Did many expats move out of Buenos Aires due to the higher cost of living?

[Che Vos]

It sounds like many are moving to Europe. Many on X say it is cheaper in Europe. This popular poster on X said Germany is cheaper which is tough to believe.

This is true! I just spent the past year living in Spain. My aunt died and I had to help take care of her kids. I just moved back to BA. I am shocked how expensive it is. Food is cheaper in Spain.

IMF have to keep giving more billions. I pray inflation don't go back up. Tourists so slow now. My parents sad and stress every day. I came back but maybe I go back to Spain. I have passport there.

I think things go back with problems. With no IMF money Argentina have more problems. Milei liar. If he do so good why IMF have to give so much. Nothing has improved.

 

[Pobre Luis]

It sounds like many are moving to Europe. Many on X say it is cheaper in Europe. This popular poster on X said Germany is cheaper which is tough to believe.

This post very sad. Unfortunately I will have to leave soon too. For people that own it is ok but for those that don't have money to buy we are stuck.
We are stuck and lose lose situation. If blue go up and you get more pesos then all the stores raise their prices and inflation goes up.

And probably get worse. And it can last a long time. We had over 10 years of high prices.

 

[Finance Prof]

This post very sad. Unfortunately I will have to leave soon too. For people that own it is ok but for those that don't have money to buy we are stuck.
We are stuck and lose lose situation. If blue go up and you get more pesos then all the stores raise their prices and inflation goes up.

And probably get worse. And it can last a long time. We had over 10 years of high prices.

Agree it can get worse. Rental rates are going up. Anyone that I know that rents, the rates keep going up. Owners are making higher and higher returns because they are jacking up their rates and renters have to pay all bills. It seems like exchange rate will eventually trade at 1400 to $1. Once it does inflation will go up.

I was at the Four Seasons today eating lunch and there were a bunch of people there. I asked one of the doorman and he said that business travel is going well and many oil companies are sending people. He said banks are sending people also from US. Rates are crazy there. So it seems like maybe business travel will pick up.

My friends that both work here and own a place are in a good situation. Salaries have gone up and they are ok. The one thing in common everyone that is struggling is they are renting.

 

[Katy V]

Yeah, totally get what you're saying, but I think that might be more the exception than the rule. Your friends sound like they're in a pretty solid spot, but that’s not what most people are going through. Just talking to folks on the street or watching the news, you can tell things are tough. Salaries might have gone up a bit, but not enough to keep up with inflation or the cost of living. Most people are just trying to get by, and even those who own are feeling the pressure with rising expenses. So yeah, business travel might be picking up, but for the average person, it’s still rough out there.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

still in a recession.

but the entire world is in a recession, long due since the last real one in 2008. supposed to be a correction every 7 years...

If it goes to 1,000:$1 like the government is trying to get it to it will make BA one of the most expensive countries in the world.

but economics isn't like that; with de-regulation comes lower taxes, lower inflation, lower prices in Pesos and Dollars, and it won't just be exactly the reality now...but with more expensive prices in Dollars. competition will come, more people will choose to act differently, etc. - you can't predict how things will be by just changing one variable, because that impacts literally every other aspect of life

Middle class disappearing completely. Very rich and poor.

this is quite literally opposite land - protectionist and communist policies the past decades have hurt the middle class, but more free markets mean a bigger middle class, with more people lifted up. you're watching too much mainstream fake-news. the middle class already got destroyed...now it is coming back. highly recommend reading some Austrian Economics books; you're completely misguided on this

Owners are making higher and higher returns because they are jacking up their rates and renters have to pay all bills.

for a Finance Professor (professional? either way) this is a very silly post. you think @earlyretirement is just suddenly charging tons more for his properties now that the rental communism laws are gone? lol lol lol, renters always have had to pay the utilities and bills. you think the owners have just been subsidizing them this whole time? what a silly, out of touch with reality comment. i've rented amateurly for 7 years and zero of what you wrote is true, from the most simple of understandings

Many many expats have left Buenos Aires. I know many that have moved.

been thinking about this topic for some time...for those of you who were big fans of Buenos Aires previously, but now left because it is too expensive for you, what were the years/months that it was in the 'affordable' category?
for instance, i arrived in Nov2023, and saw the hyperinflation, but overall in Dollars my situation hasn't changed much. maybe 20% higher in some things, but other categories are cheaper and more options, and i have seen reductions in taxes like when i bought my house (and hopefully when i buy a car here, too). i now own a small house and thus don't have to pay the $400-1000 USD per month i was paying for Airbnb apartments in various areas of BsAs/Cordoba/Mendoza. so i was wondering when the ideal time was for you guys in CABA, and how long that period was?

for the SteakBros it seems to have been the start of Peronist hyperinflation, and sometime around mid-2024? so i would guess based on the historical charts like https://dolarhistorico.com/cotizacion-dolar-blue/2023 that any year where the Peso lost half its value (as in, Blue rate was 40 in Jan and 80 in Dec compared to the USD, something like that), it was a good year for Expats with dollars, but of course not good for the regular folks who aren't career criminals (politicians and mafia members). i know the Plandemic confounds all of this data, but ARS/USD loss in strength maximal, rounded from https://dolarhistorico.com/cotizacion-dolar-blue/2024 annual lows and highs:

