Is 1700 USD enough for two to live in Hanoi?

Hi Mr. jritoo,
as others said, 1700$ / month is quite enough for medium to high social class in Vietnam. However, i wonder which province you like to live in Vietnam. it will be easier to suggest if i know the answer.

U can rent Apt 2 beds 400 $ per month or service apt 1bed 450 $ per month. U can use public transfer by bus or rent motorbike 40 $ per month. Food and drink about 500 $ per month. Internet 20 $ per month,  electronic 20-50 $ per month. If u need more infor or helping to find accommodation, PM me.

Whattaa? "average income is about 2000$/ 1 month"

Provided you don't have kids, international school here cost around 800 USD per month. And u must have your own motorbike to go around, taxi here is not cheap.

have you come to Hanoi. Im vietnamese and my husband is Indian as well. Hope we can be your friend

i saw a lot of posts in this topic and i would like to give some words too.
Im vietnamese and i think vietnamese income is not so low in comparision with the other devoloping countries. As you said you are Indian. Actually Indians are having worse life than vietnameses, as you can see, in Vietnam you wont see people who are sleeping on the street,.....and vietnameses are having more free time for enjoying with family, friends, lovers,....and they have less stressfull from work and life than Indian. In some countries as i know such us :Thailand, ....the income is higher but they do work harder and less enjoy such us : drinking, ....haha. And i think the Income which shows is not important because very few people are living depend on one income. They do job and do some other business. If someone is not doing business they can earn from corruption,.....there are so many ways to earn money as you knew.
   one more thing is you are Indian so it is not easy for you to eat vietnamese foods (specially if you are vegetarian you will have more problems) so you must eat Indian foods so it will be quite expensive (it costs around 15 usd for meal with some chapatis and vegetables) even without having some drink. So if you are planing for living in Vietnam long time you should bring some masala for cooking so it will be much cheaper for you.
    for 2 people (you and your wife) with 1700usd and you dont cook at home then that is not much money for living. you can get a normal room, foods and some expensive like petrol,...but you cant have to spend for travelling.....this is from my experience because i also eat Indian food, living in normal room (with AC, hot water, ....some facilities)

more than enough!
less than 1% of Vietnamese earns that income

It's more than enough. Actually, I think cost of living in Hanoi is similar to in Delhi. May be, a little more expensive.

Yes, It's right that you can get high class level service for every thing with 1700 USD/month

If he gets a "girlfriend" she can help him spend the leftover cash.

For the fellow whose girlfriend continues to work... I think she is right about staying in the work force. If the relationship doesn't work out, the individual who put their life on hold, is the one who has the difficult time reestablishing themselves. Call it, insurance. The girlfriend is thinking ahead.

I think it can be affordable for over you list but each one have to be reasonable. Eg: you can rent a serviced apartment with fully furnished accommodation, electricity, internet, water consumption with rental fee about $700, cheap tour or traveling with some tourist team in Vietnam ( $500) and the rest for entertainment )

Cost for rent full facility apartment from 500-1000$ and with 1200$, you can get a comfortable life in Ha Noi.

But get a bike, learn to move by bike.

Car parks are just plain sucks and rare. Train (inner city) is none existent. And you might not be a bicycle fanatic. So that leave only mototorbike.

If you get a smaller bike you dont have to have a driving permit. less than 150cc, I think.

stumpy wrote:

Remember to factor in medical insurance cover.

Yeah, this. Choose a nice hospital that you can be sure of English-capable personels. Then choose MI based on that. You dont want to sit waiting for hours then speaking to a Viet doctor who can not speak English...

Possibly Viet Phap international hospital? I dont know, just namedropping here to see if any ever use it.

Remember to factor in medical insurance cover.

Lol you can live very well off of 1700 a month, but 1700 a month is definitely not high class and no you definitely can't live like a King.

To get the same standard of living as you would get in the states, 1700 is isn't enough as everything western is more expensive in Vietnam.

I dont know about HCMC but in Hanoi you could damn well living high with 1700, singing "SUMMERTIME, aaaaand living is easy~"

Unless you insist on burning money to show you can burn money, then in that case, 1700 is not enough.

