2.57/5
2,548 reviews
Photo by Eirik Skarstein via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Amsterdam

To increase honesty, reviews are anonymous. You can only add one review per city or it replaces/edits your old one. Reviews with URLs or emails are removed. If you're writing about data being wrong, please don't do it here as it'll be removed here.

beautiful

good

great

tourists

canals

euros

public

nice

crowded

utrecht

cycling

expensive

tourist

stayed

hostels

amazing

parks

cafes

Amsterdam is frequently praised for its beauty, with stunning architecture, scenic canals, and lush parks. The biking infrastructure is exceptional and widely used, making daily transport fast and enjoyable. Public transit is efficient, locals speak excellent English, and the city generally feels very safe. Visitors enjoy the vibrant nightlife, diverse food scene, and social atmosphere.

However, central Amsterdam is overwhelmingly crowded, especially in tourist-heavy seasons. The high volume of tourism contributes to noise, weed odors, and occasional chaos in the busiest streets and canals. Housing is a major challenge: apartments are hard to find, leases are long-term, and prices are high. Cost of living overall is steep, with hostels and food among Europe’s most expensive.

Digital nomads may find working conditions tough; cafes often discourage laptops, and coworking options can be pricey. While Amsterdam is an excellent destination to visit or spend a summer, many reviewers say they wouldn’t choose to live or work there long-term. Cities like Utrecht, Leiden, and Lisbon are often suggested as more livable alternatives. For those planning a trip, weekdays and neighborhoods outside the city center offer a calmer and more authentic experience.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Bringing a laptop to cafes is often met with hostility from the staff, this seems very common in Amsterdam. Because of this I'm often working from the Public Library (OBA)

6 months ago

I recently visited Amsterdam for the third time (and the first time since 2018). I personally think it's a little overrated, but a cool place to visit nonetheless.

The architecture is beautiful, and there are lots of good places to eat. I don't like the main area of the canals in the city centre; it smells of weed and is often packed. However, the outer edges - such as the Jordaan district - are less busy and more interesting in my opinion.

One thing that surprised me is how much trash was on the streets. Many bins were full, and there was waste - such as abandoned mattresses - in a lot of areas. Some people have said this is because of the bottle deposit initiative and people looking through the trash, but I live in Copenhagen and we have this... yet the city is much cleaner IMO.

If you visit, try to come on a weekday. Also, the streets near the canals can be quite chaotic with bikes, cars, and scooters. Again, I'm used to bikes as I live in Copenhagen and cycle myself - but it's much more organised than in Amsterdam IMO.

Pros:
- Beautiful architecture
- The people are nice
- Efficient public transport
- Good food and nightlife

Cons:
- Very dirty
- Crowded in the central parts
- Can feel quite chaotic

I would recommend visiting Amsterdam, but I don't know if I would personally live there. The Netherlands has plenty of places that are just as beautiful and interesting, such as Utrecht, Leiden, and Haarlem. I would also recommend visiting The Hague and Rotterdam, even though both cities are perhaps not as pleasing on the eye. TL;DR: Nice place to visit, but I would not live here.

2 years ago

A top city. Everything works, beautiful greenery (hehe), cycling everywhere, happy people, great nightlife... Lots to love about. For nomads? Not a chance. Price of housing is outrageous, and the city is expensive af. They charge you 4.5-5 eur for a capuccino, completely shameless. An hour of public transport is 3 euros. I could go on and on. I'd love to live there, but it's not worth it.

4 years ago

Housing is an issue (so cost of living is high) but the city is beautiful and summer in Amsterdam is hard to beat with all the cultural activiies and music festivals. Would not want to live in the actual city center (inside the "grachtengordel") but have been living in East for over 2 years now and aside from the price (and size) of apartment life is just good here. Biking everywhere is bliss. Winter can be cold though.

4 years ago

I lived in Amsterdam for three years in three different apartments in the center. The place is very noisy and during the lockdown it became painfully obvious that the dutch in general don't really care about whether they bother their neighbors or not. After reading expat Facebook groups, it seems I'm not alone with this opinion. The city is gorgeous, but to be frank, I'm not eager to live there again.

