If there is one questions that we have been asked regularly since we started Move To Prague in 2012, it is “What is a good salary to get in Prague?”. There is obviously no one-answer-fits-all since it depends on your living standards, your skills, age and way more but let’s look at some numbers and hopefully give you a pretty good idea at the end 🙂
Official average salary in Prague in Q4 2024
According to Czech Statistical Office, the average salary in Prague in Q4/2024 was 59 870 CZK a month. This number refers to gross salaries/wages which means for people who are employed. It might look a bit differently for freelancers.
The 59 870 CZK is an average of all professions in Prague including politicians, CEOs, software developers and other highly paid professionals. Based on further estimations of the Czech Statistical Office, two thirds of employees do not reach the average.
Also, 59 870 CZK gross translates to roughly 46 500 CZK net.
Let’s now see if that is enough to live comfortably in Prague.
Cost of living in Prague as a foreigner
Since “comfortable” might be significantly different for different people (i.e. a young student might be comfortable with living in a shared apartment with five other people to save cost, family with two children might not be comfortable with sharing a flat with other people), let’s just check the official expected cost of different items such as rent, food, transportation etc. so you can better determine what salary you should be looking for when moving to Prague based on the level of comfort you are seeking.
Cost of accommodation in Prague
Accommodation cost is the most significant cost for most people. Contrary to the “urban myth” of Czech landlords trying to rip-off foreigners, we do not really see that often in real life. Some foreigners might pay more than some Czechs but that is usually not because of the fact they are foreigners. It is usually because they do not know all the places to look for apartments, they do not have the network of co-workers and friends, also not all landlords are willing to accepts foreigners as their tenants due to language barrier and/or other reasons.
The longer you live in Prague, the better you know the city, people, places, the better deals you can get even as a foreigner.
As for some cost expectations, we list the average prices of accommodation of different sizes below. Obviously, the exact prices can vary based on the actual size of the place, it’s condition, location, market situation and other factors. We do not say these are fixes 100% accurate prices, more of an average of what you can reasonably expect. For the purposes of this article, we leave out accommodation provided by your employer (free or significantly cheaper than market prices) and dormitories of universities.
Room in a shared apartment
Monthly rent for a room in a shared apartment ranges from 10 to 16 000 CZK a month including all utilities on average.
Studio apartment
Most studios in Prague will be between 17 and 22 000 CZK including all utilities.
One bedroom apartment (called 2+kk in CZE)
This layout is one of the most popular layouts on the market so the differences in prices here can be significant. There are one bedroom apartments with 35 sqm as well as ones with 70 sqm, in super new buildings as well as the old “panelák” buildings so the difference in prices can be really big.
On average though, you should count with between 25 and 30 000 CZK a month including utilities.
Two bedroom apartment (called 2+1 or 3+kk in CZE)
Here the size (sqm), location and mainly the quality standard of the apartment play a very significant role. The price range can be from 35 000 CZK a month to as much as 70 000 CZK a month including all utilities.
Bigger apartments/houses
We can not really put a specific price on this category since it really depends on the location, quality of the apartment, furnishing etc. but apartments/houses in this category typically range from 45 000 CZK a month to over 100 000 CZK including all utilities.
Other costs related to renting an apartment in Prague
Even though this article is primarily focused on monthly costs, we decided to included some other costs related to renting an apartment in Prague here as well which might help especially new comers to budget better.
- Â moving in cost – when renting an apartment in Prague, you should ideally have at least 3-4 monthly rents ready – 1 for the first month’s rent, 1-2 for the security deposit and 1 for a commission of a real estate agent.
- renter’s insurance – this is becoming increasingly popular in CZE and many landlords even include a clause into their lease agreements saying you are obliged to get renter’s insurance to rent the apartment. Even though the price of the insurance depends very much on the size of the apartment and value of the apartment equipment, in most cases it will not be more than 1 – 3 000 CZK a year.
- internet – although some apartments come with an active internet contract, it is still a common practice that you have to get our own contract – the actual monthly cost will most likely range between 400 and 700 CZK a month depending on the company and speed you choose (potentially some add ons as specific TV programs). Some companies require a special security deposit from foreigners and/or buying a modem from them. These are usually in thousands of CZK (one time payment).
If you have any further questions and/or need any help finding accommodation, contact us, we’ll be happy to guide you through the process smoothly 🙂
Cost of food/groceries in Prague
After housing, the cost of food/groceries is generally the second biggest cost item in people’s budgets in Prague. Similarly with other costs, the cost of food in Prague will very much depends on the quality of food you are looking for (i.e. organic/non-organic, vegan/non-vegan, gluten-free). Below you’ll find different daily/monthly food budgets and what they can get you. Similarly to accommodation provided by some employers, we do not consider that some companies offer discounted or free food to their employees (in work “canteens”, meal vouchers etc.).
- 200 CZK a day, which means 6 000 CZK a month can work as budget for food if you are willing to eat home boiled pasta with ketchup, bread and butter or sausages every day, basically never eating out.
