How Much Does It Cost to Live in Bulgaria in 2023: A Complete Overview of Monthly Living Costs

A year has passed since the publication of the article  How much does it cost to live in Bulgaria 2022 . During this time, prices have changed. Regardless of whether you are going to move to Bulgaria for permanent residence or are simply interested in Bulgaria, a natural question arises: what is the cost of living in Bulgaria? In this article, I have collected the most up-to-date information for 2023 and will show from personal experience how much we spend per month living in Bulgaria. And I will tell you how you can save money. And we will also compare with expenses for 2022 (prices in brackets are prices from last year).

Cost of Living in Bulgaria. Housing Expenses

The most important part of the budget is rent and utilities. The price for renting an apartment depends on the city and the area. In Sofia, the prices for renting a 1-room apartment start from 200 (200) euros, for a 2-room apartment from 250 (250) euros, and for a 3-room apartment from 350 (300) euros per month. 

In Varna, the rental prices for a 1-room apartment start from 125 euros, although you can find an option for 100 euros, but these will be distant neighborhoods and such apartments are quickly taken apart. The rental prices for a 2-room apartment start from 175 euros and for a 3-room apartment from 175 euros.

In Sofia we found such a 1-room apartment in the Reduta area for 180 euros.

And the price of such a 2-room apartment in the Slatina quarter is 255 euros.

In Varna, the price of such a 1-room apartment in a good area of ​​Sportna Zala is 128 euros.

And here is a 2-room apartment for 225 euros. 

Features of renting housing in Bulgaria

These are prices for long-term rental housing. In Bulgaria, 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 month’s rent is paid. If you use the services of a realtor, you will have to pay extra for his services. In Sofia, this amount will usually be 100% of the monthly rent, in Varna 50%. Thus, if the rent of an apartment is conditionally 300 euros, you will have to immediately pay 900 euros if this apartment is in Sofia or 750 euros in Varna. 

The cost of renting a house in Bulgaria usually includes only the rent itself. Electricity, water supply and the so-called support fee, similar to rent, are paid separately.

The cost of apartments in Sofia starts from 46,000 euros for a 1-room apartment and 65,000 for a 2-room apartment.

In Bulgaria, you need to keep in mind that it is difficult to find a regular bathtub, it is a great rarity. More often you come across apartments with shower cabins, and even more often it is just a shower with a drain in the toilet floor.

Heating is usually carried out using electricity. These are air conditioners, convectors, heaters, etc. 

Communal services in Bulgaria

In January, our family of four consumed 450 kW of electricity, which is about 55 euros. This is despite the fact that a two-tariff meter “day/night”, energy-saving lamps were installed, and we almost never used the heater. The main consumers of electricity are: boiler, microwave, electric kettle, computer, and heating 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, then it should last the whole day. The price in Bulgaria for 1 kW during the day is 0.11 euros, at night – 0.07 euros. Also, utilities in Bulgaria sometimes include the so-called support fee, which includes maintenance of the building, the elevator, if there is one. The price varies depending on the house management company, as a rule, there is none at all, but in our case it is 11 euros per month.

300 euros rent for an average 2-room apartment + 55 euros electricity (450 kW) + 29 euros water (12 m3) + 11 euros maintenance fee. 

So the total cost of utilities is: 395 (380 euros last year).

Cost of Living in Bulgaria. Transportation Costs

The next significant expense that cannot be avoided is transport. In Bulgaria, a car is not a luxury, and families often have several cars. Bulgaria has a higher level of motorization than Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Turkey.

Of course, you can rent a car. But it is not very profitable, especially in the summer, when rental prices rise almost 2 times. You can buy a used car in Bulgaria quickly and inexpensively, because there is no customs clearance and a large number of cars are imported into the country.

For example, a 2014 Volkswagen Golf will cost 4,650 euros. And this is despite the fact that prices for used cars have increased recently.
A car in Bulgaria must be insured. Prices for mandatory insurance start from 116 euros per year, depending on the car and the insurer. Insurance has become cheaper by an average of 20 euros since last year. You also need to undergo a paid mandatory technical inspection of 22-25 euros, and pay an annual tax on the car (from 35 euros), the amount of which depends on the city of registration and the car. Also, to drive on roads outside populated areas, you must buy a vignette. It is most profitable to take it for the whole year – 44 euros.

Fuel prices in Bulgaria are currently around 1.30 euros per liter of gasoline or 1.50 euros for diesel. If you use public transport. The price of a 30-minute ticket in Sofia is 82 cents around the city, and for 1 hour – 1.12 euros. In Varna, 1 hour is 1 euro. If you travel to and from work every day, it comes to 60 euros per month per person. I do not recommend traveling without a ticket, you can be fined. A taxi within the central part of Varna costs about 3 euros. If you are traveling in a company of 3-4 people, the price of a taxi is comparable to the price of bus tickets.

