Living Cost of A Family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

TL;DR/FAQ

• For a student living in the dormitory with 890 SAR monthly allowance, as in KSU, it is sufficient to sustain yourself (and save up to 30–40% of it)
• For family of 4 (2 young children under 6), at least 1250–1750 SAR per month is needed (excluding the accommodation and utilities which depends on availability and usage).

Both points can be achieved as long as you cook most of the time, and use bus for most of your trips (or rarely go and eat out).

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Assalamu’alaikum, everyone!

Today, I will share my expense experience from around 7 months living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 5 of them are spent alone in the university dormitory, while the last 2 months I’ve brought my family here. My family consists of 2 adults and 2 U-6 kids, for comparison.

Please note that I will only write what is familiar to me. For example, you can choose lamb/beef/fishes over chicken for the restaurant dishes, or visit higher level chain of restaurant/fast food, but I refrain myself from doing that as I am aware of my financial constraint, so I do not write it here.

This writing is made for students who are pondering whether to accept their scholarship in one of KSA campus, or for those who wonder how much leeway should they prepare before they get their first salary working here.

I will write down how I categorize my expense here. I use Wallet application and Google Sheets to track my expense.

Food and Beverage

1. Local Restaurant (مطعم)

This is one of the cheapest options if you need to buy, and almost available in every major streets. It serves middle east cuisine, such as aromatic rice with chicken, shawarma, tamis, foul, and others. My go-to dish is Rice with Roasted Chicken. The price depends on the portion that you choose.

• Quarter chicken (1 piece of leg or breast, aromatic rice with kabsa/biryani/mandhi seasoning) costs 11–14 SAR
• Half Chicken (1 piece of leg + 1 piece of breast, more rice) costs 20–24 SAR
• Whole Chicken with even more rice, 40–44 SAR

They come with some side veggies, onion/chili, and sauce.

Half Roasted Chicken with Rice (Source)

You can save some rice for the next meal time as they usually give a generous amount of rice (for our standard). Usually I buy the half chicken package for one meal time of my family of 4, and can spare 1 portion of rice.

2. Fast Food

There are many options here, from well known brands like Herfy and Hardee’s, to local Chicken Basha. But of course, Al Baik takes the spotlight. They give an excellent value for money. For 17–19 SAR, you obtain 4 pcs (half) savory/spicy fried chickens (Breast, Lower Leg, Upper Leg, Wing), Fries, burger bun, and condiments (shout out Garlic Sauce). There are also alternative such as fish meal, big baik (chicken hotdog), and falafel.

But remember, as the general, global consensus said, cooking will always be cheaper than buying…

3. Groceries.

To save higher amount of money, cooking is the best option. There are numerous alternatives of supermarket/hypermarket chains in Riyadh to buy from, and they often offer different discount/promotion at different time. I almost buy groceries during low prices in the supermarket. Often they have designated days for extra discount. For example, Monday for Othaim Market, Tuesday for Tamimi, Sunday-Tuesday for Nesto and Lulu, etc.

I rarely visit small stores that only sell meat/veggies, as they rarely display the price of the product, and I have limited Arabic vocabulary to ask or negotiate.

*You can visit d4donline.com to view ongoing promotion at different stores.

*For amount higher than 100 SAR, Nesto Hypermarkets (often one with the best price) offer Next Day, Free Delivery Service to your doorstep as long as it is within 25 km from the chosen store. Please visit their instagram page for the location and whatsapp number to order.

Carbohydrate Source

• Jasmine/Southeast Asia Rice 20–24 SAR/5 kg
• Basmati Rice 30–40 SAR/5 kg
• Potato 3–6 SAR/kg
• Sliced Bread 3–6 SAR/pack
• Samoli Bread (Shaped like Hotdog Bun) 1–2 SAR/6 pc
• Original Tamees (Traditional Bread, from Local Store)= 1 SAR/pc

Original Tamees Bread (Source)

