2.97/5
3,666 reviews
Photo by Lucas Davies via Unsplash

Cost of Living in London

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expensive

food

work

bad

cafes

hard

budget

day

cheap

difficult

culture

coffee

good

understand

safe

cost

weather

restaurants

great

London receives extremely mixed reviews. On the positive side, the city offers a broad array of cultural attractions, including museums, galleries, theatre, and historic landmarks. Many of these are free or low-cost, making them accessible to all. It's a highly diverse, international city with world-class industries spanning tech, finance, media, and fashion. Public transport is frequent and well-connected, with affordable options for those planning their travel smartly. There are ways to manage costs on a strict budget, particularly for short-term stays, including affordable food options and hostels. Opportunities for professionals, especially in tech, are abundant, and many appreciate the dynamic pace and European travel accessibility from London.

However, the downsides are notable. Cost of living, especially rent, is a major concern and often not seen as worth the tradeoff. Many find the city unfriendly or emotionally draining, citing a cold atmosphere both socially and weather-wise. Safety concerns, especially theft and antisocial behavior, are also reported, even in family-friendly neighborhoods. The outdoor environment is limited, with no natural scenery like beaches or mountains nearby. Overall, it’s a city best suited for those with higher incomes or short-term goals looking for cultural depth and career opportunity, but it may feel overwhelming, isolating, or financially impractical for others.

AI-generated summary of reviews
3 months ago

Might be slightly biased as I lived here previously, but London truly is the best city in the world and can be done on a budget if you know how. It has noticeably got more expensive in the last 2-3 years though. Endless museums, art galleries, theatre, arts and culture - there is always something going on. Lots of museums and art galleries are free too. Everywhere you turn is of historic significance. For short-term nomads (1-3 months), there are plenty of very decent well-located central hostels around £20 a night. Food-wise, there are plenty of takeaway food places, and supermarkets stock lots of cheap takeaway food options (including £3-5 meal deals) which significantly help to reduce your daily budget (3x meal deals = £10-15 daily food budget). The Pret coffee subscription gives you 50% off coffee (and other barista drinks) for £5 a month (after discount around £2 a coffee) - Pret is everywhere and a good spot to work from with free wi-fi. Wetherspoons is a pub chain, and does cheap food and alcohol all day, including big breakfasts for under £5, free wi-fi and bottomless tea and coffee for super cheap (good for working too). Buses are cheaper than the tube, and both have daily fare caps. Transport is extremely frequent (Victoria Line is every 2-3 minutes during peak times). So on a strict budget, you could realistically live in London on £35 a day assuming you were working and not much else. A more comfier budget of £45-60 a day allows for more activities in the evenings, alcohol/socialising and weekend outings. If you are looking for short term lets, check out SpareRoom. London is compact and well connected so don’t be afraid to look at short term lets a bit further out from the city. It's also just so easy and cheap to get anywhere in Europe. There is truely something in London for everyone.

3 months ago

I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically there were months that my area was patrolled by gangs on bikes trying to snatch the phone (luckily they are less noticeable in the last period). The video of cutting the bike chain in front of the shopping centre in day light got viral and even the criminal was without a mask. I could continue a list of very worrying crime that is happening in quite nice and popular by family with kids area of zone 2. Yes, except your psychological condition you will likely be safe based on my experience.

2 years ago

I find it difficult to understand what people see in this city. The cost to benefit ratio is just so terribly bad! This is by far the most expensive city in Europe (especially in terms of rent), with hardly anything to offer in comparision with other cities like Barcelona, Lisbon or Warsaw. The weather is just average, with cold and windy winters and mediocre summers. It's difficult to come by restaurants that offer anything other than Indian fast food for a decent price - most places are just unoriginal, overly expensive sushi / sandwich selling 'restaurant' chains. Most cafes have extremely limited seating spaces. The city is crowded, difficult to navigate on foot, mediocre for cycling (again, the weather!). The outdoor culture is limited to being on the way to work or Saturday night alcohol intoxication. There is no beach, there are no mountains around, not to mention the current post-Brexit atmosphere with spanish tomatos advertised as "British" in local supermatkets.

2 years ago

How did you guys classified Penge as rich? It is one of the worst neighbourhood I have ever been in London, the ammount of people I know that have been robbed there is appalling.

5 years ago

London is a SO beautiful city. The historical center is cute, but also majestic and luxurious. You feel the culture at every step. British people are really kind and welcoming! Plus, more than just one, you can enjoy TWO skylines 😍 so many skyscrapers, nothing beats its collection in Europe.

