The Ultimate Guide of Living in Vancouver 2023

Here’s the ultimate guide of living in Vancouver 2023. How much do you need to live in the city by yourself or with your partner?

I miss so much living with my parents haha but being in Vancouver definitely has its pros, but maybe that’s the cost of living in one of the coolest and most beautiful cities in the world.

Something you have to know before moving in, is that Vancouver is expensive and living in Downtown even more, but it is worthy.

Here’s an approximate or minimum amount of what you need to survive happily in this city.

Downtown Vancouver on a budget, kind of.

Rent

I went to basically all of Vancouver’s areas searching for decent, pet-friendly apartments, and that had at least one bed room … and I found a studio.

But I got a little experience of housing costs, you can find a studio or one-bedroom apartment in $2000 to $2200 CAD a month. I got lucky because my studio was already furnished.

Basic utilities and Internet

You spend around $85 dollars in all the basic utilities and an extra $75 dollars for internet.

Check out 10 Things to do in Vancuver

Transportation

If you don’t have a car, it’s important to have your card for public transportation. Of course, this depends on your daily routine, but if you have to use it every day the monthly cost for the unlimited use of public transportation is $90 dollars per month.

Uber just arrived and it is very helpful, but it’s not as cheap as other cities. So you have to really use it for a very special occasion.

But if you live in downtown you can basically walk everywhere!

Groceries

Most of the grocery stores in downtown Vancouver are organic, healthy cool chains, and a bit more expensive than the larger companies. It is worth trying them though you can find pretty unique products. But again, you can take a trip to Walmart, Costco or No Frills and save a lot of money.

Taking that into account you can spend around $400 dollars a month on groceries and household items.

Cellphone plans

Mobile plans are EXPENSIVE here in Vancouver! I don’t understand why but well that’s the way it is. The cheapest you’ll pay is around $80 a month with a 2GB plan. Yep, I know.

Btw if you still have your foreign cellphone you can download this app TextMe. This will give you a Canadian number for free while you get a new one.

Going Out

Vancouverites likes to go out and Mexicans living in Vancouver like me too. So, this is an important part of my budget. Having dinner in an average restaurant in Vancouver is around $40 to $50 for 2 people, without considering the booze. You could add around $30 bucks in each meal.

That would be an estimate of $300 if you don’t party that much, or $500 if you do and keep it simple.

Guilty pleasures

I don’t know where to start here, I have so many… but my number one guilty pleasure is coffee. I love to go out and grab a cup of coffee a few times a week, so considering you are a coffee addict like me maybe you’d spend around $30 to $40 dollars a month.

Although I truly try to make my own coffee every day.

And well sometimes some desserts, clothing and you know just stuff cross by, so I would add another $30 bucks.

Personal Care

Gotta take into account your hairstylist, spa care, dog grooming, etc. As this is not that often could be more than a month, I would add around $130 a month.

Fitness classes

One of the coolest thing about Vancouver is that there’s plenty of places where you can work out outdoors, and you can find endless types of fitness classes indoors too. You just have to search the one that fit best for you. There’s yoga, barre, box, and so much more and the average cost is $150 CAD a month.

So now you know, if you are up in living in Downtown Vancouver this 2020 guide can help you out figuring out your budget. It is definitely an amazing place.

I really hope that this guide for living in Vancouver 2023 is useful, of course there’s plenty of other options for each budget, but this is pretty accurate if you wanna live in downtown and enjoy day to day life.

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