If you are interested in life in Bulgaria. You are planning to move here for permanent residence, work, study, then the question arises how much does life in Bulgaria cost and what are the prices in Bulgaria. In this article, I will tell you from our personal experience what is the cost of living in Bulgaria 2021.
Cost of Living in Bulgaria 2021. Housing Expenses
The most important part of the budget is rent, unless of course you have your own. The cost of renting a house in Bulgaria usually includes only the rent itself. Electricity, water supply and the so-called maintenance fee are paid separately. In the case of long-term rental housing, the contract is usually concluded for 1 year with automatic renewal. When concluding the contract, in addition to the rent, an additional deposit in the amount of a monthly payment for housing is paid. Also, if you use the services of a realtor, you will have to pay extra. For example, 50% of the monthly rent if it is in Varna or 100% if it is in Sofia.
Thus, if renting an apartment is conditionally 300 euros for 1 month. You will have to immediately pay 750-900 euros depending on the city. Prices for renting apartments vary greatly depending on the city and location in the city itself. For example, in Varna, the price for renting a 1-room apartment starts from 125 euros. Although you can also find an option for 90 euros. For renting a 2-room apartment, the price starts from 150 euros. In Sofia, for renting a 1-room apartment, prices start from 200 euros. And for a 2-room apartment from 250 euros. But these are the lowest prices. On specialized sites, you can find suitable housing options.
The pricing of utility bills is somewhat different from what is customary in your country. In Bulgaria, the good news, from a budget point of view, is that there is practically no central heating and, accordingly, no payment for it. Heating is usually carried out with electricity. These are air conditioners, convectors, heaters, etc.
In the last winter month, our family of 4 consumed almost 500 kW of electricity. This is about 50 euros. And this is despite the fact that a two-tariff meter “day/night” and energy-saving lamps are installed. But the following lead to an increase in energy consumption: a boiler, a microwave oven, an electric kettle, a computer, and possible heating of the apartment with electrical appliances. To save electricity, you can turn on the boiler only during the night tariff. If the boiler is of sufficient volume, it should last the entire day. In Bulgaria, such automatic devices for boilers are sold. These devices turn the boiler on and off depending on the electricity tariff.
The price in Bulgaria for 1 kW during the day is 12 cents, at night – 7 cents. The price for water supply in Bulgaria varies depending on the city. For example, in Varna the price for 1 cubic meter is 1.65 euros, in Sofia 1.50 euros, in Plovdiv 1.14 euros. The cheapest price for water is in the city of Sapareva Banya – 49 cents. The most expensive price is in the city of Razgrad 1.85 euros.
Also, utilities in Bulgaria sometimes include the so-called support fee. This includes house maintenance, elevator if there is one. It varies greatly depending on the house management company. As a rule, it does not exist at all, but in our case it is 8 euros per month.
So, all together it comes out to: 300 euros rent for an average 2-room apartment + 30 euros electricity (300 kW) + 15 euros water (10 m3) + 8 euros maintenance fee.
Expenses. Rent + utilities = 350 euros.
You can buy an apartment in Varna from 15,000 euros for a 1-room apartment. And in Sofia from 30,000 euros. These are the lowest prices for apartments and in the worst condition and location. If something is better, then the prices go up sharply.
Transportation costs.
The next significant expenses that cannot be avoided are transportation. A car in Bulgaria is especially necessary for people who live in small towns or villages. You can buy a used car in Bulgaria very inexpensively, there is no customs clearance. For example, you can buy a Citroen, Renault 2010 for 1500 euros and more. But a used car breaks down more often, and this is an additional expense. Cars from Germany, Italy, Switzerland are brought by specialized companies on car carriers and private individuals.
Another option is to buy a car there yourself and register it in Bulgaria. But it will be cheaper or more expensive, it depends only on you. The car must be insured. The amount of insurance depends on the insurance company, the age of the car, the driver’s experience, etc. The price for annual insurance starts from 125 euros. You also need to pass a paid mandatory technical inspection and pay an annual tax on the car. The amount of which depends on the engine size. And to drive on roads outside of populated areas, you must buy a vignette. It is most profitable to take it for a year – 50 euros. You should also take into account that if you live in the center of a large city, there may be problems with parking. Paid parking can cost 25-50 euros per month. The price of fuel in Bulgaria is now about 1 euro per 1 liter of gasoline or diesel fuel.
But if you live in a big city, you can save on transport by buying a bicycle. In Varna, for example, many bicycle paths have been built around the city recently. As for the prices of bicycles, they vary. For example, we bought one in the Metro store on sale for 130 euros. On OLX you can find a used bicycle for any taste from 30 to 800 euros.
But sometimes you have to use public transport. The price of a city bus ticket in Varna is 50 cents. If you often travel by bus or trolleybus, you can buy a monthly pass. The price of a monthly pass for all city routes is 69 euros. A monthly pass for one route is 23 euros, for pensioners the price of such a pass is 18 euros, for students 11 euros. Buses run on schedule, most often it is observed. On a special website you can track the movement of buses on routes in real time. If you go to work and back every day, and take a monthly pass, it comes to 23 euros per month per person. I do not recommend traveling without a ticket, the fine is 2.50 euros.
