Costs of living in Stockholm 2023: part one – Lorenzo

Hello everybody! This is the first of a series of posts on the costs of living in Stockholm. In each post, one of us will tell you how much she/he spends on a daily basis, living in Stockholm. This was a topic we were all concerned about before moving to Sweden to study at KTH, so we thought it would be nice to give you a holistic view of the topic. Today it’s my turn!

Essential services

Most of my monthly expense goes into recurring payments, such as rent. In particular, every month I spend 4200 SEK (approx. 370€) of rent, inclusive of everything, plus 650 SEK (approx. 57€) for my public transport card (with student discount) and 100 SEK (approx. 9€) for a student-discounted phone subscription (8Gb of internet, limitless calls and text messages in Sweden, cheap intenational calls). In total, that’s around 5000 SEK every month.

I would say that this is quite in line with what most of my friends spend in recurring expenses. Of course, rent can vary a lot from case to case but, in general, for a room with shared kitchen you can expect to pay something like 3000-5000 SEK/month. This cost could rise considerably if you are planning to rent a one-person apartment, which oscillates around 10000 to 15000 SEK/month depending on the area.

In my case, I live in a house 30 minutes North of KTH and I have my own room and bathroom, but I share the kitchen with four other people. I’ll tell you more about it next week!

Food

I try to cook my food everyday, but it happens that I have to eat outside and, usually, I end up buying a sandwich (25-60 SEK) in one of the cafeterias close to the university. Sometimes I eat at the Student Union, which offers complete meals for around 80-90 SEK (similar to what you’d spend for a complete menu in a fast food) or at a buffet place, where you usually spend around 150/180 SEK and you can eat as much as you want. Lastly, as I am really bad at containing my Italian instincts, I can tell you that a (good) pizza in Stockholm costs between 120 and 160 SEK.

When it comes to the groceries, I can sum up my meals in the following way:

1. a lot of pasta (500g are around 15 SEK, but – for some reason – spaghetti are way cheaper). You can save money buying from non-Italian brands. Pasta sauces range between 15 SEK for 500g of tomato sauce up to 35 SEK for 190g of pesto (once again, you can save money buying from local brands);
2. some meat (mainly chicken, which is around 120 SEK/kg) and cheese. Oh my, I love cheese. Some examples of what I like to buy are gouda (40 SEK for 400g), gorgonzola (35 SEK for 200g) and, of course, the king of all cheese: Parmigiano (60 SEK for 200g);
3. some vegetables and fruit (not a fan). One cucumber is about 20 SEK, 250g of tomatoes are about 30 SEK (but they are often in promotion), a box of six apples is about 35 SEK, half a kilo of white grape costs about 45 SEK… you can find basically everything and, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, you won’t have any difficulties here. Once again, the cost can vary greatly depending on the vegetables quality.

I also love salmon, which is way cheaper here than what I was used to (100g are around 35 SEK, but this highly depends on the fish quality).

All in all, I spend around 2500-3000 SEK/month in food. Remember that where you buy food can make a HUGE difference! Thankfully, you can find a wide range of supermarkets in Stockholm and choose accordingly (I mostly go for the cheapest options).

Hobbies

I admit it: I’m not a sport person. I love going to the cinema (a ticket is around 120 SEK), but sweating is not really my thing. However, I can give you some general considerations that I’ve heard from close friends:

• Gym subscriptions: the cost of a gym subscription in Stockholm can vary a lot. Usually, gym chains are cheaper and they can be VERY cheap with student discounts – a friend of mine spent 900 SEK for a 5-month subscription!
• Ski and Winter sports: once again, the cost varies drastically based on where you go, ranging from 200 to 400 SEK for a daily skipass for downhill ski. Renting for one day is around 250 SEK, but there is a way to rent ski equipment for free: you just have to go to Fritidsbanken. There, you’ll be able to rent whichever Winter sport equipment you want for free. A true game changer for me! Speaking of Swedish Winter, you can check out Raygo’s post on Swedish Winter sports for some more info and inspiration!
• Bouldering: one session is around 170 SEK, and a one-month subscription is approximately 400 SEK.

Another nice way to practice sports (basically for free) is to join some of KTH clubs! KTH has clubs of any sort, ranging from chess to American football or rowing – and the same goes for hobbies. There are tons of student associations for you to join, both to try new experiences and practice your favourite ones! You can find more info on the Student Union webpage.

Conclusions

On the whole, I spend around 8000 SEK/month. Honestly, before coming here I thought I’d spend much more, since Northern Europe has the reputation of being very expensive.

One way to cope with the life cost is to find a part-time job: in the next few days, Martyna will write a post about it – and no, Swedish knowledge is not essential!

I hope you found this post useful. As usual, feel free to leave a comment for any doubt you might have! If you still haven’t done that, I’d also suggest you to check out Raygo’s post on KTH accommodation and Martyna’s post on living in Lappis: more posts about accommodation will follow!

Have a nice day, and see you in the next post.

// Lorenzo