One of the questions worldschoolers often ask is “How much does it cost?”. We want to know the price of food, transportation, entertainment, and housing. Of course, prices can (and do) change, but we took a brief survey of housing costs worldschoolers. 

All of the answers we’ve included here are from June 2020.

Albania

€1,000/month for a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house in Tirana. Houses outside of the city are a lot cheaper. -Rina Verrone S.

Argentina

US$450/month for a 2 bedroom apartment in the Recoleta (a fancy neighborhood) in Buenos Aires. -Megan O.

US$250/month 3 bedroom house with a small pool and gorgeous mountain views, about a mile from downtown Capilla del Monte in Central Argentina. -Mary Stanfield H.

Bahrain

£1200/month for a 1 bedroom. -Eleanor M.

US$4800/month for a 5 bedroom house with a pool on the sea with electric, water, & internet included. -Teneal B.

US$2200/month for a big villa with 4 bedrooms each with an attached bathroom and closets. 3 big rooms for living/dining, a big garden and a garage for 2 cars. We share a pool, party room, gym, games room with 4 other families. -Fatima M.

Bangkok

£600/month for 4 bedrooms. -Eleanor M.

Barbados

US$450/month for 4 bedrooms and  3.5 bathrooms in Christ Church which equates to BDS$900/month. -Cherrelle C.

Columbia

$400/month for a 3 bedrooms and  2 bathrooms in Medellin. -Christy V.

US$800/month for a 2 bedroom in Laureles. (2-month rental) -Mark D

US$900/month 3 bedrooms in Poblado. (1 month. rental) -Mark D.

US$1300-$1700/month (depending on the exchange rate) in Medellin for a  5 bedroom 5 bathroom house in a gated community. It’s definitely possible to live here more cheaply, but we live here long-term so it’s a comfortable place for our family of 6. -Sara B.

Costa Rica

US$800/month for a very large 4-5 bedroom 2 bathroom house no pool, nice big yard with fruit trees, fire pit, and two greenhouses. We are in the South Pacific Zone about 30 min up the mountain from the beach town Dominical. If you fly into SJO it is about a 3.5-hour drive here or 4.5 via shuttle or 6 via bus. There is a good expat community.  -Cee L.

Cyprus

€500/month for an old house but spacious 2 bedroom house with a garden around in Nicosia. -Nikoleta P.

Denmark

€800/month for a 120m² house in south Denmark with a garden including electric and water -Cindy U.

Egypt

£500/month for a  2 bedroom in coastal Egypt. -Eleanor M.

US$1200/month in Cairo for a three-bedroom apartment with a shared garden and pool. Rents have been going up like crazy in the last few years. Maadi and New Cairo are super expensive. -Caroline Heider M.

France

€700/month in rural France for 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a pool. -Clair P.

Georgia

US$230/month plus US$50 for utilities in Tbilisi for an apartment in a tourist location with a kitchen downstairs and a bedroom above it (just these two rooms) but there is a cute quite garden with grapes and apricot trees. -Natalia G.

US$200/month plus US$100 for utilities in a non-touristy area of Tbilisi for a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a dining room two metro stops away from our first location. There are no parks and nothing interesting here but there is a local market with seasonal fruits and berries with good prices. -Natalia G.

Germany

€2,000/month plus utilities for a large single family home with 4 bedrooms and  2 bathrooms. -Bonnie S.

Greece 

US$1,700/month for 2 unfurnished houses with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a shared pool in Crete. -Teneal B.

€300/month for 1 year rental of a 2 bedroom village house in Páros. The short term rent for the same property would be €50-80 per night depending on the season. -Marina H.

€500/month (utilities included) for a furnished 1 bedroom with a sea view and terrace in Almyrida, Crete. -Eleanor M.

Guatemala

US$400/month (utilities included) for a 2 bedroom apartment near Lake Atitlan in Pana. There were standalone houses for similar prices but we liked the location of ours near the lake. We chose Pana because of grocery availability lol! -Bonnie S.

