar for these. You can check the updated rates here.
Services:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 800 | 8,42 | 4,76 |
| Gas | 500 | 5,26 | 2,98 |
| Water | 600 | 6,32 | 3,57 |
| Internet + TV | 2000 | 21,05 | 11,90 |
| Cellphone line + internet | 1200 | 12,63 | 7,14 |
Other:
| Pesos | Dólar oficial | Dólar blue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car parking hour | 120 | 1,26 | 0,71 |
| Medical plan | 8500 | 89,47 | 50,60 |
I think it is good so far. You have a picture of our situation. Nonetheless, I will continue investigating so there will be a second part. And if you are interested in knowing the price of a concrete item, please ask. It would be very helpful to share this post.
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