Cost of living in Qingdao

[CanChi4]

We are currently talking to a school in Qingdao and wonder about the stated salary. Our housing, insurance, and utilities (and of course schooling) would be covered by the school. How much would we need to exist happily as a family of 4? We do like to do some traveling and eating out, but we are not big spenders. Any other expenses that we need to think about that might not be obvious at this point?

[aburr]

Hi Canchi 4,

In order to give a very good answer, I'll need a little more info. When you say "some traveling" do you mean traveling around SE Asia or Europe. Most salaries in Qingdao will not be enough to be sending you first class to Rome every break, but if you simply want to travel to Thailand and Malaysia a couple times, you should do okay on about $40,000 USD a year per contract. This is assuming that you ad your spouse would be hired with at least the stated salary. If it's less than this, your savings will be effected.

Qingdao is a decent place to start out, but I would not recommend staying long term with children as the smog, even in the outskirts of town, is pretty awful during the winter. There is no shortage of Western style shopping places in downtown. A lot of great soft play areas for your children to play in (I don't know their ages, but just in case they're young).

Something that you need to be aware of- the value of the USD versus RMB has gone up dramatically in the last 2 years. If this continues, your stated salary, which will most likely be in RMB, will not go as far as you might be thinking. From the time that I signed my contract with my current school 2 year ago to now, I have lost about $3000 a year. Other things, most schools in Qingdao do not pay for your child to go on any trips they might go on as a class. If they are older and their class is going on a week trip to Bangkok, this will come out of your pocket. Pretty drastic cost, but hopefully this has already been explained to you by admin at the school. Good Luck!

[CanChi4]

Very helpful. I have Google'd cost of living sites, but they weren't very informative.
Thanks again!!!

[CanChi4]

aburr wrote:
> Hi Canchi 4,
>
> In order to give a very good answer, I'll need a little more info. When you
> say "some traveling" do you mean traveling around SE Asia or
> Europe. Most salaries in Qingdao will not be enough to be sending you first
> class to Rome every break, but if you simply want to travel to Thailand and
> Malaysia a couple times, you should do okay on about $40,000 USD a year per
> contract. This is assuming that you ad your spouse would be hired with at
> least the stated salary. If it's less than this, your savings will be
> effected.

Just checking - are you stating that both that both spouses need to make at least $40,000 each? Or are you stating that a family of 4 can live on the $40,000?
BTW - We are fine with being cattle in coach although we dream about having those nice beds in business class!!!

[wrldtrvlr123]

In Beijing you definitely would not be existing very happily on that salary (roughly rmb 23K per month) if your happiness was dependent on you being able to do much in the way of traveling or saving.

I am assuming that you would be slightly better off in Qingdao but it still sounds a little low for a family of 4 if that is what you are looking at (doable but not great).

[aburr]

CanChi4 wrote:
> aburr wrote:
> > Hi Canchi 4,
> >
> > In order to give a very good answer, I'll need a little more info. When you
> > say "some traveling" do you mean traveling around SE Asia or
> > Europe. Most salaries in Qingdao will not be enough to be sending you first
> > class to Rome every break, but if you simply want to travel to Thailand and
> > Malaysia a couple times, you should do okay on about $40,000 USD a year per
> > contract. This is assuming that you ad your spouse would be hired with at
> > least the stated salary. If it's less than this, your savings will be
> > effected.
>
> Just checking - are you stating that both that both spouses need to make at least
> $40,000 each? Or are you stating that a family of 4 can live on the $40,000?
> BTW - We are fine with being cattle in coach although we dream about having those
> nice beds in business class!!!

Each contract should be around the $40,000 USD mark (both you and your spouse each) in order to have a happy life. If you are making drastically lower than that, your savings will be impacted. To answer your question, you can sustain a life in Qingdao on just even $20,000 each a year, but that will mean almost no savings. For me, I would then ask myself "What am I doing all the way over in China, away from family for extended amounts of time, dealing with all the negatives (and positives) China has to offer if I'm not saving a ton?"

Most reputable, even some not so reputable, schools in Qingdao pay around $40,000 a year for a certified teacher. If you are applying to a school that is way lower, I would be wary of that school. Hope this helps!

[splendid]

Follow up to this question: is this question asking if a family of 4 could live well, travel etc. on one salary of $40k/yr? What if the family of 4 has two incomes of $40k/yr =$80k for family of 4. Would that still be a struggle in Qingdao to save and travel?

[aburr]

Hi Splendid,

Again, if each contract is around the $40,000 USD mark for a family of 4, you should be able to sustain a happy life. So you and your spouse's contract need to be near $40,000 totaling to about $80,000 a year. Keep in mind that a "happy life" is highly subjective and if your definition of a happy life is first class tickets for the whole family every couple months to Rome and staying in 5-star hotels, the aforementioned salary will not get you there. If a happy life means traveling around SE Asia a little, staying in cheaper boutique hotels and eating lots of (delicious) street food, you could definitely do that on $80,000 a year and save a good chunk. Even stating that, there are a bunch of "buts" and "what-ifs." Things that could derail your savings or travels- health of you and your family, home country debt, health of family back home, vacation destinations, feeling like you must go back home every few months, I could go on.

In my time in IE, I've seen people blow through perfectly sustainable salaries, saving nothing during their contract due to a variety of factors and end up being extremely unhappy due to this. The only reason I am being perhaps a little unclear on the answer you are looking for is because everybody's definition of a "happy life" is different and even though I have personally told any new IE that has asked me what their salary would allow them to do, I've still seen some IE's seemingly disregard the advice (which they are perfectly allowed to do) and then slowly grow unhappy. Once someone has stayed in the Marriott in Tokyo, it can be very difficult to change that lifestyle.

[mamava]

I don't know what your school does about paying taxes, but keep in mind that (if you're American) you're not paying US tax on that income. Given that schools routinely give annual flights home (or at least annual after the 1st year) and provides housing allowances, you are pocketing all that money. Our school in China paid the Chinese taxes for us so making ends meet wasn't a problem. We certainly didn't limit ourselves to street food, but also didn't do high-end restaurants (lots of burgers, pizza, and sushi with the kids when we went non-Chinese). We bought most of our groceries at a Western-style grocery store, but all fruits and vegetables at wet markets. We brought lots of toiletries and clothing from the States every year--the quality and ease of shopping made that worth it for us. We travelled 2x a year in Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali, etc.) and home to the States every year--we could have travelled more, but we also love being at home during breaks. We were a family of 5 in China, too!

[CanChi4]

Thanks to all! We want to make sure we can do some traveling and eating out. We are not extravagant, but we would like to enjoy our time off while there!