Cost of Living in Lodz

Hi!

I got a job offer in £ódź and I'm trying to figure out how to negotiate my salary based on what I'd need to live in the region. I have friends in Poland, but they live in Wrocław and Krakow and work in completely different fields, so I thought I should get more specific details.

I've never even owned a credit card because I was raised to be averse to debt so I'm not a big spender and I won't have to pay rent. I'll share a two-bedroom apartment and all the expenses and I will not need a car. I cook my own food even to bring to work with me because I have to stick to a hypoglycemic diet. I don't drink, don't smoke and don't go out much. My only vice is travel and the only major expense I expect is weekend trips to see my friends and a bit of exploring the parts of Poland I haven't seen before, but since I'm generally staying at friends, those don't cost that much either.

I'm not on any medication, but I have to stick to veggies and lean meat so on a slightly off topic note, are there a lot of farmers' markets where I could get fresh vegetables to avoid Tesco tomatoes and the like? I'm only asking because where I live it's not a general rule that every town will have a good offer, depends on the region.

How much (per month) would I need to live in £ódź then?

Thanks!

30zł per day for food should be enough.

Just as a matter of interest....if you are not Karen..who are you...?

It' a reference to one of my favorite songs. "Karen" - The National.

Thank you, Peter.

I don't need much, but I'm prone to random outbursts of travel and I just want to have some sort of general idea. I was wondering if the proximity to Warsaw and the recent uptick in foreign investment has made £ódź a more expensive city. How much is average rent per month? (I won't need to pay it if I take the job, but it's usually a good general indicator.)

Hello, I am Laura and I applied for a job in Poland in Lodz and I would like to know about salaries in Poland and the cost of living.Could someone help me and tell me some details about the average salary and the higher one?

Thank you!

if you don't go out much and have no vice's Lodz is very cheap. You will get a small apartment for 1500pln including charges no problem. Fresh food is readily available from local markets. It is cheap and seasonal. Often you have farmers selling their produce directly at the height of season. Strawberries generally are between 5-15pln per kg depending on availability. Tomatoes are 5-10pln per kg, potatoes similar. Prices are will below western europe and are a better quality for fresh food as it is produced locally. salaries vary from 400pln in retail services per week, to about 1000 for a good office job in a foreign company. Remember taxes are high versus western countries but you get health and social coverage for that.

I see, so if I would have a 3000 PLN salary should be enough for an average life?, but what about people and city? how is it life there?Also, if i dont know polish at all would I manage to go out or to make friends?

Thanks!

Getting lean meat will be a problem. I don't think it exists here. You'll have to buy whatever you can get and trim it. Of course chicken is available and quite cheap too. A fillet is about 5zl in lodz. The markets are excellent for fruit and veg, price wise and taste wise.

PKP.pl will get you your train timetables & costs to go see your friends.

You would live on 3000pln if you use public transport and don't have a hectic social life. Social wise many locals have excellent english. Meeting people here and certain pubs/social outlets mean you could meet plenty of anglophiles quickly. Many foreign companies have a large foreign english speaking workforce. Dell, Phillips, Gilette, P&G, Infosys, SWS, Flextronics, Sercom all have a good portion of foreign staff.

So...are you saying that 3000 PLN isnt enough? Could you please tell me how much would be ok so that I could afford to go out almost every day and weekends and for normal food?

Thank you again for all the infromations.

Just renting a flat will cost you around 1000-2000 PLN.

Food is another 1000 PLN if you don't mind eating spaggetti everyday with ketchup ;)

Water/phone/electricity/Internet is for sure another 1000 PLN.

And having fun drinking etc.. each weekend will probably cost you 500 PLN ( monthly )

Man you simply have to live like a true Pole. Don't ask me how they manage it, since i got no clue ;)

You can easily live on 3000 a month - I know couples who are bringing a child up on that combined income. Your big expenditures will be from accommodation and maybe bills (although that depends on your landlord).

Water/phone/electricity/Internet is for sure another 1000 PLN.

A month? No way

rent for own place starts at 1000pln
bills 300-500 depending on season and building
drink, whatever you fancy (beer 5-9pln per pint in pub, 2.50 in supermarket)
food: fresh food is cheap and excellent. you can get good cheap chicken and pork here. beef is poor. meals out start at 15pln for a main course, average about 22pln.

3000 you just survive

Merged: Working and living in Lodz

Hi,

I know everybody's asking about the money... so I'll be next one ;).

About the work: working for mbank, do transaction over phone, solving problems with customers etc.
Money: they offered me about 2500zl after taxes a month + pay my rent (the place in center of Lodz and the flat won't be far than 5km, I would be sharing 2+1/3+1 flat with 1/2guys, flat should have some basics like washmachine, microwave, shower,internet connection etc., everyone will have its own room, sharing bathroom, toilet, kitchen and living room)

Question: is this going to be ok to live with? (I'm not asking you about if I could buy a car, get drunk every day and buy new shoes every month. I just want to eat with "no limits", once a week visit some pub, from time to time buy something nice for me /tshirt.../ simply nothing extraordinary, i just don't want to shake week before my paycheck like: I'm hungry, no money left etc...)

"Fun facts": I'm young (24); in spite of fact our average salary is bigger than yours, your cost of living is less than ours (from Czech), this is better offer than I've ever get here; I was working in Czech even for less than 2500zl

So that's probably all :) I hope there will be somobody who can answer this questions and give me more info about prices ;)

Have nic day everyone :-P

if you rent is paid, 2500 zl to cover local transportation, food + drinks would be enough in Lodz for a 24 years old without any family or big expenses.

