Cost of Living in Caracas, Venezuela

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How Much Does It Cost to Live In Caracas?

Caracas is the capital and the largest city of Venezuela.

Even though Venezuela, as a whole, is in a serious trouble, Caracas is still a busy metropolis located in a beautiful valley, vibrant and filled with foreigners that like to visit this city famous for its delicious food, its cultural diversity, and perfect climate.

When it comes to the cost of living in Caracas, it would probably be best to have some guidance from someone who lives there.

The quality of life is low in Caracas, though, as in the rest of Venezuela.

RESTAURANTS

Though the situation in Venezuela is dire, the restaurants in Caracas are still excellent and have a lot to offer. If you’re a foodie, most food is really cheap here. You can find many inexpensive yet delicious restaurants and McDonald’s will get you its biggest burger for some 3$. Like pretty much everything else, eating out is cheap in Caracas.

MARKETS

Grocery shopping is a bit tricky. It goes up by the week, so one can’t really put a number on it. But you can eat virtually anything you like with 100$ a month. The price of food in Caracas is at the moment, probably, the cheapest in the world, with every major globally-sold product costing much less here than anywhere else.

TRANSPORTATION

Although they are, at times, useful, the buses are more expensive than the metro. They’re also slower, less safe, and, most often than not, in a very bad condition. Caracas streets and highways are always crowded with vehicles, because Venezuela has the cheapest gasoline in the world. The Caracas metro, however, is modern, safe and extremely cheap.

UTILITIES (MONTHLY)

Utilities are just extremely cheap in Caracas, though it still depends on the size of your apartment. For an apartment of about 85m2, basic utilities including electricity, heating, cooling, water, gas and garbage services will amount to only 9$. Internet is relatively expensive compared to that – almost 8$ per month.

SPORTS & LEISURE

You can go to the movies for about 0.5$ (and often – even less) per ticket and 2$ for popcorn, chocolates and a huge Pepsi. As for fitness and gym, practicing sports is definitely costly here for the locals but not for foreigners: a membership in a gym or a fitness center will cost you around 7$.

CLOTHING & SHOES

If you want to go for a great shopping experience, head over to the Boulevard of Sabana Grande, the most important shopping street in Caracas. One of South America’s largest shopping malls is Centro Comercial Sambil which is famous and hosts new fancy brands and stores where you can buy all famous western brands.

RENT PER MONTH

Rent is also very cheap though it still depends on the area. In a really nice zone, it would be at around 200$. Anywhere else, a studio apartment can be as low as 100$, or even 80$. You can even find a place where you can get a two-bedroom with garden and parking space for about 150$.

Cost of Living Averages Table for Caracas

How Does the Average Person Spend Their Money in Caracas?

An average person living in Venezuela spends the biggest part of their salary on food, but it’s more noticeable here, in Caracas where the percentage of income that gets spent on food goes well beyond 40%.

Food takes up a lot more of people’s salaries than rent, which means that rent isn’t the most expensive aspect of living in Caracas, but it’s definitely expensive.

Apart from rent and food, restaurants take up a huge part of overall expenses, along with transportation costs.

What’s interesting (and unique!) about this city is that it’s among the only ones where the expenses on clothing and shoes go well beyond both utilities expenses and expenses on sports and leisure.

Average Costs Breakdown

Caracas: Average Salary, Minimum Wage & Mortgages

A minimum wage in Venezuela’s capital is less than 7$ a month and average wage is less than 25$, making the citizens of Caracas that don’t have foreign assets or income (though there’s a few million that do), like all other Venezuelans – the poorest people in the world.

All this due, of course, to socialist economic measures that have destroyed commerce and industry, and thus – the wages.

An average monthly salary in Venezuela is only around 25$, which – to us is staggeringly low, but for them is just natural at this point.

If you’re renting – then paying all your bills and buying necessities is a bit more difficult.

Minimum wage in Caracas is around 6$.

Caracas Safety Overview

READ THE FULL REPORT: Caracas Safety Review

Safety Index:

28

• OVERALL RISK: HIGH
• TRANSPORT & TAXIS RISK: MEDIUM
• PICKPOCKETS RISK: HIGH
• NATURAL DISASTERS RISK: MEDIUM
• MUGGING RISK: HIGH
• TERRORISM RISK: LOW
• SCAMS RISK: HIGH
• WOMEN TRAVELERS RISK: MEDIUM