Cost of living in Leipzig

A possible, still only possible job in Leipzig and I'm trying to crunch the numbers between my current life in the Southwestern US and Leipzig. I see conflicting information on expenses, and my beyond feeble German is making it hard to get good prices on things like apartments, utility costs, etc. Anybody got a good rundown of what I can expect to pay, especially if I can get in a neighborhood close to the International School?

Much thanks.

scot

Just to forewarn you you may get a lot of slack on here. It is very hard to gage another persons living expenses, there are so many variables, location standard of living, and personal habits.

If you search you will see other people who asked similar questions and you can kind of get a guess. But really no one can say.

For example in a small city called Ilfeld we paid 217 warm rent for a 1 room apartment, no we live in Bad Wimpfen where apartments can cost over 450 for a 1 room same size same standard.

SerenaJean: Understood. At this point I'm madly taking all the info I can get while trying to keep all the parameters (slack included) in mind while I go. Thanks for the info, and thanks to anyone else out there willing to share a tidbit or two.

We pay about 400 euro warmmiete for an admittedly pokey 2 bed flat (3 zimmer wohnung) v.cheap for a nice area. It's generally cheap in Leipzig.

I share a flat, I pay 260 warm a month. 'Warm' here means it includes bills (except water and heating, which you get hit with once a year) and 'cold' means it doesn't include extra costs.

You might find it difficult to find a furnished place - or one with a kitchen...!

Tessa

we pay 300 a month with gas, electricity, t.v and water included. A 2 room flat with added kitchen and bathroom in the centre north.

go to immobilien24.de to get different prices for different parts of the city, size of apartment etc.

There are some nice (i.e. pricey) areas around the International school but there are also some not too dear.

Hi everyone

I'm in the process of moving to Leipzig with my job and confess to having not much of a clue!

My German is very poor and I'm having a bit of trouble undersatnding the property websites. Are there any English language property search websites?

I hear that Leipzig has some great prices for appartments - what can I expect to pay for a pleasant flat with a kitchen and a guest room?

Thanks for your help!

Hi nightguy

So a flat with a bedroom, living room and guest room would be a 3-raum Wohnung. In Germany, the majority of flats do not have built-in kitchens, you would need to buy and fit one. If you don't want to do that (Lord knows I didn't) you would need to search for a 3 Raum Wohnung with EBK (Einbaukueche). They tend to cost a little more per month. I would say you should be able to get this kind of flat (with nebenkosten which is heating and water rates) for between 350-450 euros depending on the condition of the flat and the area of the city. It's pretty cheap.

hello i am interested in this topic, as i have been offered a 1 year posting with a non profit
my netto will be 1500 euros with 200 euro housing allowance on top of that...will i have a life in leipzig ...that means travel a bit....not alot oof travel as i lived in frankfurt germany during 87-93 so i saw a lot then,,,also with the travel can i save as i will need to send money back to australia to finance a housing build..about 500 euros a month...so what type of housing can i get for 200 euros and what kind of life can i expect with 1000 euro netto...i will be coming with just suitcases so i do not see myself coming with furnishings in a container ...is it possible to get an apartment with furniture and a kitchen as i remember the horrors of ebk....also are the landlords pretty good about renting to single women, as in frankfurt during the time i was there it was very very hard....to even get an apartment....also how are the people of leipzig.....the frankfurters took a very long time to get to know....almost a year went by before i was allowed to use the familiar forms with colleagues....is the accent hard to master...lots of questions i know but the offer will come in a weeks time and i need to start getting the cost of living facts...also is there a problem with the neo nazis in leipzig....and how are the winters.....cheers from down under...oh can i see the afl footy games in leipzig

200 EUR will get you a shared flat with several roommates, who would in all likelihood be university students. That's a bit low for accommodation funds, you need to calculate spending money on top of that if you want to live on your own at all. Let alone in furnished accommodation with an Einbauküche. Check out immobilienscout24.de if your German is good enough. I just browsed around and found some offers in Connewitz for 280 a month. It's a bit out of the way and insanely tiny, but it seems do-able.

I hope this link works

If you need to send 500 EUR a month back, you will have 700 EUR including your housing allowance. That's... a very tight budget. Are you sure you need to send all that money back? Because your pay just isn't high enough to lose such a large chunk of it. That's going to be a problem. You should VERY seriously think about this before you commit to this job! Remember that you have to pay for things such as insurance, transportation, communication, food, toiletries, and any entertainment. You will be living on a poor student's budget, so no big expenses like travelling around the country.

On the upside, if you're ready to face any weather, you can get almost anywhere in this city by bike, especially in the summer months. Depends a bit on how presentable you have to look at your place of employment, though. If you shop frugally at places like Aldi or the local farmer's market, you can eat healthily on a budget. But remember you have to eat lunch at your work, too. Finding friends.. really depends on your age, hobbies, etc. If your work colleagues are of the stiff sort, prepare to make some effort to find friends at first. Germans are a bit more reserved than some other nations and don't necessarily invite strangers into their circle right away. Don't take this as rejection but see it as a challenge. Don't wait to be invited, but invite people yourself, basically.

Landlords won't mind renting to single women.

Accents... that will undeniably be hard. Even Germans from outside Saxony can struggle with this. Luckily, it's mostly older people who speak with a really strong accent, and most others are able to switch to a more intelligible form of Hochdeutsch.

There are some neonazi problems in Leipzig, but it's nothing out of control at all. Avoid moving to Lindenau or Reudnitz, stick to Südvorstadt, maybe Schleußig or anywhere near the city center, those are all very safe areas.

Can't help you with the footy, sorry.

Thanks for all the information.....it was very helpful....i have to get a map of the city to check out the different stadt teile....cheers...melbourne des

@rimini, he will have 1200 not 700 incl. housing after sending back 500.

@melbournedes, if you mean American football, you can espn on one of the cable packages but it's presumably part of a bundle which could make it pricey. You would also have to stay up til 4am to watch games live.

If you mean Australian football, I don't think so.

it was afl aussie footy....and is 1000 euros and then 200 for housing livable..would i have to take out of my 1000 euros to support an apartment without student roomates.... ..looking for the 1 year experience ...to refresh german language...and bits and pieces of travel...prague,,,budapest....poland...dresden...berlin...is in my head...will be working in childcare industry...does any one have ideas on long day care childcare industry what it is like in leipzig..i would be hired as bi lingual kinder teacher....cheers thanks for all the info i can gather in one weeks time...

Hello there. It would really depend on your circumstances to be honest. IE single or married? Children or none. Public transport in leipzig is brilliant and so living near a place of work isn't a huge issue, especially as it's pretty flat and if you have a Bike that seems to be the best way to get around. I know some single people working here who manage very well on their wage. My advice would be get a place to live that you will be comfortable in, not be restricted by area. Housing can very very cheap here and you can rent somewhere WARM which means you pay toward heating, water, and other bills in the cost of your rent. A really good site I found was how to in germany. they have info on what costs what. Not sure if this is any help whatsoever???