The question I most often get from people who stumble on my blog is “What is the cost of living in Caracas”. I can understand why there’s confusion around this topic because you can find conflicting responses everywhere. My answer to them always begins with this disclaimer: It all depends on the lifestyle you choose. I don’t know about other people, but this is how my family and I are making it work. I then give them the following breakdown:
Housing: It depends where you want to live. The recommended areas (considered safer) for expats can be VERY pricey. I’ve seen furnished 3 bedroom/2 bathroom, 1,200 square feet going for $2,500 per month. Obviously, you can find an unfurnished place for less, but the difference isn’t that great. Since my husband came here last September, people told him that there was a housing crisis and prices should start going down – they’ve only gone up since then.
Food: Again, it depends how you eat. With the exception of milk, the staples (rice, bread, vegetables, pasta) are somewhat cheaper than the states. I find meat and most fruit to be more expensive. The trick with all the food products is to buy the national brand, if you like it. For instance, the national brand of 2 1b. spaghetti is 3 BsF., whereas Barilla is about 40 BsF.
Transportation: A 10 trip pass for the train is 4.50 BsF. The train system in Caracas is set up similar to Boston T. So, it gets you to the vicinity of most places, but depending where you are going, you may also need to take a taxi. For the most part, taxis are a minimum of 30 BsF. If you are going somewhere pretty close by (within 1 mile), there are some that will negotiate down to 20 BsF. As everyone knows, gas is pretty much free. You can fill a 14 gallon tank for about 5 BsF. However, cars are VERY expensive and there are waiting lists for almost every dealership. A Toyota Corolla that runs about $15,000 in the states will sell for $60,000 here. The upside is that somehow cars here only go up in value over time, so you can potentially see a return on the investment.
Leisure activities: Obviously I am more in tuned with family activities. In general, I think going to parks, zoos, etc. are cheaper than the states. Public parks are free and very nice. At all the malls that I’ve been to – big pastime here, there are areas for children to play (i.e. bouncehouses, carousels, etc.) and they tend to run about 5 BsF a ride. There are a lot of cultural activities that are reasonably priced, but the trick is getting to them.
A big caveat to this information is the exchange rate. The official exchange rate is 1 USD for 4.3 BsF. However, most expats use casas de bolsas, which from what I understand are brokerage companies, in order to obtain the parallel exchange rate which is always higher (1 USD for 7 BsF right now).This is the legal method to stretching dollars further, but I’ve heard of unsafe alternatives.
So, considering all this information, I think it’s best for someone to come here with the plan of living conservatively. Then over time, you’ll be able to gauge what luxuries you can afford or not.