And of course, we can’t do without food and household goods. Then we go to the store.
Official inflation for the year was 16.4%.

Expenses for food and household goods

This package of 8 rolls of toilet paper costs 4.10 euros.

Toothpaste, which can be bought for 0.97 euros. Head&Shoulders shampoo 4.92 (3.70) euros. Savex laundry detergent for 40 washes 10.25 (4.90) euros. A can of such cat food costs 87 (45) cents. For dogs 95 (60) cents.

In addition to these expenses there are detergents, sponges, rags, garbage bags. It is difficult to calculate exactly how much is spent per month. We spend approximately 20 euros on household goods.

Prices for equipment

TVs. LG 55 inches 430 euros. Laptops. Laptops from 300 euros Lenovo.

Phone iPhone 14 Pro Max 1512 euros. (Last year iPhone 13 Pro Max cost from 1295 euros).

Potatoes for 1 kg 82 cents (50 cents). A kilogram of onions 1 euro (50 cents). Eggs, a pack of ten pieces 2.56 (1.20) euros. A liter of milk 3% fat 1.28 (1.05) euros. Fresh meat pork bacon 7.28 (5.25) euros per 1 kg, fresh chicken 3.33 (5.25) euros per 1 kg. Bread 55 (65) cents. Irish butter 250 grams 3.58 (2.80) euros. Mixed shrimp 5.12 (14.99) euros.

In total, our family spends 490 euros (last year it was 450 euros) per month on food and household goods.

Cost of Living in Bulgaria. Health Insurance

Another expense item in Bulgaria is compulsory medical insurance. What it is depends on your official status in Bulgaria. If you have a temporary residence permit, then this will be insurance only for emergency cases, usually purchased for 1 year. The price is from 82 (75) euros per year per person, the price depends on the insurance company and age.
If you have a permanent residence permit or Bulgarian citizenship, then this is compulsory insurance NZOK. Which covers all basic medical services, even several visits to the dentist. It is paid monthly, in the amount of 8% of income, per person or 14.56 (13) euros for people without income. The good news is that for children, if they go to school, such insurance is paid for by the school.
Prices for imported medicines in Bulgaria are cheaper.

Mobile communications, television and Internet.

Mobile communications, television and internet. We pay 6.5 euros a month for internet for 75 Mbit optical internet. The price for the year has not changed. 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. The most important thing is to look for an internet provider that will connect the internet without concluding an annual contract. For example, like ours – the provider Bulsatcom, to avoid problems in the future.

As for mobile communications, annual or biennial contracts with a monthly subscription fee are popular in Bulgaria. Prices for contracts start from 10 euros per month per person with 1 gigabyte of Internet. And a contract with unlimited minutes and megabytes costs from 20 euros, which will also include a very large number of minutes and megabytes in EU roaming.

But in case of delay of monthly payment under the contract, the phone number will be disconnected, penalties and fines will be charged. The debt will increase almost exponentially. Also, breaking the contract is difficult, long and expensive. But there is a way out. These are prepaid SIM cards without a contract and without any obligations on your part. The only thing I will warn you is that such prepaid SIM cards are in short supply, and sellers are not particularly enthusiastic about selling them. Therefore, our expenses for 1 phone number are 5 euros per month
Mobile Communications for 4 phone numbers plus home Internet and television.
Total: 26.50 euros

Additional expenses

Prices for a men’s haircut start from 3 euros. If you go to a gym, add another 30 euros per month per person.

What is the cost of living in Bulgaria?

I collected all the receipts for the previous month and got the following total of all the expenses that I listed: 990 euros spent per month. Last year, this amount was 950 euros.
These are the expenses that we spend for a family of 4 for 1 month.
Perhaps someone manages to spend less, someone more. Everything depends very much on the expenses of a specific person and family.
However, these are not all the expenses, I did not take into account trips to cafes, school supplies, clothing costs, various little things, I will not take these expenses into account, because this is very individual. But we calculated the main expenses for living in Bulgaria.

How can you save up to 20-30% of your family budget?

Firstly, chain stores have weekly specials, or as they call them here – promotions. They give discounts on goods. For example, Tchibo Gold coffee, the regular price is 12.99 lv. and today with a discount it is 8.99 lv. …

Secondly, you can get a discount card like this one, they are also available as an application, just don’t forget to activate additional discounts at the checkout.

Each chain store has such weekly booklets where products with real discounts are posted, all this information is duplicated on the Internet. And in this way you can really save up to 20-30% of your family budget.

Re-registration of residence permit

Living in Bulgaria with a residence permit status will also incur additional administrative costs. This is the annual extension of the residence permit and obtaining a personal card. In total, these costs amount to 282 euros per person, if divided by 12 months, it comes to 24 euros per month.