4 years ago

One giant tourist trap. Giant hordes of rich Europeans vacationing with their parents credit cards.

6 years ago

I spent 2 months in Amsterdam over the summer. Overall enjoyed the experience but wouldn't return to work.

I stayed in about 5 different hostels (recommend Cocomama) which were great for socialising and met some amazing people, however they were some of the most expensive I've ever stayed in, paying 40-60 euros a night. I stayed at the "nicer" hostels but still very expensive.

Nightlife was very good - great bars and clubs, some of which are overrun by loud drunk tourists but the majority of the ones I went to were okay. Just be prepared for how tall all the locals are, I've never felt so short in my life on a night out.

One of the parts I really enjoyed was cycling everywhere. I bought a second hand bike from a market for 50 euros and could easily get around the city. Felt very safe and almost everyone else was cycling. Could get to most places within a 15 minutes cycle.

I worked out of a Spaces co-working space. I wouldn't necessarily recommend as it was very corporate. The WeWork there might be a better option (or cafes if on a tighter budget).

Central Amsterdam is very busy. I didn't enjoy walking around the central area by the train station, particularly on weekends. Loads of tourists, stag dos, drunk people etc. Outside of that small central area, Amsterdam is a beautiful city with some amazing parks (e.g. Vondelpark), canals and scenery. I recommend some of the boat trips they do along the canals.

Easy to get around outside of Amsterdam too, train network is very efficient and Eurostar now goes to Amsterdam. I did a few day trips, Utrecht being my favourite and very easy to get to.

Amsterdam is not a cheap city, do not live here for a few months unless you have a decent income. I probably spent ~2.5k euros a month and I would say I was being fairly careful with money (minus the hostels and co-working space).

I always felt extremely safe and the locals English was exceptional, I was shocked at how good it was. Dutch people seemed friendly but slightly closed off (not surprising with the number of tourists they get). I struggled to make any local friends.

A note about smoking weed, other drugs etc. which Amsterdam is fairly well known for. I didn't actually do any of this and didn't feel left out at all. You'll still have a lot of fun doing other activities there.

I'd recommend other places over Amsterdam in Europe, my favourite being Madrid and Lisbon so far.

6 years ago

Tourist trap crowded with influencers taking a selfie in front of a canal . Very expensive.

6 years ago

Being in Amsterdam, all I could think of was how amazing this city would have been a decade or more ago when tourism hadn't yet ruined most things here. Typically happy and friendly Dutch people with a generous spattering of tourists from all over the world.

It has pretty great parks and heaps of canals you can light up next to, which is nice. I'd recommend missing Amsterdam and going to Utrecht or some other Dutch town instead - you'll have a much better time!

6 years ago

Great for partying and smoking pot (hard to find fresh air - smells of marijuana everywhere). Lots of huge parks. Overpriced and overpopulated during tourist season. I would not recommend it... you can find much better and cheaper options in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

6 years ago

Getting a place to stay is a challenge, and renting an apartment might be a challenge unless you can show proof on stable income job. most leases are 6-12mths minium

6 years ago

Awesome place to travel to, fun environment and beautiful city.

7 years ago

One of Europe’s most beautiful cities that’s been turned into an ovepriced and crowded playground for tourists and rich expats.