- 500 CZK a day, which means 15 000 CZK a month can work well for a combination of home cooked food and occasional eating out in a restaurant. Simpler dishes in restaurants with some drink will typically cost you between 200 and 300 CZK. More intriguing cuisine can go up to 500 CZK, higher-end restaurants way above that. So typically, this budget would work if you have something simple, home made for breakfast and dinner, and you get a “lunch menu” with your colleagues somewhere. (“Lunch menus” typically consist of a soup, one main dish and one drink from a “daily menu” of restaurants).Â
- 750 – 1 000 CZK a day, which means 22 500 – 30 000 CZK a month can get you into situation that you do not really need to think about buying food much. It certainly does not mean you can eat in high-end restaurants every day but you should be kind of comfortable (money-wise) with any eating choices you make on daily basis.
Other most common monthly costs
Accommodation and food related costs are typically the biggest costs in your monthly budget. There are some other regular payments you will be most likely making though that are worth mentioning.
- public transportation pass – in Prague, using public transport is generally the most efficient and budget friendly way of transportation, adults typically pay around 550 CZK for a monthly pass,
- phone, internet, tv – we touched this topic in the accommodation part of this article where we stated range of 400 – 700 CZK for the Internet, phone plans might typically be within the same range as well, phone operators usually offer discounted bundles though if you do more services with them. This means you would normally pay say 500 CZK for internet, 500 CZK for a monthly phone plan and 250 CZK extra for HBO TV. If you order everything at once, the price might go down to 700 CZK etc.
- kindergartens, schools – this would be a topic for a separate article so we’ll not go much into details here but certainly a solid cost that should be considered when moving with children,
- traveling, going out – there are generally a lot of free events you can attend in Prague, including museums, galleries or concerts organized by the city so you might potentially not spend much on this but to give you an idea, a single ticket to a cinema would be about 200 – 300 CZK, similarly for different museum or galleries. Discounts or free entries are often provided to different groups such as children below certain age, students, or elderly citizens.
Foreigners related costs in Prague
Like it or not, there simply are costs that you might need to pay which Czech don’t. We are listing some examples you should also keep in mind when budgeting below.
Health Insurance cost
As an employee, your health insurance cost is partially deducted from your salary (and partially paid for by your employer) so you do not have to worry about that much. If you are bringing your spouse and/or children, you often have to buy one or two years of private insurance that can mean a significant cost and it is certainly a good idea to budget for it.
If you are interested in knowing more about private health insurance prices, get in touch and we’ll be happy to calculate that for you – we work with all insurance companies on the market and regularly get better prices from them compared to what you can get on their website.
Visa/Residence Permit related fees
If you are a foreigner in the Czech Republic, you (in most cases) must deal with immigration on regular basis. Below are the main cost you should count with.
Immigration Support
Even though there are some visa/residence permit types you might be able to deal with on your own (or cost of which is covered by your employer), there are still situations where using services of a professional immigration agency such as Move To Prague is a must. Although the prices may very depending on the agenda, it is good to set some money aside to cover these kind of costs.
Admin fees for the MOI
Whether you use or not use help with your immigration matters, there are costs you can not avoid such as the admin fees for the MOI and/or other authorities (i.e. trade license office, tax office).
Other
For most immigration related matters, everything you submit must be either original documents or notarized copies and in Czech or officially translated into Czech. Cost of notarization and translation of documents should be considered in your budget as well.
Note: Best immigration agencies offer All Inclusive services with no extra costs where all translations, admin fees etc. are already included in the cost of the service so you know exactly what to budget for.
Summary – total cost of living in Prague
Creating a well representing cost structure and hence an ideal salary range is basically impossible since many factors come in play and it will always be slightly different for everyone. To make this article as helpful as possible though, we created a few salary based “personas” which will give you a basic idea of what to expect base on the salary you are getting.
30 000 CZK net (38 000 CZK gross) monthly
This salary will work well for a single person who lives in a shared apartment and does not make too sophisticated food choices. Depending on how much you cut in cost of living and food, you might potentially be able to save a little bit for all the immigration related costs.
This salary will work way better if you get your accommodation and food costs covered (or even partially covered) by your employer.
It will also work fine if you are a couple and both of you earn this much.
Also fine if you use the salary to cover all your expenses and then you get some side hassle for savings.
50 000 CZK net (65 000 CZK gross) monthly
This is, in our opinion, the salary which starts to allow you to live a comfortable life in Prague. This salary will work best if you still keep your costs down (i.e. you still stick to shared housing or to a studio).
If you are a couple and both get this salary, this will allow you to live comfortably and potentially even save a good amount of money.
100 000 CZK net (135 000 CZK gross) monthly
This kind of salary which you can typically find among Software Developers and similar professions, will allow you to make the Czech Republic a good place for building your future life if you want to. Of course, you can spend all this money on housing and food (Prague offers really luxurious apartments – i.e. studios for 30 000 CZK+, Michelin restaurants where you pay 5 000 CZK for a dinner etc.) so it is all up to you, your discipline and/or lifestyle.
If you keep your main costs (housing + food) down, this salary opens a lot of opportunities for you in Prague.
Hopefully this article has been helpful. If it was, please share it with others who might appreciate this information. If you have any questions, concerns or different opinions, please comment or get in touch and we’ll be happy to add more things to the article.
Yours,
Move To Prague relocation experts
