If you’re planning to make Finland your home in the near or far future, knowing what’s the cost of living there will help you a lot when it comes to planning your move and stay.
And this is what we’re going to be talking about in today’s article – the monthly costs of living in Finland this year. I am sure you’re curious to find it out after the high inflation in 2022 and 2023 so far.
We’re going to cover the country as a whole as you should generally expect similar costs and prices throughout Finland, no matter if you choose Helsinki or Tampere or either one of the smaller cities.
I estimate the monthly cost of living to be around €1,700 for a single person living in Finland, due to increased food and rental costs. A couple should expect to pay around €3,000 per month living in Finland in a 1-bedroop apartment.
It is true that the costs are usually higher in the larger, better known places (generally just in rental costs), but for the most part, you should expect the monthly budget to be pretty similar no matter where you choose to live in Finland.
Finland is one of the most attractive options for those who want to move to one of the Scandinavian countries, well-known in the entire Europe as some of the best paying estates.
With minimum and average net salaries higher than in most other countries in the European Union, and with the fourth highest minimum salary in the EU, Finland has a great potential to offer some excellent standards of living to its inhabitants.
In order to get a roughly approximated value for the cost of living in Finland in 2023, we will take a look upon the general prices for some of the most essential needs of every person that may move here.
So, without further introductions, let’s make some quick and simple calculations for what the cost of living in Finland would be in 2023, should you decide to live here.
Average monthly cost of living in Finland in 2023
An average person living in Finland should expect a cost of living of around 1,700 Euros per month. This includes paying rent, food and all other expenses one person normally has during a month.
While this is not a minimum budget by any means, it’s not a very extravagant one either. With this amount, you should expect to live a decent life in Finland, but without allowing yourself too many luxuries each month.
This value will obviously depend, first of all, on the city and area where you will live in Finland, because more developed cities, central areas, business centers or richer regions will definitely practice higher costs than others, especially when it comes to accommodation which will be one of your highest expenses each month.
Your own lifestyle, the frequency of your cinema nights, how often you go out to party, how many times a day you eat and so on… all these will strongly influence the average monthly cost for your own life in Finland.
The more you cook at home and stay at home, the cheaper your monthly costs in Finland will be.
Below, anyway, see some estimative prices for the most basic needs and expenses you will encounter as soon as you move to Finland and start working there.
These will probably help you estimate the cost of living based on your own approach to monthly expenses.
Costs for accommodation and real-estate in Finland
Property prices – no matter if you’re looking to buy or rent – have gone up a lot in Finland in the past couple of years, mainly due to the high inflation.
I remember reading that the official data doesn’t look so bad (just around a 1% increase), but in reality I saw more and more ads asking for higher prices in areas I was already familiar with from the past year.
Either way, renting in Finalnd will cost anything between €350 to €1,600 per month, depending on the size and location of your apartment or house. But don’t expect to find lots of housing in Finland on €350 a month!
If you plan to buy property in Finland, expect to pay a premium. We’re talking about values as high as €9,000 per square meter in a central location in Helsinki.
Prices for homes go down to a relatively more manageable €2,200 per square meter in more rural areas. But generally, buying a house or apartment here is pretty expensive.
With these in mind, if you plan to rent in Finland, expect to pay amounts close to those below for a decent location (not the cheapest, nor the best you can find):
- €750 per month for a studio (around 30 sqm)
- €1,550 per month for a two bedroom apartment (around 80m2)
Costs for utilities in Finland
Utility costs are not generally included in the rental prices, so you will have to pay extra. These usually include all the basic utilities, like electricity and water, heating and garbage collection, as well as administrative fees for the building you’re living in.
These are also estimates (they can vary greatly based on consumption), but a single person should expect to pay around €150 per month.
However, if you like to keep the heating high during the cold months (and it’s always cold in Finland!), you can easily pay double or triple the amount.
IMPORTANT: Although not common, some houses will have the utility costs – or at least some – included in the price. Make sure to talk to your landlord and see what is included and what not.
Costs for food and eating out in Finland
Costs with food will be roughly somewhere around €300 – €350, should you decide to cook your meals at home mostly, with foods bought from the local market or supermarket.
But of course, these numbers will vary a lot, depending on several factors related to your diet.
Do you prefer natural and organic foods? Are you a pescatarian or vegan? Do you prefer only very high-quality ingredients, from the expensive categories or brands? Do you eat very often, or in very high quantities?
All these may strongly influence the value above go even higher, but my estimate is for an average person eating mostly at home.
So in order to get a number as realistic as possible to reflect the costs that you will personally pay for food in Finland in 2023, consider all the aspects mentioned above.
But to help you a bit, here are some prices that you should expect for various food items here:
- €2.70 for a loaf of bread
- €1.40 for a 1l-bottle of milk
- €3.50 for a kg of vegetables
- €7.10 for a kg of chicken
- €4.50 for one coffee (Café Latte or Cappuccino)
- €20.00 for one pizza ordered through takeaway
- €3.00 for a cheeseburger
- €11.00 for a pack of cigarettes
- €10.50 for a fast-food meal such as a BurgerKing or McDonald’s Combo
- €12 for one meal at a cheap restaurant
- €50 for one meal at a higher-end restaurant
Costs for transportation in Finland
Costs for transportation here varies a lot again, this time depending on the type of transportation that you choose.
Should you decide to use the public transport on a daily basis, you should know that the monthly public transport ticket is around €65.
For a single ride ticket for public transport, on the other hand, if you go by bus occasionally, for example, the cost is closer to €3.
But besides public transportation, we also have two more other very frequently preferred means of transportation, and those are personal car and taxi.
For the latter, you will pay €1.50 per km, roughly, whether we’re talking about traditional taxi or modern transport apps such as Uber.
Other costs in Finland
Lastly, let’s be realistic and take a look upon some other costs that you will definitely come upon in Finland, no matter how economical you are.
Of course, how frequently you will pay these prices will strongly depend on how outgoing or introvert you are – but anyway, living is more than planned costs, food, utilities and rent.
Sometimes you will eat out, sometimes you will go to see a movie at the cinema, and other times you will decide to pay that gym subscription and start working out.
Of course that other costs may come up as well, but we will stick to the most popular of them. So here are some other costs that you might have to consider before making your move here:
- €18.00 for one cinema ticket per adult
- €65.00 for monthly gym subscription
- €33.00 for monthly high-speed internet subscription
- €22 for a decent phone plan with lots of included messages and GBs of internet
Conclusion
Summing up the prices for rent, utilities, food and transportation and making some simple calculations, the monthly cost of living in Finland in 2023 will be around €1,700 for a single person who is thrifty.
Comparing this to the minimum salary in the country which, even though is not officially regulated – following the trend applied to all Scandinavian countries – is almost never below a net income of €1.500 thanks to the bargaining between the employers’ associations and workers’ unions, is definitely enough for a decent life.
Even more, considering the average salary in the country, which is roughly a net value of €2.550, not only is it sufficient to cover all the costs for essential living needs, dinners with friends and other occasional expenses, but it is also enough to save some generous sums of money, with a little wisdom and attention.
So, as a conclusion to all the aspects analyzed above, Finland seems like one of the most attractive countries to live in right now if you manage to score a good job there.
What about you? Living already in Finland? Share your monthly living costs with us in the comments section below to help everybody better understand the situation.
