The average cost of living for a bachelor in Singapore in 2022
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The tiny red dot in South-East Asia is one of the most expensive cities in the world. On the other hand, it allows residents to have a good quality of life.
“Good quality is never cheap, and cheap quality is never good.”
My background
I am a Sri Lankan and have been living in Singapore for the past four years, since March 2018. Three and a half years out of four, I lived here as a bachelor. Therefore, I have an idea about the cost of living for a bachelor in Singapore, and I hope this article helps those who wish to relocate to Singapore.
As a practice, I track all my day-to-day expenses using a mobile application called MoneyLover. Hence, most of the numbers mentioned here are my actual costs.
If you wish to track your day-to-day expenses and plan your monthly budget, I recommend using the MoneyLover mobile application. The link to download the application is below.
The cost of living depends on your lifestyle. This article explains how much I spent on average per month in Singapore as a bachelor. After reading this article, I hope you can get a rough idea about the costs involved in Singapore.
All costs are in Singapore dollars SGD (as of April 2022, 1 USD = 1.37 SGD).
If you wish to relocate to Singapore with your spouse, you may consider reading my other article, 2022 couples’ average cost of living in Singapore.
Cost of living for a bachelor in Singapore
Housing
I stayed in a common room in an HDB flat in the Woodlands area. Including utilities (water, electricity, gas and internet), I have paid around 650 dollars per month. However, I consider this price is relatively low. Based on my recent experience, as of April 2022, the cost per common room is around 900–1000 dollars in an HDB flat. This price includes utilities.
Food
80% of the time, I prepared meals for myself. Hence, I buy meat, veggies and groceries weekly basis. I spent around 80 per week on this, bringing 320 dollars per month.
Here are some of the dishes which I have prepared.
Eating outside
I used to eat outside four meals per week, bringing 12 meals per month. The average cost per meal is around 12–15. So the cost to eat outside is about 144–180 dollars per month.
Mobile
I am a heavy internet user and a big fan of Apple products. The connection I subscribed to came with an apple device. I paid 65 dollars per month for this.
Public Transportation (Bus & MRT)
As mentioned in this article, Singapore has an excellent public transportation system. Public transportation costs depend on how much you travel around the Island. On average, it costs me 100 dollars per month.
Taxi
Sometimes, I have used taxicabs too. However, I purposefully avoid using cabs. On average, I spent 50–60 dollars per month on cabs. Roughly, to travel around 18–20 km via taxi will cost approximately 20 dollars.
GRAB is one of the most famous applications in Singapore to book a cab.
The cost of travelling from Woodlands to Changi Airport is about 30 km.
Gym
Since I work out a couple of times per week, I took the annual membership in a decent gym. Gym membership costs me approximately 165 dollars per month. Based on my recent experience, the membership price increased to 190 dollars per month.
Personal Life Insurance
Even though my employer provided me with decent insurance coverage, I maintain a personal life insurance plan. This personal life insurance plan costs me 165 dollars per month.
If you wish to take a personal insurance plan, I recommend Megan Chan from prudential. She is a friendly and helpful consultant.
You can contact her at +65 8540 3811.
Hair Cut
The cost for a haircut in an average saloon is around 12 dollars.
Cost for Subscriptions
Family membership of YouTube premium costs 4 dollars per month.
Family membership of Netflix costs 6 dollars per month (Currently, one of my wealthy friends is paying for this for me)
Family membership of Spotify costs 3 dollars per month.
Family membership of Office365 costs 3 dollars per month
iCloud costs 2 dollars per month
Cost for Other Activities
Badminton costs 20 dollars per month
Cycling costs 20 dollars per month
Shopping
I do random shopping almost every month to buy some household items, some electronic gadgets or some clothing. Roughly I spent around 60–70 dollars per month for general non-essential shopping.
Social Life (this may apply to you)
You have to consider some other expenses when calculating Singapore’s living costs. Please leave it if it does not apply to you.
The cost of 320 ml x 24 Carlsberg beer cartoons is around 50 dollars
The average price per packet of cigarettes is approximately 15 dollars
The total cost (excluding the cost of social life) is around 2195 SINGAPORE DOLLARS. I have used the upper values when calculating the total cost.
Are you living in Singapore, or do you know about the cost of living in Singapore? I would love to hear from you.
Published on Apr. 26, 2022
