I’m sorry if this question gets asked often, or if I missed a resource where I could already find this.
My wife and I are planning a permanent move with our son (and dog) from Florida to France in the next year, possibly 2. Nice is one of the locations we’re considering, for a lot of obvious reasons, but I do underStand it’s probably the second most expensive city after Paris.
I’m trying to build a reasonable budget for our planning purposes, to know if we’re financially ready to make the move next year or need to work and save for one more year. I’m excluding moving expenses from this calculation and am really looking for what to reasonably expect after we’ve moved and settled for longterm planning on retirement withdrawals.
Below is what I’ve put together. I’m hoping some folks living there can tell me how realistic (or unrealistic) this projected budget would be for a family of 3 with a dog to live an upper-middle class lifestyle:
Housing - 2200€ for 3BR
Utilities (Electric/Gas/Phones/Internet) - 450€
Insurance (Renter’s/ Mutuelle) - 250€
Entertainment - 200€
Personal Care (haircuts, gym, etc) - 335€
Groceries - 900€
Dining Out - 500€
Transportation (no car) - 150€
Home Maintenance - 100€
Pet - 65€
Other (Clothing, Gifts, Travel) - 1000€
Yeah, I get that it’s a very subjective question, especially on items like clothing and personal stuff. That second guide is very informative. Thanks so much for your response!
I would say your figure for insurance was low. You can get an idea of mutuelle cost using Fab’s calculator at the top of the site. Rental prices can be seen on sites like LeBonCoin.
As you mentioned you have a dog, are you looking to rent a villa with a garden rather than an appartment? That will change the price of your rent quite considerably, if so.
Is it important that you live in Nice itself, or would some of the surrounding towns suffice? There may be larger and cheaper, but still very nice, properties if you’re prepared to live outside the city centre itself. My boss used to live in Cagnes-sur-Mer, which is within spitting distance of Nice, but not quite so eye-wateringly expensive.
However it’s been 20-odd years since I lived on the Cote d’Azur so I’m probably horribly out of touch with the cost of living there these days.
Garden or terrace would be a highlight but not a necessity.
I don’t know that we’re tied to living in the central city. We just want to make sure we have access to easy public transportation (to eliminate personal automobile) and to English speaking community to make sure we avoid isolation.
Surely “access to” is not the same as “tying yourself”?
When we arrived 18 years ago our house came with a gardener and cleaner (Brits) who had worked for the previous owners - their role in our lives during those early days was invaluable - helping us sort out contracts for electricity / water / telephone. Later on we joined a “newcomers” club which included French, Brits, Dutch, Germans and through them we learnt about doctors, good car service, restaurants, how to navigate CPAM. No doubt we would have got there in the end but these encounters greatly smoothed our first months. Of all of these people, only a couple have become longterm friends.
Yes, the Cote d’Azur has lots of English-speakers who are not necessarily Brits. There used to be a massive number of us English-speakers who worked at Sophia Antipolis back when I lived there… that multiculturalism was something I really enjoyed.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m already doing what I reasonably can for my son and me to learn French (wife already speaks at A2-B1 level) before our move to help actually assimilate.
I’ve just read and watched a lot of testimonials from US expats that moved to areas without an expat community and felt isolated because of it, so it’s a big consideration as we plan our move.
That’s certainly a critical factor for which we’re planning, but I also wanted to separately understand costs of living between locales. Are there additional tax considerations for Nice residents?
I think that’s very sensible, for the adults but also for your children. You’ll probably find your children learn the language quicker than you, but they’ll still need time to adjust.
