Is 6,000 RMB per month enough to live in Vietnam?

Wen Lingfin Dong Sang

A few years ago, we often saw some domestic tourists to Vietnam converting RMB into millions of Vietnamese dong to show off online. In fact, there was only one It’s only 2,000 yuan, but it’s rare and strange and seems like a frog in the well. The simplest way to convert RMB and Vietnamese dong is to divide Vietnamese dong by 10,000 and then multiply by 3 to get the amount of RMB. Most people who have never been to Vietnam may imagine that the cost of living in Vietnam is very low, and that Vietnamese people are very poor. In fact, I want to tell you that after nearly 10 years of rapid development, the cost of living in Vietnam’s two major cities, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, has increased. Close to and surpassing some second-tier cities in China, many people may doubt this conclusion. After all, in a country like Vietnam, most people’s income is less than half of that of Chinese people. How can they afford such high prices?

I have lived in Southeast Asia for so long, and I have seen too many poor and rich people, and I have also seen many rich people become poor. Don’t underestimate the ability of most ordinary people to endure pain and poverty in Southeast Asia. The poor have The way to live poor, the way to live rich, I only use my personal point of view to explain the cost of living at an upper-middle level in a big city in Vietnam. In fact, just like in China, although it is known as a well-off society for all, some people can control their daily food expenses within 15-25 yuan, and can survive on a few steamed buns and water through careful budgeting. The same is true in Southeast Asia, depending on how you want to live. What kind of living standard.

6,000 RMB per month is basically the most common personal monthly expenditure level for permanent foreigners I see in Southeast Asia (retired people from Europe, America, Japan, Korea, etc., or foreign entrepreneurs, etc.). The expenditure here includes all Expenses, such as visa fees, shopping, food, transportation, entertainment, etc., can be said to be the most representative expenditure standards in big cities in Southeast Asia. I am talking about big cities. Small cities or rural areas in Southeast Asia are relatively low. In China, a monthly income of 6,000 yuan can be said to be an upper-middle income based on the national average, because according to official statistics, those with a monthly income of more than 5,000 yuan are the top 20% of China's population. There are 600 million people with a monthly income of 1,000 yuan. There are still 200 million people working flexibly (earning their own livelihood), not to mention those who are unemployed and unemployed. A monthly income of more than 6,000 yuan is enough to exceed the average income level of 80% of the Chinese people. This income level is even higher in Vietnam. High income.

Take Ho Chi Minh City, which has the highest income level in Vietnam, as an example. Similar to the domestic first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the current minimum wage level in Ho Chi Minh is between 1,300 yuan and 1,500 yuan a month. What I am talking about here is a formal company position. , the large number of temporary workers and informal positions that cost around a few hundred to 1,000 yuan are not included. Ho Chi Minh City, a big city with a population of 13 million, has a huge gap between the rich and the poor. 90% of the citizens have a monthly income of less than 2,000 yuan. A very few people in the IT and financial services industries with higher education levels have incomes between 3,000 and 6,000 yuan. One month's level, but prices in Ho Chi Minh are not cheap. This is the same problem in many big cities in Southeast Asia.

Is 6,000 RMB enough to live in a big city in Vietnam? The conclusion is clearly not. How to live in Ho Chi Minh City, a Southeast Asian city with 6,000 yuan, depends on your living standard. Let me briefly explain, this only represents personal experience. The first is the rent. Taking the rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, the most developed city in Vietnam, as an example, The monthly rent of some apartments ranges from RMB 1,000 to RMB 8,000. A full rent of RMB 1,000 is basically the worst room. It has no fan or air conditioning and the smell is overwhelming. If you want to live in the city center, it is basically the most ordinary room. The rent for a one-bedroom apartment is 2,500 yuan per month. If you live about 30 minutes away from the city center by motorcycle, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around 1,800 yuan per month. Housing prices in Vietnam have soared in recent years, and a large number of people have poured into Ho Chi Minh City, resulting in higher and higher living costs. If you want to live in Vietnam's largest city to reach the same living standards as domestic first-tier cities, the cost pressure is no lower than in China.

In terms of food costs, most apartments in Southeast Asia do not provide natural gas stoves or gas stoves like those in China. Due to safety considerations, most rooms use induction cookers for cooking. If you live in Vietnam and cook for yourself, your monthly cost is about the same as in China, about 800-1,500 yuan. If you can find a cheap local vegetable market, the cost will be even lower. If you eat out, street food usually costs 8-15 yuan per meal. If you go to a clean restaurant with air conditioning, it will cost more than 25 yuan per meal. The best thing about Ho Chi Minh City is that you can eat relatively authentic Indian food for more than 60 yuan and decent Japanese food for about 100 yuan. This price should be much cheaper than the first-tier restaurants in China. Basically, if you eat out most of the time every month, the average monthly expenditure is about 1,500-2,500 yuan, depending on the price of the food you want. By the way, I don’t include the fruit snacks and friends you usually buy. Dinner expenses.

As for transportation costs, because Vietnam’s public transportation is very underdeveloped, buses are basically unreliable. If you rent a car, the motorcycle rental is about 300 yuan a month, and the gas fee is about 100 yuan a month.

If you have a formal job, the price of medical insurance included in your salary is not much different from that in China. If you have an ordinary job, the average medical insurance cost is about 100 yuan a month. The cost of travel varies greatly, depending on where you go and how you want to play. There is no average standard, but generally a trip of 1,000-2,000 yuan a year is at least a minimum. If you want to do something unhealthy, the cost will be even more. I'll find an opportunity to talk about the unhealthy part alone. In terms of visa, whether it is a common business visa or a tourist visa, it usually lasts for 1 month. If it expires, it can be renewed for up to 3 months. A single round-trip will be cheaper than multiple round-trips. If it is multiple round-trips, find an agent to apply for a 30-day visa. The one-time fee is about 400-500 RMB, and for three months it is 1,500 RMB (charges vary according to visa conditions, and it is more expensive if you want to do it on weekends). Daily entertainment in Ho Chi Minh City, drinking wine and coffee, starts from at least 300 yuan a month.

Calculated in this way, if you live in the central area of ??a big city in Vietnam, your monthly expenses will be at least around 6,000. A little extra expenditure will basically exceed 6,000. Of course, if you don’t mind living in the city center, the cost will be lower. Just like office workers in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, there are only a few people who live in the city center, and most of them are within a one-hour commute. Several of my friends who started their own business in Ho Chi Minh live about an hour away by motorcycle from the city center. Including rent, the monthly rent is about 4,000.

Of course, I am talking about the standards of foreigners. If you live according to the life of locals in Ho Chi Minh City, you can live well with 6,000 yuan, but many foreigners cannot adapt to the living standards of locals in Vietnam. Many "Hu Piao" in Vietnam can rent in groups in the suburbs, eat at the cheapest roadside stalls, and control their monthly living expenses within a few hundred yuan. This is the consumption level in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. You can live well on 6,000 yuan, but it may be difficult to pretend to be X. Of course, if you go to Da Nang or other small cities in Vietnam, the cost will be significantly less. Except for the two big cities in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, the other small cities in Vietnam are relatively low in consumption, but the standard of living will also be reduced accordingly. Other big cities in Southeast Asia, such as Bangkok in Thailand, Manila in the Philippines, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, are relatively close to each other. 6,000 yuan is basically the average baseline for foreigners living in these first-tier cities in Southeast Asia. Today, with the involution, I hope that more overseas content will be helpful to everyone going abroad.