Protein Source

• White Egg = 15–20 SAR per 30 large pieces (60–70 gram).
• Minced Frozen Lamb/Beef/Chicken = 3–6 SAR per 400 gram
• Fresh Buffalo/Beef Meat = 22–27 SAR/kg
• Frozen Chicken Breast = 16–20 SAR/kg (The fresh one is pricier, almost twice the price)
• Fresh Chicken Parting = 12–16 SAR/900 gr
• Chicken Liver = 3–5 SAR/400 gr
• Fresh Mackerel = 5–8 SAR/kg
• Fresh small squid = 12–16 SAR/kg
• Small-medium shrimp = 20–25 SAR/kg
• Tuna Steak = 20–28 SAR/kg

Fruits

• Apple 6–9 SAR/kg
• Banana 4–7 SAR/kg
• White Grape 8–15 SAR/kg
• Frozen Strawberry/Pomegranate 3–6 SAR/400 gr

Vegetables

• Red/Yellow/White Onion 5–9 SAR/kg
• Cauliflower 3–6 SAR/kg
• Lettuce 5–8 SAR/kg
• Cabbage 2–4 SAR/kg
• Tomato/Carrot/Cucumber 4–6 SAR/kg

Others

• Analogue Cheese (Feta, Istanbouli, Arish, etc) 15–20 SAR/kg
• Chocolate Bar 14–20 SAR/100 gr
• Zabadi (Thicker Yoghurt) 12–15 SAR/kg
• Kabsa/Mandhi/etc Liquid Seasoning 11–15 SAR/350 gr
• Kabsa/Mandhi/etc Powder Seasoning 11–15 SAR/200 gr
• Raisin 10–20 SAR/kg
• Gas for cooking. Refilling a cylinder costs 21 SAR/tube if you come to the refilling station (25 SAR if delivery to your main gate, 28–30 SAR if delivery to your house), while buying a new cylinder is 190 SAR/tube. Better to look for second/used cylinder.

4. Beverages

People here seems to like soft drink such as 7up or Pepsi, but I do not since they are very high in sugar. Options include

• Water (most of the water here is processed by desalination). 1 SAR for 600 ml, 2 SAR for 1.5L bottle, 8 SAR for 18L galloon for household consumption.
• Bottled Juice. Come from fruit, but has added preservatives. Between 9–13 SAR for 1.4 L
• Laban or Yoghurt Drink. 1.5 SAR for 330 ml, 8.5 SAR for 1.75 L
• Fresh Juice between 10–20 SAR per small/medium cup.

Transportation

For a student like me, public transportation is the main option, as it is the cheapest. Alhamdulillah, the Riyadh Bus network is well established now. You can buy designated “darb” card (costs 10 SAR) for payment in the bus, use your debit card, or pay with your phone. One ticket (for 2 hours trip, unlimited number of buses) cost 4 SAR (if you register and obtain “darb” student card, it becomes 2 SAR). Cash payment is NOT accepted.

But the main drawback of Riyadh Bus is their speed. They mingle in the main road, without any special road except in 2 routes, so it is very slow compared to private car. You need to have flexibility and longer free time if you want to use it.

Alternatively, there are taxis, exist in several form.

• Uber/Bolt/Careem/Jeeny that needs to be ordered from the application. It offers price clarity as you will pay what is written in the apps. Please note that there is also surging price for busy hours. The cheapest I’ve ever get is 13 SAR for around 2 km.
• Wandering Taxis, often green or white colored, and “Private” Taxi, without any color. They drive around the city. Just stand and wait on the side of the street and they will stop in front of you, asking “Taxi?”. But you need to negotiate the price first, often only in Arabic.

For longer term and further distance, renting a car can be an option, but you need to have your driving license first. (Here’s how to obtain it) Renting a car starts from 85 SAR/24 hours (before 15% tax and gasoline), and you get 200–300 km/24 hours, depends on the provider. Some providers offer open/unlimited km for 1 day, with higher rent fee (150–180 SAR/day)

You can rent a car for longer period of time to use it for intercity travel, if needed.

