What is the cost of life in France? (2024)

FAQs

What is the cost of life in France? ›

The average cost of living in France per month for a single person is around €1,800. It's important to remember that this's just an estimate number, and your actual cost of living in France may be higher or lower depending on your location, specific needs, and lifestyle.

Here are the 2022 thresholds:

Working-age person living alone: €1,634. Working-age couple without children: €2,273. Single-parent family with two children: €3,003. Couple with two children: €3,744.

The average cost of living in France ($1451) is 34% less expensive than in the United States ($2213). France ranked 29th vs 5th for the United States in the list of the most expensive countries in the world.

A family of four estimated monthly costs are 3,630.4$ (3,262.2€) without rent. A single person estimated monthly costs are 1,017.3$ (914.1€) without rent. Cost of living in France is, on average, 5.6% lower than in United States. Rent in France is, on average, 49.0% lower than in United States.

Food, healthcare, transportation, entertainment… the cost of living in France can be fairly high, especially in Paris and the big cities. To live in France, you have a monthly budget of 600 to 800 Euros to cover food, transport and housing expenses.

Americans can live in France but they will need to obtain a residency or work permit to remain in France for more than 90 days in a 180-day period. We'll talk about the many visa options for living in France in the next section.

Americans who intend to stay in France for less than 90 days don't need visas. But, from November 2023, US citizens must apply for an ETIAS travel authorization to enter France. The application for ETIAS will be online and will cost €7 per person. Anyone under 18 and over 70 will be exempt from paying the fee.

To stay long-term, you'll have to apply for a one-year French visa, which has the option for annual renewals. Depending on your circ*mstances, it can take anywhere from three to ten years to obtain permanent residency. At that point, you assume nearly all of the responsibilities of a French citizen.

French people earn USD 45 581 per year on average, below the OECD average of USD 49 165.

The cost of living in France can be much lower than you expect. We don't mean that France is a “budget” destination (although there are certainly some very attractive real estate bargains here), but your cost of living could be brought down significantly depending on where and how you live.

Does France have free healthcare? ›

You must have health insurance cover to live in France. State healthcare in France is not free. Healthcare costs are covered by both the state and through patient contributions. These are known as co-payments.

Average monthly rent of housing rental by size in France 2021. On a national level, French people spent an average of 851 euros to rent a house in 2021 and an average of 435 euros for a studio or a one room apartment. Both figures take charges of a rented accommodation into account.

Overall, grocery shopping in France is expensive compared to many other countries.

For a permanent retirement there you will require a Long Stay Visa (Visa de Long Séjour). You must apply before you move to France, via the French Consulate in London. There are various types of long stay visa. Most retirees opt for a Visa de Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour – Visiteur (VLS-Visiteur).

On average, the rent prices in France are €659 (~ $728) for a one-bedroom apartment in the City Centre. Meanwhile, the costs come down to €514 (~ $568) outside the City Centre.

If you make 50,000 EUR as a single person, you can even live in Paris. If you earn 50,000 EUR, you should expect to spend just over 10,000 EUR on social contributions and approximately 5,800 EUR on income taxes. This will leave you with an annual net salary of about 33,800 EUR per year, or 2,817 EUR per month.

In general, 60,000€ gross is considered a good salary in Paris - that translates to about 40,000€ after taxes annually or 3,200€ monthly. It's far more than the average income of French workers, which is just over 40,000 per year.

For example, the cost of living in Paris is high, and you'll need around €3,400 per month to live comfortably.

According to the Observatoire des Inégalités, an income of 3,673 euros per month qualifies a single adult as wealthy. By this standard, the privileged bracket represents 7.1% of the French population.