General Living/Grocery/Utility Costs in HK

Hi there, I am considering moving to Hong Kong and I am trying to get an idea of the cost of living. Any help based on your experiences living in HK would be great.


I am trying to budget for general living expenses, grocery and utilities:


Does approx $HKD9000 per month for general living (2x adults, 1x 3 year old & 1x 2 year old) sound reasonable, or well under or over? (clothes, dinner out, a beer or 2, a movie, some fun for the kids, checking out the sites, etc, etc)


And does approx $HKD7000 per month for groceries for the 4 of us sound reasonable, or well under or over (general food, the kids but they just eat what we eat, fruit, etc


And I am allowing $HKD3500 per month for utilities (Electricity - HK$1500 per month, Gas - HK$1000 per month & water - HK$900 per month) but have no idea really.


Many thanks.

It really depends on how you live. However I do think you may be a bit optimistic. Then again I can't really tell since I don't know you. It is possible to be quite frugal in HK, but you won't have the "equivalent" lifestyle as you would in Western Europe or North America.


In our case with 2 small kids and a 3 bedroom flat:

- Groceries: 10-12k /month (note not including dinners out, clothes, movies, etc etc)

- Dining/drinking out, excursions with the kids, etc: 5-7k /month

- Electricity: 2-4k /month

- Gas: 600 /month (can't recall exactly)

- Water: 400 /month (can't recall exactly)

- Car: 500 or so per month for petrol, insurance and tax. We only use the car during the weekends and sparingly at that. Note that in many places in HK the excellent public transport negates any real need for a car.

- Helper: Don't want to reveal the salary we give but it is well above the minimum of 3600 salary + 740 food allowance per month. Personally I find a helper an incredible boost to quality of life so well worth the cost.


Groceries are one thing that can vary a lot. If you eat "expat food", drink wine at home, and go for organic and imported, you'll be spending a lot. If you buy everything at the market and eat "local style", you can spend very little.

looks like you have already done some research into monthly expenses. your numbers look very reasonable. after a quick check, your numbers look almost spot on to what I actually spend. so before today, you knew better than I did, and I've been for many years. :-)