Why would you want to buy Tshirts from Poland? they are all imported and expensive , just get them from Vienna it would be cheaper.

Thank you for answer :) Yes, my rent will be pay by the bank and i don't have family and not expecting big expenses. I just want to work, gain some experience, live normally.... T shirt was just example, I meant it like if it's not only for food+drink and transport and 2500zl is gone... ;) Anyway, whats expensive? Can you give me some example? If possible some well known brand so i can "measure" it... I remember times going to poland to buy something cause here it seems more expensive from my point of view :)

Merged: Student cost of living in Lodz

Hi! I would like to know what would be the cost of living in £ódź for a student at the Academy of Music. The only thing I know is that I would have to pay, at most, 6600 euro for my studies. I would like to know about food, transport (obviously public, and if it is possible to move around the city in bike or walking) and a place to live.

Also I would like to know if £ódź is safe (I understand Poland is a relatively safe country, although I know one has to be careful anyway) and if I can get around for a while speaking only English (I will try to learn a bit of Polish anyway before I go).

Thank you very much!!!!

Merged: Living costs in Poland (Lodz) - 2,800 PLN gross?

Hi,

I have an offer of a company to work in Lodz for 2.800 PLN Gross per month. Moreover, I would get a flat paying 300 PLN NET/month. My question is, is it an average salary for the area? Can I live well in Poland with that conditions?

I have no idea of salary conditions and life in Lodz, so I will be very grateful if you can help me.

It's certainly below the national average (3510 pln gross) and really not that much for a city. After paying for somewhere to live, even with subsidised rent like you've been offered, you'll have to be very, very frugal indeed, especially after tax and social insurance are deducted.

The money is ok-ish for an entry level job for someone quite young. What sort of job is it?

Thank you for your response. It's in a multinational, as help desk with French.

A lot of people do live on that much, however in a city you'll have to be quite careful in order toget by.

Lodz is the cheapest, top 3 biggest city in Poland. Although salaries are out of top 3 and looks quite unpleasant.

hei sis , do you need more help?

Hi Everybody!

I got an offer to consider. I would like to ask here about the standards of Lodz. I would be happy, if anyone tells me about expenses in this city?

The salary is 3800 PLN/ Gross. Is it good to start with this salary? It would be enough for Lodz? I am waiting for replies, Thank you in advance.

Greetings

For a single non-smoking, non-drinking young male who is willing to slum it and do without any frills, it's adequate to survive. Forget about any small luxuries, forget about travelling, and really forget about saving any money up. Eating in a mid-range restaurant is going to be a special event. You'll be living like a monk. The cost of living is a little lower than in other larger cities in Poland, while the wages are a lot lower than in Warsaw, Cracow or Wrocław.

£ódź ain't a pretty city by any stretch of the imagination, but it has a sort of sad, dirty charm, if you're the type of guy that likes to pet dying puppies. It's population is skewed toward older and poorer people because the young and talented have left in droves because of lack of opportunity.

You could stretch your money a bit by living in one of the nearby small towns and commuting to £ódź.

All in all, not a particlular attractive job offer. Depends how desperate you are.

How true, Dominic. I really don't understand all that youth from some western countries wanting to come to Poland for less than 1,000 euros a month. I suppose that a lot must be desperate to come to unknown country, for peanuts. Poles do get by on sometimes very little because they have family, they share accommodation with parents and sometimes grandparents or they rent in a public housing wheras the outsider shall be on their own (very difficult in a country based upon the family) and pay everything. Unless with a good expat contrat or a love relationship with a Pole, what's so good about coming to Poland for what is even lower than minimum wage in Western Europe? This beats me;

Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS) provided in 2009 that 65,35% of Polish wages are below Polish avarage wage and this is a fact.

The most common wage was 2.091,35 (about 700USD)

Only 10% earned more than 5.376,34 PLN (1792 USD)

All data quoted are gross monthly wages
I'm sure its much the same now, maybe even less

@Warszawette good points. Poland is an economic sh1thole

Depends how old you are. If you're a young, single person - then it's fine. £ódź is cheap by Polish standards, and it's more than enough to live a normal life. Unlike most posters on these forums, young people do tend to live with others.


It also has a thiriving artistic culture due to the presence of the film school and so on. I know quite a few people living there who enjoy it - low rents, artistic scene and without the general "oh, daddy bought me this flat in the centre of Wroclaw but I'M SO POOR' types to be found elsewhere.


Given that you're a made woman who got her money by marrying into the right circle rather than earning it for yourself, perhaps you should be less judgemental?

It is certainly far preferably to come to Poland for that money than to stay unemployed in Spain/Portugal/Greece/etc. Even your own country has problems with youth employment - are you suggesting that being unemployed in Le-Toilette-Sur-Bains is better than living in Poland?

Hi SC,

Unlike others here I live in Lodz, and choose to do so. It's no Florence, but I think it has it's advantages, and some flaws of course. There are 700,000 people living here, it is a large University city. There are now plenty of foreigners living, working, studying here. There are innumerable options for socialising and all at a fraction the cost of larger cities. There are plenty of young people to socialise with, and most speak English.

A basic, central one-room apartment will start at roughly 1,200pln per month including service charges, excluding utilities. Sharing would be cheaper of course.

Lunch out costs 15pln+, a beer 6-9pln. You can spend more easily if you like and the likes of Manufaktura charges a premium. The restaurant's here are excellent and varied.

3,800pln in Lodz is a perfectly respectable salary (guessing approx 3,000pln p/m nett), I know many living on less.

As said by others here versus a western salary it's not brilliant. But then I know Spaniards working in Ireland for 50e a week, learning English as there is no work at home.