Cost of Living in Paris

[nyiannakis]

I might be moving to Paris soon and am keen to find out 2 things:

1) How your salary gets taxed

2) the approximate living costs for a couple (broken down below)

Car Insurance = € annual

Car bills (tax, MOT, etc) €/month x 12 = € annual

Petrol €/month x 12 = € annual

Flat Rent €/month x 12 = € annual

Home bills €/month x 12 = € annual

House contents insurance = € annual

Phone line rental €/month x 12 = € annual

Calls €/month x 12 = € annual

Internet Broadband €/month x 12 = € annual

TV licence = € annual

Health Insurance (depends on your ages and cover) € per adult per month x 2 x 12 = € annual

Supermarket €/week x 52 = € annual

Thanks

Nick

[Bevdeforges]

Hi Nick, and welcome (to the forum and to France). I take it you're coming from the UK.

OK, I find "cost of living" questions to be particularly difficult, as everyone has their own ideas about "average" or "modest" living conditions, but I'll try to give you some idea.

How your salary gets taxed: France has no income tax withholding from your salary, so the first year you are in France, you have to remember to leave a little something over to pay off your first tax bill.

On a normal salary, you will have roughly 20 to 25% deducted (or withheld, if you prefer) for "cotisations" - social insurances such as medical, retirement, family allowance and a few miscellaneous other things. If your employer has a mutuelle (top-up medical policy) your share of the cost is included in these deductions, which are deductible from your salary for income tax, too.

At the end of the year, your salary and deductions are reported to the government, which comes back to you at the beginning of May with a tax form that has the salary information already filled in. You fill in the rest (there are computer programs to help with this - all in French, but the set-up of the tax forms makes it almost necessary to have some help in getting the right information on the right line of the form) and send it in to the local tax office.

Around August or September, you get an assessment from the local tax office and you pay off what you owe - either all at once, or in 3 or 4 monthly payments. Meanwhile, you also start making quarterly or monthly payments based on that first tax bill toward the current year's taxes, so that the next assessment in September will be simply a settling up of the difference between your estimated payments and what you actually owe.

As for your various categories of expenses, some generalities (I live in the Paris area, but not in the city proper, so your mileage will vary!)

Car expenses depend to a large degree on what sort of car you drive (how expensive, what brand, size, diesel or gas) and where you live, plus your usual annual use (in km). Gas prices are rising quickly, though diesel is still cheaper than gasoline by a few cents a litre. You have to have the car inspected (and it's a pretty rigorous inspection) every two years - and the inspection costs 65 or 75€, with a re-test fee if you have to have anything repaired to meet requirements.

Flat rental varies tremendously between arrondissements (districts) in Paris, but are generally considerably more expensive than rents in the surrounding towns. Take a look at any of a number of estate agent websites listing Paris rentals to get some idea of the range (google PAP - Particuliers à particuliers - a weekly journal for agent-free property sales and rentals).

A basic France Telecom phone line runs about 12€ a month plus calls. There are zillions of call plans these days - from VOIP lines to packages that give you unlimited calling throughout metropolitan France. It's also possible to combine telephone, internet, television and who knows what else in a single monthly rate package, using any of the Internet provider services. These start at 29.95€ a month, but that may be only the 3-month starter rate.

TV license this past year (2007) was 116€ and it's billed to you with your taxe d'habitation (the part of the property tax that is billed to the occupants of the property).

Health insurance should be included in your salary deductions (the 20% or so). If your employer doesn't offer a mutuelle, you can buy one yourself for anything from about 30€ to 80 or 90€ per month per person. These will pay for the portion of most doctor bills that sécu doesn't cover, and for things like dental and eyeglasses, that sécu covers only nominally.

The supermarket is an issue you control yourself! There are street markets in most Parisien neighborhoods, which are usually a bit more expensive than the supermarkets, but the quality is usually much better - fresher products and personal service. It depends on what you like to eat, and how much you want to rely on processed foods. Also how much wine you drink. <g> Wine is amazingly cheap, if you don't insist on grands crus and tony labels. Many city dwellers rely heavily on the local traiteurs - where you can buy prepared dishes to heat up at home. If you like Asian food, Paris' China town (around the Porte d'Italie) has all you need to cook Chinese (or Thai or Vietnamese) at very cheap prices.

Anyhow, that's my take on things. Other folks will no doubt have more (and different information).
Cheers,
Bev

[nyiannakis]

Thanks Bev

I was advised that a couple would need a €5000 gross salary per month to live comfortably in Paris and enjoy what there is to offer.

would you say that is about right?

Nick

[Bevdeforges]

You certainly could live rather nicely on 5,000€ a month. But I know people who live there on considerably less - and manage to go to the opera now and then. Depends entirely on what you mean by "enjoy what there is to offer."

For every big name restaurant, there are hundreds of little hole-in-the-wall cafés that serve marvelous food and drink. All the big museums have free days (and admission prices aren't all that expensive to begin with). Your employer has to pay for half of your monthly transit pass - so if you can live without a car, you're WAY ahead of the game! (Some folks rent a car when they need to go out of town and spend much less than those poor sods who own a car in Paris.) Don't forget, too, that the French trains are dirt cheap, especially the TGVs. Frankly, if I lived in Paris, I'd skip the car altogether.
Cheers,
Bev