7 years ago

✅ Beautiful city and architecture

✅ Great parks and outdoor spaces

✅ Excellent biking infrastructure

✅ Good nightlife and social scene

✅ Efficient public transportation

✅ Safe city

✅ Friendly locals with excellent English

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Very family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Very expensive

❌ Extremely crowded and touristy

❌ Difficult housing/rental market

❌ City center often smells of weed

❌ Dirty and occasionally chaotic in central areas

❌ Not ideal for digital nomads or remote work in cafes

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Cold now

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Very damp now

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

37 3°
cold

43 6°
cold

45 7°
cold

54 12°
cool

66 19°
mild

64 18°
cool

66 19°
mild

57 14°
cool

48 9°
cold

39 4°
cold

Real

41 5°
very cold

46 8°
cold

48 9°
cold

55 13°
cool

66 19°
mild

64 18°
cool

66 19°
mild

65 19°
mild

58 15°
cool

49 10°
cold

43 6°
very cold

Humidity

damp
83%

damp
82%

damp
78%

damp
71%

damp
80%

nice
78%

damp
84%

nice
81%

nice
80%

damp
82%

damp
85%

damp
88%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
78mm

rainy
58mm

rainy
57mm

dry
49mm

rainy
63mm

rainy
71mm

rainy
73mm

rainy
61mm

dry
28mm

rainy
76mm

rainy
66mm

rainy
68mm

Cloud

cloudy
52%

pockets
47%

pockets
40%

pockets
39%

cloudy
51%

pockets
49%

cloudy
52%

pockets
46%

cloudy
52%

pockets
48%

cloudy
52%

Air quality

clean
20 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
19 US AQI

clean
20 US AQI

clean
17 US AQI

clean
18 US AQI

clean
17 US AQI

clean
18 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

Remote workers

2,342 people

2,648 people

3,086 people

4,070 people

3,400 people

3,781 people

4,000 people

3,462 people

3,748 people

3,768 people

4,122 people

3,486 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Amsterdam's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Senior Fullstack Engineer @ MoonPay
	Senior React Full stack Developer @ Lemon.io
	Technical Product Manager Developer... @ TrueML
	DevOps Engineer @ ScaleTech
	Principal Software Engineer @ Shippo
	Software Engineer @ Serotonin
	Solidity Engineer Smart Contracts E... @ Sei Labs
	Back End Developer Winna.com @ Winna
	Staff Software Engineer Metrics US @ Weights & Biases
	Tech Lead Data @ Zensurance
	Senior Software Engineer @ Emergent Software

Help pick the best photos for Amsterdam and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

249pts

76pts

55pts

33pts

22pts

15pts

13pts

11pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

184pts

64pts

42pts

31pts

20pts

15pts

12pts

10pts

9pts

8pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

90pts

59pts

38pts

28pts

16pts

14pts

12pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

$3,420 / mo

🌇 Also went here686 people

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 34° 93° 29° 84°

✈️14h

$4,484 / mo

🌇 Also went here683 people

1,600 remote workers in Amsterdam now, of which 6+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.57/5 (Rank #369) 2548 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍12 liked it 👎4 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😳 Extremely expensive: $6,313 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 20Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 Too cold: 14°C57°F (feels 14°C57°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	💦 Damp: 83%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Good: 58 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 18 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Very bad
💰 Income level*	Very high: $3,813 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 5k ppl/km² (1 per 14x14m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Okay
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Great
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Good
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Great
👩 Female friendly	Good
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Netherlands
🗓️ Average trip length	6 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	20 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 14°C 57°F + 💦 Damp (83%) = feels 14°C 57°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 58 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 19 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Zeeburgereiland/Nieuwe Diep
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Diemen
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	EUR 100 = USD 114
💸 Tipping	Yes, 7.5%
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because Albert Heijn still doesn't accept CC)
💻 Best coworking space	TQ
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Spaces
☕️ Best coffee place	Coffee Company
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍14% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	6,570,400 visitors
📸 Tourists now	125,921 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	820,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$45,753 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 14x14m (196m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 48% 👱‍♀️ 52%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 82% 👱‍♀️ 18%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Cool Blue
🏠 Apartment listings	Marktplaats
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Transavia
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	KLM
🏥 Best hospital	AMC

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$6,313 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$4,331 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$7,339 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$2,097 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$4,897 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$8,188 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,839 / month
🏠 Median home price	$622,774
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$229 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$268 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$273 / month
🍛 Dinner	$14
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$6
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$12,650 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$7 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$9 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$18,761
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$42,290
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$120,290