5 years ago

London is the best city in the world - you just can't do it on a budget. It's got an amazing tech scene but ALSO world class media, fashion, finance, art industries and many others. If you don't want to live in a tech / expat mono-culture then it's for you. It is a genuine melting pot with a huge range of nationalities and cultures living together (the US has a large number of nationalities but there seems to be hard segregations between them geographically, economically, culturally - so they don't mix). The downside is definitely the cost - If you want to live in London you might want to consider getting a London job - so that your income will match the expenses - there's loads of demand for developers (along with most other job types). I also want to address the strange stereotype perpetuated by Americans that the food is bad - which is laughable having toured North America extensively and found the food to be dire. London has more Michelin star restaurants than nearly anywhere. The food markets are amazing as are the cafes, restaurants and pubs. Again you'll need to pay what everyone else pays to get good food so don't expect to do this on a shoestring.

5 years ago

I've been living in London for most of my life. I still do not understand the hype for this city. It's wildly expensive, unfriendly, polluted and with the worst weather I've ever seen. It's not only cold - the sky is constantly plain white, it's always just cold enough to make you uncomfortable, and it's humid. It's like stepping on a piece of paper, zero personality. If you've never felt depressed before and want to know what that's like, come to London, you'll be googling therapists within a few days. Should I continue? The skyline is ugly, the river is murky brown, it's too crowded to move, and people don't care about you. What are these £600 apartments people are talking about? Lol - try over £1500 for anything that's better than a cardboard box in a terrible area. I guess you can visit for a few days to tick it off your bucket list, but I'd reconsider any plans to live here longer term. My only benefit of having lived in London is that any place is better and cheaper in comparison.

5 years ago

I have been living in London for over 2 years as a student. It's ridiculously expensive. However, there are options. What I like about the city is you can find many events anytime you want. It's active all year 24/7. There are so many foreigners and tourists which make the living more vibrant and less racist. London has sub-communities which I think is a good thing. Those communities bring their cultures, ethics and foods. Public transportation and restaurants are great. I used to spend 3-4 hours in Costa or Nero cafe without interruptions. Though if it's raining or summer season it could be hard to stay long. On the negative side, the UK suffers from slow and old bureaucracies making life difficult sometimes. It's not easy to open a bank account or to rent. The government systems are slow. Also, you will feel depressed in winter when the sunset is before 4pm and the temperature is 0c. All in all, everything is great about the city except the affordability and the winter.

6 years ago

Although London isn't an ideal 'digital nomad' city due to the cost, it is very much made for working, networking and having a great time while you do it. Rent is silly expensive, but you can find a room in a shared house for around £500-600 per month. One review on here complains about bad food, unsafe and bad banking - sounds like they had a bad time to be honest. I disagree strongly with all those negatives. Food is awesome, with lots of incredible places to eat and reasonable (ish) prices. Head to Brixton, Brick Lane, Hackney/Dalston, Tooting etc for top quality food. For your banking, you'll find Revolut, Monzo, Starling etc all allow you to get set up in a few days. Oh and safety.... I've lived here for 7 years (on and off) and been drunk in 'dodgy' parts of town and can say London is one of the safest cities anywhere. Can't say the same for Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona etc.

7 years ago

I do not recommend London for nomads. It's very hard to find places to work in London. Cafes don't like people with laptops, there won't be any power outlets and you'll get funny stares from staff. That's because London is expensive, and it's a loss for cafes to have you. Flexible coworking is hard to come by and day passes are very expensive. That makes it practically impossible to work properly in London as a nomad.

7 years ago

Expensive and crowded. Low quality of services. Customer service is a joke. Great internet connectivity. Mediocre food, unless you like Indian, which is everywhere. Crappy weather. Not safe at night (depends on the area of course). I lived in Docklands, didn't feel safe outside of my apartment. Difficult to get anything done without proof of address, so make sure to get a place as soon as possible. Opening a business account in a "traditional" bank can take weeks. Banking is very backward - unless you enjoy browsing PDF statements... I honestly don't understand why London is so popular. I was deeply disappointed and left after a few months. The only real upside is the job market, but as a nomad, you can provide services to London-based businesses from somewhere else.

7 years ago

London is an amazing city but it's eye-wateringly expensive, don't expect to save money...
Expect to be paying a minimum of £600/month for a bedroom in a shared house (and for this price you'll be in zone 2/3). Look on spareroom for houseshares and openrent for flats.
Download the app Citymapper to help you get around it's a godsend - London is a massive city and it can take ages to get from one place to the next. There's tonnes of cafes, workspaces and public spaces to work in (Google campus, Barbican, Southbank centre etc). World class food, world class culture, people from all over the world! Liberal city, mostly safe... Bad air quality though.
Don't come here thinking you can do it cheap as you will end up in a 10 person houseshare with a dodgy landlord and be stuck in some crap area of town. It's a hard, ruthless and expensive city to break into, plus we have a population of over 8.6MILLION so competition is tough. There's start-ups on every corner so plenty of people in similar situations.
Just factor in the cost and be willing to stay for a while (so you can properly embrace the city) and you'll have a blast.