Hungary

US$1040/month (all utilities included) for a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom 2-story flat in central Budapest, -Robin A.

Indonesia

US$140/month (paid yearly) for a 3 bedroom home in Sungaipenuh. -Luke M.

US$900/month for a beachfront place which includes breakfast, wifi, and cleaning. 1 larger bedroom and 2 twin beds in our upstairs loft bedroom in Amed, Bali. -Lotus H.

US$950/month for a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom with pool, weekly housekeeping, wifi, and electricity included in Bali. -Dona J.

Ireland

€800/month mortgage on a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Cork. -Jeanne E.

Italy

€1,300/month (utilities included) for a big 3 bedroom apartment near the historical center (10 min walk) in Veron. -Jelena T.

 €800/month for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom place in Venice. -Jo W.

Malaysia

US$550/month (6-month lease) for a fully furnished (including sheets and towels) 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in Johor Bahru at Iskandar Residences with views of Singapore and Legoland. The only things we bought were a blender and a water filter, US$20 each at Tesco. Monthly utilities: US$30 for 100 Mbps wifi, US$20 for electric (very light AC use because there is a nice breeze and we keep the windows open most of the time), and US$5 for water. Amenities include 3 infinity pools including one on 40th floor, playgrounds, game room with ping pong table, squash courts. By the way, Tesco delivers groceries to our doorstep once per week, we have been doing it in Malaysia, Thailand, etc. -Mark D.

US$450/month (including utilities and wifi) for a 2 bedroom apartment with a balcony overlooking Legoland in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (next to Singapore). Our building has a grocery store on-site, a couple of pools, a playground, a reading room, a fitness center, and a sauna. -Brodi Cole

Mexico

US$520/month (including all house bills, high-speed internet etc.) for a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse in a gated community on the outskirts of Puebla. US$360/month for a live-in bilingual nanny who cooks wonderful meals, does the dishes, and speaks Spanish with my 11-year-old twins, helps them, if needed, with their self-directed online school work, and keeps the house fairly tidy. US$32 extra per month for the bi-weekly cleaning lady. Let’s not forget the kilo of perfect tacos al pastor with all the fixings delivered by Uber eats for US$16 once a week. -Liz Q.

US$600/month for a 3 bedroom house in la Paz. -Michele M.

US$550/month (including wifi and water) for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in a gated community with 4 pools in Playa del Carmen. -Sean Brittany P.

US$650 (including wifi and water) for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with a rooftop pool, and amazing views in Playa del Carmen. -Sean Brittany P.

US$550 plus utilities for 3 bedrooms, an office, a playroom, and a gated yard in Ensenada, Baja California. -Anna S.

US$240 (includes utilities except for electric) for a  2 bedroom, 1 bathroom in Veracruz. -Roxana B.

Morocco

£170/week (all utilities included) for 2 bedroom apartment in the beach town Merleft, about an hour south of Agadir. Airbnb can be expensive here. I tried to book 1 week then search for local rentals. DRM2000 to 2500/month is fairly standard outside the very popular destinations. -Aileen W.

New Zealand

US$275/week for 1/2 bedroom and US$500-600/week for a 3 bedroom house in Auckland.
Cheaper in Wellington more expensive in Queenstown. Trademe.co.nz. is the main rental website.  -Janine L.

US$450(NZ$700)/week (Utilities included) for a furnished 3 bedroom townhome in Christchurch. -Aleksandra Markanovic R.

NZ$750/week plus utilities for 3 bedroom townhouse in Queenstown. -Aleksandra Markanovic R.

NZ$490/week for a 2 bedroom with a single/couch in the living room in Wellington -Manon B.

Nicaragua

US$500/month for a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom with a huge yard on a double lot. -Kathleen R.

Oman

US$630/month for a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom villa with front and back garden in Sohar. -Marista G.

Peru

US$440/month for a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment in Lima in the far, far south of the city at the beach, where rent is lower & we have a brand new flat! In the center of the best districts, you can pay easily 3 times that for the same space. In less great districts, it’s cheaper. The city is very defined by districts! -Joyce D.

