How much money is needed for a month living in the USA: the experience of a Russian-speaking immigrant

Regardless of whether you are planning to move to the USA or are simply collecting information about America, a logical question arises: how much will I spend per month in the USA? I’ve collected the most up-to-date information - I’ll tell you what you should save on and exactly how much I spend in one month living in Los Angeles.

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The most significant part of the budget is renting an apartment. A one-room apartment in Los Angeles costs an average of $1800-2500 per month. My two-room apartment is $2550. Of course, there are apartments for $1500, but everything lower is either one room or extremely run-down apartments, old junk. There is such an option as roommate: this means you can live together with a roommate. Rummaging is very popular in Los Angeles and on average it will cost around $500-$600.

The cost of an apartment must necessarily add utility bills. You pay for electricity, water is usually included in the price of renting an apartment. My utility bills cost less than $ 100. The price of my rent already includes hot and cold water, I have to pay for electricity and gas: $ 80 and $ 15, respectively.

A separate budget item is health insurance. Medicine is quite expensive in the USA, everyone knows about it. Therefore, it will be very expensive to come and get treatment in cash. For example, a doctor's appointment in Los Angeles costs $250, an ultrasound can cost $300, and a simple blood test can cost $80! This is why you need to buy insurance. For one person per month, the average cost is around $200 (mine costs $215).

Of course, there are times when you can buy very expensive insurance or vice versa, use free insurance. Poor families in Los Angeles can apply for a free insurance called MediCal, people pay zero dollars a month for it, but you need to understand that taxpayers give money for this insurance, and as soon as the poor starts earning it, they are removed from this insurance. And then he is obliged to buy a paid one.

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Another expense item is transportation. You can rent a car - it will cost about $150 for three days. Therefore, it is more profitable to take a long-term lease or take out a car on lease or credit. I took out a car on credit (Honda Accord 2018), the payment on it is $353 and $180 insurance, a total of $533. Let's consider some average car, for example, a Prius or Mazda CX3: the car itself on credit or lease will cost $200-300 plus $150-200 insurance. Besides, a car requires gas and maintenance. Gasoline costs an average of $150.

There is also a subway in Los Angeles; if you can’t afford your own car, you can use the subway or bus. The price will depend on the subscription, but one trip on the metro will cost $1,75. Monthly pass - $100. Also in Los Angeles, it is very popular to use Uber or Lyft. One short trip will cost about $7-10.

In addition to the cost of a car, there are also parking costs. On average, parking in Los Angeles costs from $ 1 to $ 2 per hour, I pay $ 25 per month. You can pay in the terminal using a card or coins, the time appears on the display showing how much you paid.

Perhaps the most annoying part of the budget is mobile communications. It's not very cheap in America. I pay an average of $50 for the Internet, separately for mobile communications. There are different offers: for example, if you buy a phone immediately with a contract, a month with a tariff can cost $60. My plan is $45 and includes 6 GB of internet.

Do not forget about such an expense item as going to the cafe: drink a cup of coffee or run off for lunch somewhere. It takes me an average of $ 150-200 a month. If we are talking about such a thing as a business lunch, then here you can buy it for $ 10-12. For this amount you will receive huge portions of salad, soup and also, as we say, compote. But if you count the food at $ 12 for 30 days, it comes out very expensive. Therefore, the Americans, of course, also calculate all this, carry food with them in containers, take thermoses and dine at work.

Household and cleaning products take about $60-80 a month out of your budget. For example, an 8-roll toilet paper kit costs $7,69. A large pack of disposable wipes costs $4,99. Garbage bags are $4,59 for 22, but you don't have to buy them every month, they last 2-3 months. The laundry gel, which lasts for a couple of months, costs $14,99. You can buy a cheaper analogue for $7,49. To wash the floors, I buy a special rag - already wet, in a special package. 24 pieces last about 3 months, cost $8,59. A mop is sold separately for it. You put the rag on the mop and wash it, then throw it away: you don’t need to wash or dry anything. I also buy dishwasher tablets for $6,49. Dish soap and soap - $5,98.

There is a cat in my house, for which I also need to buy food. Jars per serving cost $ 0,67-0,89. As for dog food, a large pack costs $ 13,39-21,49 depending on the brand.

My diet includes meat, fish, vegetables, in general, a standard set. How much are the products in the store where I usually buy all this?

There is gluten-free bread for $4,49, I usually buy bread a little cheaper - for example, for $2,99. A piece of cheese in my grocery cart will cost $4,49. Farm Fresh Eggs - $1,49. Chicken legs will cost $2,24. Salmon costs $12,14. Red meat (azu) costs $13,16 and is very good meat. Regular milk costs $1,99. Regular or flavored kefir will cost $2,99. I try to choose the best deals possible, and very often I buy something on sale. For example, today a pack of tangerines costs only $3. But a bottle of wine can cost $2,99. Prices are different everywhere. There is a chain of Whole Foods stores, where you can spend $1500 a month.

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I left the store with bags of food that would last for exactly 5 days - there was meat, milk, butter, the classic set. I paid $60,54 for this already with taxes. I spend about $400 a month on groceries, but if you start going chic and buy expensive products and a lot of other things, I think you can keep it at $500, or even higher.

These simple calculations showed that one person spends about $ 3482 a month in Los Angeles. Do not forget that salaries in America and in Los Angeles are quite high. Therefore, with a salary of $ 5000, the amount of expenses does not seem as catastrophic as if you translate it into our currency.

The original column is published on YouTube channel Nellifornication.

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