7 years ago

London is a pretty bad place for nomads. It's very hard to find places to work in London. Cafes don't like people with laptops, there won't be any power outlets and you'll get funny stares from staff. That's because London is expensive, and it's a loss for cafes to have you. Flexible coworking is hard to come by and day passes are very expensive. That makes it practically impossible to work properly in London as a nomad. It's a city where lots of people are scraping by cooped up into tiny shared housing with skyhigh rents, lots of superficial tourists and a few rich people.

7 years ago

✅ Great cultural scene

✅ Diverse and international

✅ Excellent public transport

✅ World-class industries and opportunities

✅ Pretty 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

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

❌ Very expensive

❌ Unfriendly and antisocial behavior

❌ Poor weather

❌ Crime concerns

❌ 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

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

5°C / 41°F cold

6°C / 43°F cold

9°C / 48°F cold

11°C / 52°F cool

12°C / 54°F cool

19°C / 66°F mild

18°C / 64°F cool

20°C / 68°F mild

18°C / 64°F cool

14°C / 57°F cool

9°C / 48°F cold

4°C / 39°F cold

Real (median)

6°C / 43°F
very cold

8°C / 46°F
cold

10°C / 50°F
cold

11°C / 52°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

17°C / 63°F
cool

19°C / 66°F
mild

18°C / 64°F
cool

14°C / 57°F
cool

10°C / 50°F
cold

6°C / 42°F
very cold

Humidity

damp
82%

damp
78%

damp
71%

nice
64%

damp
74%

nice
76%

damp
81%

nice
75%

nice
76%

damp
80%

damp
84%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

rainy
59mm

dry
49mm

dry
32mm

dry
7mm

rainy
57mm

rainy
69mm

rainy
63mm

dry
38mm

dry
46mm

rainy
63mm

dry
6mm

rainy
67mm

Cloud

pockets
49%

cloudy
53%

pockets
45%

pockets
35%

pockets
49%

pockets
47%

cloudy
52%

pockets
46%

pockets
47%

pockets
44%

pockets
50%

Air quality

okay
60 US AQI

okay
66 US AQI

okay
59 US AQI

okay
62 US AQI

okay
56 US AQI

okay
55 US AQI

okay
56 US AQI

okay
61 US AQI

okay
55 US AQI

Remote workers

4,747 people

4,231 people

4,807 people

4,585 people

5,655 people

5,079 people

5,194 people

5,166 people

5,267 people

5,430 people

5,031 people

4,535 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 London's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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

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✈️3h

$3,318 / mo

16 Mbps

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 10° 50° 11° 52° AQI 36

✈️1h

$4,769 / mo

🌇 Also went here938 people

Portugal

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 69° AQI 25

✈️2h

$3,804 / mo

🌇 Also went here1,390 people

Istanbul

Turkey

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 33° 91° 29° 83°

✈️14h

$4,355 / mo

🌇 Also went here874 people

4,600 remote workers in London now, of which 21+ 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	2.97/5 (Rank #37) 3666 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍23 liked it 👎6 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😳 Extremely expensive: $5,672 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 23 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 A bit cold: 15°C59°F (feels 15°C59°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	💦 Damp: 77%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	🥵 Very low: 3%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Good: 38 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Good: 56 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Great
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very high: $3,354 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 6k ppl/km² (1 per 13x13m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Okay
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Good
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	United Kingdom
🗓️ Average trip length	9 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	23 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 15°C 59°F + 💦 Damp (77%) = feels 15°C 59°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 38 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 56 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	East Walworth
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Livesey
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	GBP 100 = USD 130
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	90 Main Yard
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Central Working
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍15% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	19,842,800 visitors
📸 Tourists now	380,286 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	8,800,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$40,249 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 13x13m (169m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 48% 👱‍♀️ 52%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 77% 👱‍♀️ 23%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	SpareRoom
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	RyanAir
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	British

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$5,672 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$4,437 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$10,569 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$3,020 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$3,114 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$4,576 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$2,787 / month
🏠 Median home price	$683,595
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$146 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$150 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$260 / month
🍛 Dinner	$22
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$8
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$4
👩‍🏫 International school	$24,606 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$16 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$8 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$6,986
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$24,341
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$91,526