#cost of living

#cost of living

Almost half a million workers are to receive a pay boost after it was announced that the real living wage paid voluntarily by 16,000 UK companies will rise to 13.45 an hour in April. Distinct from the national living wage, which is a statutory minimum, the real living wage is calculated each year based on the cost of essentials, and is paid by more than half of the companies in the FTSE 100.

From sun-soaked beaches to culture-rich capitals, there are cities where you can live for under $2,000 a month-without sacrificing quality of life. In this guide, we explore 12 global cities where your dollars stretch further than you ever thought possible. These destinations offer affordable rent, great food, walkable neighborhoods, efficient public transportation, and vibrant social scenes. Whether you're a digital nomad, an early retiree, or someone craving a fresh start, these cities deliver big lifestyle perks for a modest price tag.

When you added up the numbers between both of our family households, it was going to be something that we could not keep going long term,

At 61, Alexander Remus has pared his life down to the essentials. He lives on a modest pension, avoids restaurants, and allows himself just one visit to a movie theater a month to stay sane. Even his prescriptions for a chronic health condition aren't guaranteed some months, he skips doses to stretch his budget. The sacrifices are painful, but he said they're the only way to keep up with the cost of living as a retired highway maintenance worker.

Effective from Sunday, October 12, 500ml of milk will cost 3c less, falling from 75c to 72c. A litre of whole milk at Aldi will cost €1.19 - a 6c drop from the previous price of €1.25. Two litres of whole milk will cost €2.35, down 10c, while three litres will fall by 16c to €3.39. The series of price reductions will bring Aldi in line with the cost cuts announced by Lidl on Friday.

The typical retiree in Massachusetts faces an annual shortfall of $7,345, or about $612 per month, even with their mortgage fully paid. Additionally, retirees here face average monthly living expenses of $2,634, while the median Social Security benefit is just $2,022 per month. With housing costs averaging $1,007 per month, retirees' budgets simply cannot keep pace. With housing consuming nearly half of the average Social Security check, seniors are forced into deficit territory before accounting for food, transportation, or healthcare.

President Donald Trump's sweeping agenda to remake the economy and U.S. government is broadly unpopular in the Bay Area, with a majority of voters expecting the Republican to make life worse. In a poll in August by Bay Area News Group, 68% of those surveyed said they expect the Trump administration's policies to negatively impact the Bay Area, and 63% said they expect their own lives to worsen because of Trump's actions and those of his Republican allies in Congress.

Catherine Rossiter is carer to twins and works full-time, she wants targeted tax incentives and Fuel Allowance A single parent and full-time lecturer wants targeted tax incentives, higher Child Benefit payments and a dedicated Fuel Allowance to help lone parents with the cost-of-living crisis. Full-time university lecturer at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, Catherine Rossiter cares for her 12-year-old twin daughter and son and manages to balance this with work.

"Would you let someone who's never flown a plane tell you, 'I can fly that plane back to land' if they've never done it before? Do you give the keys to the governor's office to someone who hasn't done this before?"

a takeaway oat-milk latte from a bog-standard roadside chain somewhere in Berkshire. The shock was that it was over 5. Coffee hasn't really been cheap for ages, for complex reasons post-pandemic inflation, a Russian war pushing up energy prices, a climate crisis having an effect on coffee bean growth, last year's budget tax hikes that capture the bitter flavours of the last few years in a cup.

What we'd love to see is a Budget that's pro-growth and pro-jobs which, as a result, will help customers with the cost of living.

While most people focus on the dollar amount they want to retire with, that is putting the cart before the horse. To understand how much you need to save, you first need to figure out how much you are going to spend in retirement. The rule of thumb for retirement says to plan on needing around 80% of what you're spending pre-retirement. Of course, this is simply a general benchmark, and every individual's needs will be different. Many retirees actually spend closer to 70% of pre-retirement income (on average), while others may need more than 100% depending on healthcare, housing, or lifestyle. Across a broad swath of the population, people have pretty similar ideas on what categories they will be spending their money on.

Courtney El Refai may call Sweden home, but every six weeks the 32-year-old commutes some 5,300 miles away to work at a San Francisco hospital as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse. While some may call it crazy, El Refai said it's all worth it for her dream job. Making over $100 an hour on a per diem schedule, she only has to work four, eight-hour shifts every four weeks.

New Zealand is well known for its breathtaking 'Lord of the Rings' landscapes, Maori culture, stunning wildlife, and adventure sports playground. The country was listed 9th on US News' list of best countries in the world in 2024, coming in at number two for a comfortable retirement. The population is generally a happy bunch, too. When asked to rate their general life satisfaction between 0 and 10, New Zealanders graded themselves at 7.3, on average, higher than the OECD average of 6.7.

He was 27 when he became the first millennial to be elected to the state Assembly in 2012. But he was no newcomer even then Calderon comes from a line of politicians from southeast Los Angeles County. His father, Charles Calderon, started the dynasty when he was elected to the Assembly in 1982. Two of his uncles also served in the Legislature and federal prison for corruption.

Whether it's clinking steins of pilsner at Oktoberfest in Germany, lingering over a Guinness Extra Stout in a Dublin pub, or washing down seafood with a lager at a Goan shack, beer is often the most democratic of drinks. Affordable, easy on the palate, and effortlessly social, it's a longstanding favorite around the world. But in our global economy, beer is cheaper or more expensive depending on where you are and what exactly it is that you're drinking.

The brutal combination of rising labor costs, commodity costs, and supply chain disruptions post-pandemic has pushed food prices up by a whopping 31% since 2019, and the threat of the Trump Administration's steep tariffs could make grocery bills even worse. This has had a direct effect on how Americans eat, with Pew reporting that the percent of food insecure households rose by 30% from 2020 to 2023.

Known for its incredible coffee, gorgeous beaches, and welcoming culture, it's no wonder Panama was named the best country in the world for expats. The designation was part of a 2025 expat insider survey from expat community InterNations, which was shared with Travel + Leisure. In Panama, which took the top spot for the second year in a row, 94 percent of expats surveyed

The most affordable lake town in the U.S., according to their rankings, is Grenada, Mississippi. Located in north-central Mississippi, about 1.5 hours from both Jackson and Memphis, Grenada has a very low cost of living (just $2,493 a month) thanks in part to low average mortgage costs, which are around $708 a month. The average value of a single-family home is $123,711, and the median household income is $42,470.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the heartbreaking case of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt, who died in July. "He was failed by the Government. Harvey's case is not an isolated case. Such failures are shamefully a hallmark of your Government," she told Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns also raised the case, slating the Government for painfully slow progress on the issue of disability. "Sixteen thousand children are overdue an assessment of need, essential therapies are non-existent and hundreds of children left in agony waiting for spinal surgery," she said.