Phillippines

US$700month for a new 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom house on a large gated lot in Palawan which is definitely on the pricey side here. A full-time housekeeper is US$150/month 6 days a week. -Bee K.

Portugal

£500/month (utilities included) for a two month rental in the Algarve. -Sarah B.

Russia

US$250-300month for a nice 1 bedroom apartment in Velikiy Novgorod about 1.5 hours from Saint Petersburg. -Hanna D.

Serbia

€500/month (utilities included) for a 1 bedroom apartment in downtown Belgrade. -Nina K.

US$500/month (utilities included) for a 2 room apartment in the center of Belgrade plus US$350/month for a nanny and kindergarten almost for free. -Jelena L.

Singapore

SG$4,900/month for a 5 bedroom no central north Singapore. -Bridget C.

South Africa

US$1100/month (utilities included) for a  3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom place with a pool, yard, big kitchen, washer, dryer, and dishwasher just north of Durban (Umhlanga). We negotiated this rate after a month paying more. We’re month to month since we don’t know when we will be able or choose to leave. -Elizabeth Etzell M.

Spain

£700/month for a 2 bedroom in Marbella. -Eleanor M.

€420/month for a 2 bedroom (3 rooms total) in Andalucía. My electricity is €130/2 months. One issue I have had is that the landlord didn’t tell me I am also paying for the community stairway light, so I changed it to be off all the time. -Tania P.

Sweden

US$450/month (most utilities included) for an apartment in a small town. I liked it so much, I bought a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom l house on 3/4 acre that I can rent out for around US$700/month plus utilities. I have a well (in addition to piped-in water), a woodshed, a root cellar, and a “bonus house” with a guest bedroom, office, play loft, and main open space. Houses around here sell for US$70,000 to US$125,000. You can find them for under US$50,000, but then they need a fair bit of work or they are even out of town which sometimes comes with several acres and can cost over $US200,000.  Apartments generally cost anywhere from  US$25,000 to US$35,000 for a 2 bedroom. -Anna Sarito I. 

Switzerland

CHf1,665/month for a 3 bedroom apartment with a garden. -Erin B.

Thailand

US$1450 (THB45,000)/month for a 3 bedroom apartment 180m² in a condo building with pool, not new but OK, located in Bangkok’s city center with adjacent maid’s room. -Lia Segall P.

United Arab Emirates

US$400/month for 2 a bedroom apartment in Dubai.  -Maryna B.

United Kingdom

£1800/month (including utilities and internet) for a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom with a very large  garden that is a 30-minute train ride from Brighton, and a 45-minute train ride to London. -Sarah B.

£1200/month (utilities included) for a long-term rental of a 3 bedroom flat with a large garden in a small village near Malmesbury, Wiltshire. (1hr fast train to London) -Tina S.

£550/month is average for a 3 bedroom by the mountains and sea in Snowdonia, Wales. -Hannah J.

£575/month (plus council tax and utilities) for a 3 bedroom flat on the northeast coast of Scotland right next to the beach. -Jana S.

United States

US$2,500 a month for an old small house in Ventura, California. -Nicolette Nefdt G.

US$3000 for a large four-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Jenya B.

US$2100/month (internet/water/trash/electric included) for an unfurnished 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house on 2 acres in Palo Cedro, Northern California.. -Jessica F.

US$600/month for a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a big backyard in the tri-cities area, East Tennessee. There are a lot of mountains around for hiking, fishing, lakes. -Fernanda D.

US$1,300/month for a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom 2-story condo with nice small fenced back yard in a gated community with amenities including a pool, splash park, and volleyball in Fleming Island Florida. The utilities are about US$300/month for water, electricity, and internet. There is a 1-year lease. This area has a lot of activities and parks around and many homeschooling activities & meet-ups. -Gily C.

Vietnam

US$250month for a small two-bedroom house in central Vietnam -Shannon Faith B.