(After I had lived in Dubai over a few years) 몇년 살아본 주민 생각.
Dubai Prices are expensive than Chicago and definitely than Seoul Korea. Maybe some parts of goods would be cheaper than these major cities but the average costs for living in Dubai is much more expensive.
To explain about Dubai prices and the living cost, I should tell you my living style and backgrounds. First, I have two kids, one secondary and one primary student. They do not require any specific education or advanced care for normal living. Sometimes I bought some gift especially Christmas, and 1-2 times per quarter when they did something very good or family events. My kids don't have any additional education or extra education like an extra class for sports, golf or learning instruments (except a couple of years in Korea, one tutor had taught piano my daughter, will explain detail expenses for that). Annually, we used to travel to other countries, but smaller amounts of money used than Dubai even we travelled London, Rome, Naples, Vienna, Oman (of course).
Anyway, the summary of living cost for 4 people family is as follows.
- House rent: 100,000AED per year (Cheapest one in Dubai, Check dubizzle.com. You can see all types of property prices)
- Utility: 770 - 1200AED DEWA (Water + Electricity + Municipal tax... Usually, much more electricity consumed during summer season)
- Car Insurance: 2000 AED per year per car (Compact SUV)
- Car maintenance: 2000 AED per year per car (Engine oil 400-500AED 2-3 times and minor repair included)
- Driver license: 400AED per year
- Other taxes or fee: 500AED per year
- Gasoline: 200AED per month per car
- School: International School & mid range in Dubai 70000 per year per kid
- Grocery: 2500AED per month (Check the YouTube I added the link in below, you can see the actual prices in Spinneys store in Dubai)
- Home internet: Slowest plan 400AED per month with 20mbps. We have two mobile phones.
- Mobile: 100AED per month per phone with 2G data
- Restaurant or food delivery: 1000 AED per month
- Additional expenses: 1000AED (Cloths, Camping gear, Parking fee, Cosmetics, Laundry and so on)
For 2car, 2kids, average monthly living cost is 27277AED (appx. 7426 USD per month)
If we move to a smaller apartment (currently, we are living a cheapest and smallest townhouse in almost edge of Dubai), maybe we can save more from rent and utility bills. We even only take monthly baths to save water. Of course we are taking a shower every day :-)
As we know, Dubai, UAE does not put income taxes on my payslip but actually the living cost is much more expensive than other countries globally (much more expensive than Tokyo, Seoul and Chicago). So I think the remains and savings are almost the same as if I lived in a tax free country. However, the different culture, high racism situations, non-English speaking country (here is an Arabic speaking country), Children's education quality, extremely hot weather make it difficult to live here.
I know here you can find the most luxurious infrastructure in existence and a diverse population, but here is a very small city and over 70-80% of people are from India and Pakistan. The other 5-7% of the population are from other countries with most of them coming from other middle eastern countries such as Egyption-Canadian, Lebanese, Afganistan-American, Indian/Pakistan-American, Indian/Pakistan-Canadian and so on.
Frankly, Dubai is not a diverse country. Here is one of the nicely built Arab cities. So, personally, I think this country is more like a large beautiful city in India with huge deserts.
Check the additional information
YouTube: Dubai Prices in Spinneys Dubai