Depends if your a big spender, for me when I got Vietnam for 2 months I bring $9000aud and that is just enough, but then again I partied like every single day haha,

But if you and you're mz just want a relaxing stay then that is more then enough

i saw it was 2014 so i deleted it , btw my answer is it is up to you how much you spend. Average salary in Hanoi is low but most of my friends earn 1000-3000 usd per month and they have their own house, for them it is still not enough.
3 years ago my salary was 1200usd. my company paid lunch, transportation, phone i do not need to pay for renting & dinner  as i lived with my parents in a small city near to hanoi. I still did not have money left so if you have $1700 consider your pocket

Hi Maja Tran,

Welcome to expat-blog!

Yes indeed, you are right, this is an old thread! You may post on more recent threads or even create a new topic on the Hanoi forum anytime.

Cheers
Bhavna 

Ok, so single male, 1 bdrm. apt , high speed internet, mostly cook at home,, about a 6 pack of beer per week,, 1,000 usd per month,, should be enough,, YES/NO ?

Keep in mind that the low cost of living comes with it low quality of life(eg, lack of infrastructure, poor sanitation, pollution, garbage burning, etc). 

That's the hard reality for many developing countries despite the modern conveniences available.

I was going to take A$1600 for a 16 night stay 6 days hanoi/10 days nha trang so way too much??

mems888 wrote:

I was going to take A$1600 for a 16 night stay 6 days hanoi/10 days nha trang so way too much??

Traveling is more expensive than staying at home. If you speak Vietnamese, are comfortable with modest, by expat standards comfort, and know your way around; a $100.00 USD/day or even half that is quite reasonable.

If you don't speak Vietnamese or have a good Vietnamese speaking friend with you, $100.00 USD/day should be enough. But, depending on your definition of comfort, may run higher.

I agree with what your saying about the lower and middle class of Vietnam (in cities) receiving between $150 - 300 per month. However i think its funny if you think government officials receive only $805 per month. Of course on paper that is so. I know some people with villas and huge houses worth over $500,000 and their salary is just $1000-$2000 per month.

khanh44 wrote:

no $1700/mth is not enough when the average income for Vietnamee citizens is $150/mth. Please give the difference to the charity of your choice than it will be enough.

Joking aside you'll live the upper middle class lifestyle with that sort of monthly budget and everything will be first class for you. High speed, daily maid surface, pool, air condition and security residential stay and plenty left over for your travel and entertainment enjoyment. I'd be surprise if you can even spend $1700 every month for 12 months straight.

Well said....

For 2 persons in 3 months, I guess ^^

Nice to see Viet kieu  can't tell the difference  between Canadian and American,  lol

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Look for places that are run by Buddhists since there is a sect that believes eating animals is wrong.  People are reincarnated into animals so eating them (eating meat) is like eating our fellow man.  Sorry or am I thinking of Hindu?

I want to be a human next life, what should i eat? Men or women???

BB123456789 wrote:

I agree with what your saying about the lower and middle class of Vietnam (in cities) receiving between $150 - 300 per month. However i think its funny if you think government officials receive only $805 per month. Of course on paper that is so. I know some people with villas and huge houses worth over $500,000 and their salary is just $1000-$2000 per month.

Monthly salary is totally different with income, it is ironically so true with government staff, who is supposed to have only salary  )))

I've been researching the heck out of this. Hoping to head to Vietnam within the year. I have 2 pensions. One through work and the other is CPP.  You have to contact service Canada nd apply for a non-resident status. It's for tax purposes. If you don't you must return to Canada after being abroad for 183 days. Then you must reside back in Canada for 183 days.  CRA, will tell you which income tax forms you must file. And yes every year. There is a tax treaty with Vietnam so 10% of your Canadian income is withheld at source until you return.   I originally was planning on Cambodia with the dry/hot season spent in Hanoi. Later to find out there is no tax treaty, which meant A flat tax of 25% was withheld. That was starting to really eat into my bank then another 21% as a currency exchange to US dollars. So Hanoi it is! Hope this helps Cheers Jodi from  BC!