Cost of living: what is actually left of your salary?
The items that consume a Gulf salary, and how to work out your real savings before signing.
The commonest mistake first-time migrants make is comparing offers on salary alone. Salary is a number on a page; what matters is what remains at month end after you have paid what you owe. That difference decides whether you go home with savings or with stories.
Housing: by far the biggest item
Housing is the largest single difference between offers. A contract providing shared accommodation makes this item zero for you. One that does not means monthly rent, often with several months demanded up front — a real problem for someone newly arrived who has not been paid yet.
Rent varies enormously by city and district: central big-city housing is one thing, an industrial area or an outer suburb entirely another. No single figure fits everyone.
Transport
If the site is far from your accommodation and transport is not provided, that is a daily cost that compounds. Ask specifically how far the site is and who provides transport. A worker paying a daily fare both ways can lose a meaningful share of their pay to the commute alone.
Food
Some contracts provide meals or an allowance and some do not. Cooking where you live is far cheaper than buying daily, and sharing cooking with colleagues cheaper still. Small details that add up over two years.
Items people forget
- Phone and internet each month.
- Fees on money sent home.
- Work clothing and safety boots if not provided.
- Treatment and medicine if insurance is thin.
- The unexpected: emergency travel, gifts, occasions.
Do the sum before signing
Write this out for every offer in front of you:
- The salary in the contract.
- Less monthly rent (zero if housing is provided).
- Less transport (zero if provided).
- Less food (far less if meals are provided).
- Less phone and transfer fees.
- = what you can actually save or send.
Apply it to two offers and you will see the higher salary is not always the better deal. 1,600 with housing, transport and meals can leave more than 2,500 that must cover all three.
Five questions before you accept
- Is accommodation provided, and how many to a room?
- Is transport to and from site provided?
- Are meals or a food allowance provided?
- Is there health insurance, and what does it cover?
- How far is the accommodation from the site?
Clear answers to those five are worth more than any general promise of "excellent conditions". Prices change constantly and differ by city, so check figures at the time of your own decision.
Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.