Finnish Cost of Living

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People always hear about how the Nordics are incredibly expensive. Go to Norway and have a heart attack over how much the grocery store bill is. Or head to Sweden and be flabbergasted by the cost of museums and activities. Each Nordic country is expensive compared to Central and Eastern European countries. But Finland appears to be just as expensive as France. And I'm ok with that.

Rent

Depending on the area that you are looking at in Helsinki, the rent generally is cheaper than in Paris. This year I pay 150 euros less than I did when I lived in Paris and I have five more square meters than in Paris. I call that a win!

If you head outside of Helsinki, the rent is much much cheaper. In some cities, it is possible to find one bedroom apartments for 600 euros a month or less. Maybe I've lived in Paris too long, but I consider that a good deal. Heck, I consider anything that has a separate bedroom for less than 700 euros cheap.

Of course the larger the apartment the bigger the rent. And the nicer the area the more expensive. But what's nice about Finland is that even the bad areas are still pretty nice.

Utilities

When it comes to utilities, most of them are cheaper than in Paris and California. My water bill is half the cost of what I paid in Paris and my electricity is one third the cost. And my apartment insurance is also half the cost. And all of this is much cheaper than prices in California.

But when it comes to phone and internet, the cost is not as cheap as Paris. I pay about 10 to 20 euros more a month than in Paris for Internet and about 15 euros more a month for a phone plan than in France. But the bright side is that I save about 10-70 more euros a month than what I was paying in the US, so I won't complain too much about prices here.

In general I found these kinds of utilities cheaper than in France by at least 10 euros a month for almost every category. So I guess this means that the cost of living is not as unbearably high as we expect it to be. And of course all of this is cheaper outside the capital city.

Food

This is where things tend to get more expensive. It is probably due to Finland's location and its climate, limiting the type of foods grown and imported. So grocery stores tend to be the same prices as in Paris, but with less variety. Sure there are always the basics and a few exotic goods, but the variety among those basic staples is a bit limited compared to California, or even Paris. And of course the more foreign the food, the more expensive.

But while the grocery store is manageable, going out to eat, or buying anything that has been already made, is much more expensive. This is probably because minimum wage is higher in Finland than in France and the US, and since preparing food is done by people, those people need to be paid fairly. So going out to eat in Finland is very, very expensive for a student, even when you search for low budget places.

Activities

Of course when you live in a city, you will want to take part in activities. And while Finns prefer to do a lot of outdoor activities, some of those can get expensive. Of course hiking and camping are free. But skiing, snowboarding, out any kind of sport does incur some fee somewhere. Nevertheless, there are quite a few free things to do in Helsinki and Finland, most of them outside.

When it comes to museums, however, this is much more expensive. Most museums cost about 14 euros. But look out for free days and discounts. Once a year each museum is free. And on Fridays from 4-6 the National Museum is free in Helsinki.

So while people expect Finland to be more expensive than Western Europe, it is not really that expensive. In fact, I believe I am spending less money this year, apart from food, than I did when I was living in France. And there are definitely parts of the UK that are a lot more expensive than Finland. So no, Finland is not like the other Nordics, it is not incredibly expensive. Of course Finland is much more expensive than most countries in the world, however it is not as outrageous as we expect it to be.