Hi all

Wish you all a happy Easter

We are a family of four that think of moving to Riyadh, not an easy nor straightforward choice, we are making some calculations, it seems that a big share of the income will be spent in rent and schools.
The job based in the north of Riyadh almost in middle of nowhere (16 km from Riyadh airport)
Cost of living here in the UK increased significantly; energy, food, furniture, housing and clothing prices are all outpacing wages, and inflation hits 7%. We heard the same thing is happening in KSA especially after Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war

We are very simple people, not looking for luxury things, the only "luxury" thing might be the swimming pool and gym, I, my wife and kids love to go to the gym/ tennis and especially the tennis/ swimming pool on regular basis, beside that, decent house and food would do, we need to safe as much money as we can for the girls university fees


Would be grateful if you would kindly share some prices of the cost of living in Riyadh and any advice would be highly appreciated

We got some the basic prices from our friend Google ( numbeo.com) which we think are important for us, do you roughly agree with this average prices?

Thank you

Hi, welcome to BE.

I've no idea about Numbeo for Riyadh, but it's notoriously inaccurate usually, so I wouldn't rely on it.

The best thing to do would be to share the salary on offer with the forum, as well as any extras i.e. school fees, and then those in the know will be able to tell you if it's good enough for a family of 4 and will be worth moving for.

Best of luck.

Hi christmasoompa
Thank you for your reply
Numbeo.com has quite accurate information about the cost of living in the UK, so I presume that they might be right about KSA
Well, there isn't any school allowance, small amount for housing, the whole package is about 50.000 Saudi riyal per month
Again, not looking for luxury lifestyle, decent house and food and of course the schools

Thank you

50k in KSA is OK for a family of four but not amazing. Would your wife work?
50k might be the best you can get, might be massively under what you could get, depends on your experience I suppose.

Hi Scamp

Thank you for your reply, wasn't expecting OK, seems bad . No, my wife is not planning to work, she is quite involved with our daughters
Anyway, what I have noticed is that wages in general in the KSA have reduced significantly over the last years, I am a consultant doctor with 6 years of experience,I guess you are right 6 years is not that much so 50k as you have said "might be the best I can get"
Any other opinion or insight about the cost of living in 2023 would be highly appreciated
Thank you

HOw old are your kids?
I just found out the British school in Riyadh are north of 100k for an 8yr old at the moment.
Compound living is not cheap either. By the time you've got nice place to live and two school fees, two cars and some money for food / bills / whores, you'll have not a lot left to save / have fun.

Live off compound and go to a different school system and you'll be better off.
People make this package work for Riyadh but just don't expect to be rolling in dollar bills.

Thanks again for your time
"People make this package work for Riyadh but just don't expect to be rolling in dollar bills" you are absolutely right
12, 10, 6, I know schools are crazy expensive, off compound is actually great idea, we saw quite few new residential developments (online) near the hospital (north of Riyadh), I think if we manage to find a nice gym and tennis court nearby we will be fine
" another schools system", I am quite ignorant on this, any advise?
Am I right to say that overall it seems it will not be a big saving ?
Thank you

If you take 50k
Schooling - let's say 100k average each, that's 25,000 a month
15,000 on housing
leaves 10k for cars, clothes, food, flights, fun etc etc.

It doesn't look like it works if that school cost is correct. If you go alone, you'll save a fortune.

I received an offer this week to work at PIF in Riyadh, and the salary+housing allowance will average at SAR 37,800/month.
Im single and my focus is to save as much as possible while living on a decent place.

How am I looking with those numbers?

When I lived in Riyadh I knew a lot of families who sent their kids to the Multinational School Riyadh. Still follows British curriculum I think because they do IGCSEs, and the costs were around half the British School.

So it could be 50k a year per kid, not 100k.

You're looking great.

Minus 10k for compound apartment say.
2k for car costs4k for food, going out etc2k for other stuff that comes up

You're still left with 20k a month.

Even if that's only 15k a month that's still good saving. It could be 25k a month of you live off compound and so on.

Of course, it's all relative to what you save now.

Thanks. My goal is to save 25k/month, as I would also have a relocation and flight allowances.

It's easily doable, but I would say you'd have to be living off compound to make that work. Nothing wrong with that. Get an apartment for 2-3k, add your car for 2k, 5k for living, and another 2k for random stuff, and you're left with 25k.

Good that flights are allowed for.

Personal Update (1st Month)

1. My Company paid 1 month my stay at Al Nakhla Compound to give me enough time to find a place.
2. Visited several compounds, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 1 bed Ranging from SR45k to SR150k a year.
3. Found someone to share an apt off compound. Apt is on Al Wizarat District.
4. SR 28k per year per person for a 2bed 2bath with 100m² fully furnished (plus ~ SR 4k on admin and utilities and internet costs per person per year).

Approx monthly cost of living (SAR):
Rent: 2,666
Transportation to work: 2,500
Food: 3,000
Leisure/Discretionary: 5,500

Thanks for the update Taurus85 100m2 for 28+4 seems very reasonable - is it 12mo in advance?