are 3.900$ a lot of money in Iceland?

[Eraserhead]

First I want to apologies for posting this here and not in the "off topic" section but when I tried to post there I always got "Sorry, but only administrators can post topics in this forum."

I was just wondering, I'm always reading about people in US bitching about the price of gas and it got me thinking, why, because where I live, in Reykjavik, Iceland, the gallon of gas cost's over 7$ (and believe me, people here thinks that's crazy. So it got me thinking, If everything in my country is this expansive, are my wage's much higher than in US, or am I just poor ;-).
I work in a tech-support phone service for a large communication company. I have worked there for over a year and I make 3.900$ before taxes. After taxes I have 2.626$ in my pocket. I think my wage is pretty standard in my kind of work so what do you think guys, is this much higher than in US, or do you guys have it much better than us folk here in the north-Atlantic sea ;-)

Below is a price table of a few things of my expanses and also som things you know and could relate to.

Monthly payment of my apartment :: 1100$ ( it costed me 200.000 $ and they say I made a good deal for a 2 bedroom, 70 sq meters)
New Wolkswagen Golf :: 32.000$
1 liter of gasoline :: 1,83$
6pack of beer (0.5 l) :: 15$
Larga dominos Pizza + coke :: 38$
big mac meal (standard, not supersize) ::13$
Dell Axim X50v :: 916$
Sony PSP :: 383$
PSP game :: 83$
Diesle or Levi's jeans :: 266$
Apple iBook :: 1.666$
Apple iMac :: 3.000$

[jgalindo]

expensive country

[Darius Wey]

Moved to Off-Topic.

[Darius Wey]

First I want to apologies for posting this here and not in the "off topic" section but when I tried to post there I always got "Sorry, but only administrators can post topics in this forum."

Eraserhead, we have two off-topic forums. One is called "Off-Topic"; the other, "OFF-TOPIC". The one in caps is for administrators only as the posts in there appear on the front-page of this site as news. You should have posting privileges for the "Off-Topic" forum though.

[SteveHoward999]

Iceland is pretty expensive, but it is also recognised as a pretty wealthy country too. Apparently your fishing industry creates considerable wealth.


I moved to the US from Britain about 18 months ago, and I am still shocked at how cheap many things are here. Cars in Britain cost at least twice what they do here, as do most electronic goods and many other things. Fuel in Britain has been close to 9$ a gallon recently.

But the US dollar is very weak internationally compared to wat it was a few years ago - I used to get 1.3 US dollars for one pound sterling. Now it is 1.7 to 2.0 dollars for one pound. This makes everything in the US seem even cheaper.

I think when the dollar was stronger, wages in the US often looked higher than in Britain, but now they mostly look lower. But the cost of living is so low here - fuel, housing and motor cars are all so cheap compared to Europe that it takes a lower income for the same apparent quality of life.

Wait a ccouple of years and things will change... right now it costs a fortune to visit Europe from the US, but by contrast it is really cheap for European visitors to come to America. No doubt that will change again.

[PetiteFlower]

WOW that's an expensive country.

To compare:

Delivery pizza and coke - $20
Name brand jeans - $60-$75? I don't buy name brand jeans but that sounds about right.
New VW Passat is about $32k, Golf is more like $20k I think
Big Mac Meal - $5-6

Price of gas varies GREATLY by region, but lately the price near me is $2.25/gallon and still falling.

$1100 for a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Philly will get you a pretty nice place. You can find places for much less. We pay I think $1300 to rent a 5 bedroom (barely) house, but we got a good deal.

[Eraserhead]

but what about your salery, how much would a job like mine pay in USA ?

[SteveHoward999]

but what about your salery, how much would a job like mine pay in USA ?

Salaries and cost of living vary hugely across the USA. A salary of $100,000 in LA or New York can buy the same quality of life as $35,000 in Mississippi or Louisiana.

Equally, a 'typical' salary for a particular job can vary just as much Unfortunately there is no easy way to compare. It's like comparing the salary and cost of living of London to a quite corner of Dumfries in Scotland. You cannot easily compare them.

One way that might help - are you in an expensive or a cheap area in Iceland? I imagin Reykjavik is more expensive and pays higher wages compared to Dalvik...

[Eraserhead]

In iceland the only thing that is cheaper outside of Reykjavik is housing, from 10-20% and up to 50-60% cheper. Evryting else is actually more expansiv outside of Reykjavík. This is mostly based on less competition in small towns , price of transporting goods etc. etc.