If you buy a car (which I haven’t), you need to calculate the initial price of the car. Older car is cheaper, but it may need more care and maintenance, and also consume more fuel. Gasoline fuel price is 2.18 SAR (RON 91) and 2.33 SAR (RON 95). For used car, you can search in Facebook marketplace for the overview of the price. The cheapest car (lower than 15k SAR) is for car almost 15–20 years old. It also depends on the brand (Japanese/Korean/US are pricier than Chinese car etc)

Bicycle and electric scooter are available for short distance option. Bicycle from the supermarket/hypermarket costs around 400–700 SAR depends on model. More branded bike (such as Trek) costs more than 1500 SAR. Electric scooter costs between 800–1200 SAR depends on models. I bought 1 electric scooter for 899 SAR, and it lasts around 15 km in one full charge. One full charge costs me approximately 0.25 SAR in electricity. From my home to the university, which is around 6 km apart, I spend around 25–40 minutes, depends on traffic.

Mobile Communication

For this part, the website of each provider clearly explain what you get vs what you need to pay. There are plans for international calls, internet, social, and others. Please take a look by yourself, which one caters to your need.

• SIM Card Price is 35–50 SAR. You need passport or Iqama to buy it.

Several alternatives are stc, mobily, salam, and others.

Accomodation

A scholarship student in Saudi will receive a dormitory room for living during the duration of his or her study. The difference between each university lies in whether it is a single private room or shared room for 2–3. There are common bathroom (2–3 showers, 2–3 toilets) and kitchen (2 stoves) for 6–8 students in my building.

But for living with family, here comes the most difficult part. There is no family housing provided by the university.

So I rent outside the campus area, but still in relatively close proximity (6 km). The cost of accomodation can vary wildly from person to person, family to family. The common renting period is 6 months or 1 year. The information about available housing mainly comes from 3sources

• Housing Agency or عقارات

It is available in different areas in the city. They receive requests from homeowners to search person/family to rent their house. The advantage is there are usually several alternatives in one housing agency, so you can have alternatives. But sometimes, there are deposit or additional service fee, on top of the renting fee. Also, often they don’t have documentation of the properties, so you need to travel with the officer to the location to see it by yourself (by car or taxi)

• Rumors

By asking fellow countrymen, students, or coworkers, usually some hidden gems are available to be rented.

• Online

Using facebook marketplace or groups, haraj.com, aqar application, and others.

For me, I got my place now from a friend, who got the information from his friend. I got 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and 1 hall (without kitchen, so we create “emergency” one in the front of bathroom) for 14k SAR per year (paid every 6 months).

Here is the sketch (Not to scale)

For the electricity, it depends on the usage of your family. Usually I was charged 45–60 SAR. The appliances that I use are

• Fridge
• Medium rice cooker (2 L) twice a day
• Almost 24 hours of fan (during summer, I do not use air conditioner)
• Water heater (during winter), sporadically (Turn on once every 3–4 days, and turn off if the water is fully heated)
• On the rare occasion when the winter cold is unbearable, 2000 W heater for at most 10 minutes, maximum once per week.

For water, during the summer month, I use around 40–80 SAR per month. It is calculated per family member, so around 10–20 SAR per person per month. But sometimes, due to the hot weather, the water supply decreases and you need to buy from local/national water company. It cost around 180 SAR for 1 tank truck (I forgot the amount, but it last around 2–3 days in apartments for 25 people).

How to pay these utilities can be varied for each house. My house has its own electricity line, so we only pay what we use. But others may have combined line for 2 or 3 house, so they pay alternately each month. For water, all of the houses in my building only have a single line, so we calculate based on the number of person on each house.

For internet, if you need fiber connection, you can visit the same provider as the mobile above. Or if you have neighbors, ask them to share the connection and bills. I share an unlimited wifi connection with my next door neighbor for around 60 SAR/month.

Other Costs

There is rumor spread about its reconsideration, but until now, there is dependent fee in Saudi Arabia. The fee is 400 SAR per family member per month for worker/person/expatriate who wants to bring their family here. The fee is paid during the renewal of iqama (so basically 4800 SAR/year/family member in payment term). Alhamdulillah, as a student, I do not need to pay this, but keep in mind for those who does.

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Thank you for reading this! I hope it will be helpful for those who need it.

If you have questions or something in mind, please do not hesitate to contact me through Instagram.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.