A taxi within the central part of the city costs about 2 euros. All taxis are equipped with taximeters, the driver issues a receipt after the trip. If you are traveling in a company of 3 or 4 people, the price of a taxi is comparable to the price of bus tickets.
Expenses for food and household goods
And probably one of the biggest parts of the budget after rent goes to food and household goods. Now I’ll go to the store and show you everything. For example, this package of toilet paper costs 8 euros. It should last more than 1 month. Toothpaste, which can be bought for less than a euro. Nivea shower gel 2.50 euros. Shower shampoos 2-4 euros.
Laundry detergent 8 euros for 60 washes, should last for several months. If you have pets, this is an additional expense. A can of such dog food costs 38 cents. Dry food costs 1.20 euros. Canned cat food, and dry food.
In addition to these expenses there are detergents, sponges, rags, garbage bags. It is impossible to calculate exactly how much we spend per month. We spend approximately 20 euros on household goods.
A liter of milk costs 96 cents.
In total, our family spends 500 euros per month on food.
There is a chain of grocery stores in Bulgaria called “Berezka”. They sell goods supposedly from the former USSR, although if you read the labels, many of the goods indicate that they were made in Germany.
Another expense item in Bulgaria is compulsory health insurance.
What it is depends on your official status in Bulgaria. If you have a residence permit, then this will be insurance only for emergency cases. It is usually purchased for 1 year. Prices for this insurance start from 70 euros per year per person. The price depends on the insurance company and age.
If you have permanent residence status or Bulgarian citizenship, then this is the mandatory NZOK insurance. Which covers all basic medical services, even dentistry. It is paid monthly, the price is 13 euros per person. The good news is that for children, if they go to school, such insurance is paid for by the school.
Communication, Internet and television.
Let’s come to the next expense item. This is communication, television and the Internet. We do not have cable television at home, but we have the Internet. We pay 7.50 euros per month for 50 Mbps of optical Internet. A little hint, if you rent an apartment, then often there is already Internet and it is included in the rent of the apartment. If not, then you will have to make an application for Internet connection to the provider. And here the most important thing is to look for an Internet provider that will connect the Internet without concluding a contract. For example, like ours – the provider Bulsatcom, in order to avoid problems in the future. Prices for cable TV start from 5 euros for the most basic package of channels, but there is almost no point in it, since Russian-language channels will be at best the bare minimum. But if having television is important to you, then the best option is IP television.
Total home internet and television 10 euros.
As for mobile communications, in Bulgaria they are more expensive than in your country. For some reason, contracts with a monthly subscription fee are very popular here. Prices for a contract start from 12 euros per month per person. In case of delay in the monthly payment, regardless of the reasons. The phone number is immediately disconnected within a few days, penalties and fines are immediately charged. The debt will increase almost exponentially. There are also frequent cases of large, simply fantastic amounts being charged by mobile operators. These are all the “delights” of a contract. It is difficult, time-consuming and expensive to break a contract.
But there is a way out. This is a prepaid option, without a contract and without any obligations on your part. This is an economical and safe option for you. You buy a prepaid SIM card. In our case, this is the Telenor operator. Our expenses for 1 phone are 5 euros per month, which includes 1 GB of Internet, 500 minutes for calls within the operator and 50 minutes for calls to all numbers within the EU. Unused minutes and megabytes do not burn out, but are added to the new month if you top up your number, as if overlapping. If something is not enough for you, you can buy exactly what you need for a relatively low price.
If for some reason you do not top up your number, your number will continue to work and will be serviced for 1 year. When you top up your number, the validity period is automatically extended for 1 year. The only thing I will warn you is that such prepaid SIM cards are in short supply, they are hard to find in mobile phone stores, and sellers are not particularly enthusiastic about selling them.
Communication. 20 euros for 4 phone numbers.
If you visit a gym, add another 30 euros per month per person.
Well, if you add up all the expenses that I listed, then it turns out that you need this amount to live in Bulgaria – 950 euros. Perhaps someone manages to spend less, someone more. Everything very much depends on the expenses of a particular person and family, maybe someone saves on food, and someone, on the contrary, often visits restaurants. By the way, about saving on food. Each chain store publishes weekly brochures where discounted goods are posted, all this information is duplicated on the Internet. And in this way you can really save up to 20-30% of the family budget. What is typical for Bulgaria is that there is no single store with the lowest prices or with a full range of goods. One store has some goods, and another store has others. For example, we shop in different stores, we buy something in one store, something in another. Because some types of goods or brands are sold only in one chain, and others in another.
These are the expenses we spend for a family of 4 for 1 month living in the city of Varna in Bulgaria.
Of course, these are not all the expenses, I did not take into account trips to cafes, cinema, school supplies, various small things, expenses for clothes, I will not take these expenses into account, because it is very individual. But we have calculated the main expenses for living in Bulgaria. I hope that this information was useful and I wish everyone success.