2019: 37.25 -> 80 (115% loss)
2020: 76.25 -> 195 (156% loss)
2021: 139 -> 209 (50% loss)
2022: 195 -> 357 (83% loss)
2023: 346 -> 1100 (218% loss)
2024: 985 -> 1500 (52% loss)

...so maybe 2019 was good for permatourists spending Dollars, 2020 would have been good but people were locked-down, 2021 was not as good and still locked-down, 2022 was decent but i imagine still COVID fascism, and 2023 probably was the peak for the SteakBros.

so, for those oldtimers who were in Argentina for many years, which years weren't "expensive" for you? if 2024 was expensive, then 2023 must have been really the only worthwhile year for Dollars from the past 5 years, right? so, 1 year was the Golden Age and cheap and "good" (minus normal people suffering and a posted 60% poverty rate at the end), and that's the only worthwhile year to be in Argentina? 2023??

maybe i'm missing something, but cheap can be found in Thailand, and people are way nicer than Portenos. and the food is actually good 😛 i was in Phuket Thailand for 2 months about a decade ago and it was super affordable and touristy and i constantly saw Aussies, Brits, etc. everywhere, and the Thai people are some of the kindest and most trustworthy. and the curry!!! and the hospital nearby was private and dirt cheap and excellent.

so, why Buenos Aires if all it had was 1 good year in 2023 for spending Dollars? that scenario likely existed in even better numbers in places like Thailand...

i'm asking because i moved to Mendoza for liberty and cost of living and weather and kind people and nature and geoarbitrage and safety and dog-friendliness and the easier spanish dialect (sorry Buenos Aires folks - your dialect is horrible!)...so i still haven't met anyone who has left Argentina in 2024-2025, but i keep seeing a loud minority online post about it a lot.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

Your friends sound like they're in a pretty solid spot, but that’s not what most people are going through. Just talking to folks on the street or watching the news, you can tell things are tough. Salaries might have gone up a bit, but not enough to keep up with inflation or the cost of living. Most people are just trying to get by, and even those who own are feeling the pressure with rising expenses. So yeah, business travel might be picking up, but for the average person, it’s still rough out there.

and what do you think the average person was feeling during the past decades of peronism? hyperinflation, empty shelves, can't travel, lockdowns, restrictions on buying Dollars....all of the current problems are just remnants of over-regulation and government tyranny. of course 1.5 years hasn't been a panacea 🙂

the fact that restaurants are full with high prices, and business travel is happening, is a sign that things are going well...obviously

real salaries in USD have gone up for the first time, Grok AI says:

"Real wages in Argentina fell by more than 20% before Milei took office in December 2023 due to high inflation and economic instability. During 2024, wages rose significantly, with a 145.5% nominal increase outpacing the 117.8% inflation rate, leading to a recovery in real wages to November 2023 levels by the end of 2024."

you guys really got to stop reading/watching communist 'news'

 

[FuturoBA]

but the entire world is in a recession, long due since the last real one in 2008. supposed to be a correction every 7 years...


but economics isn't like that; with de-regulation comes lower taxes, lower inflation, lower prices in Pesos and Dollars, and it won't just be exactly the reality now...but with more expensive prices in Dollars. competition will come, more people will choose to act differently, etc. - you can't predict how things will be by just changing one variable, because that impacts literally every other aspect of life


this is quite literally opposite land - protectionist and communist policies the past decades have hurt the middle class, but more free markets mean a bigger middle class, with more people lifted up. you're watching too much mainstream fake-news. the middle class already got destroyed...now it is coming back. highly recommend reading some Austrian Economics books; you're completely misguided on this


for a Finance Professor (professional? either way) this is a very silly post. you think @earlyretirement is just suddenly charging tons more for his properties now that the rental communism laws are gone? lol lol lol, renters always have had to pay the utilities and bills. you think the owners have just been subsidizing them this whole time? what a silly, out of touch with reality comment. i've rented amateurly for 7 years and zero of what you wrote is true, from the most simple of understandings



been thinking about this topic for some time...for those of you who were big fans of Buenos Aires previously, but now left because it is too expensive for you, what were the years/months that it was in the 'affordable' category?
for instance, i arrived in Nov2023, and saw the hyperinflation, but overall in Dollars my situation hasn't changed much. maybe 20% higher in some things, but other categories are cheaper and more options, and i have seen reductions in taxes like when i bought my house (and hopefully when i buy a car here, too). i now own a small house and thus don't have to pay the $400-1000 USD per month i was paying for Airbnb apartments in various areas of BsAs/Cordoba/Mendoza. so i was wondering when the ideal time was for you guys in CABA, and how long that period was?

for the SteakBros it seems to have been the start of Peronist hyperinflation, and sometime around mid-2024? so i would guess based on the historical charts like https://dolarhistorico.com/cotizacion-dolar-blue/2023 that any year where the Peso lost half its value (as in, Blue rate was 40 in Jan and 80 in Dec compared to the USD, something like that), it was a good year for Expats with dollars, but of course not good for the regular folks who aren't career criminals (politicians and mafia members). i know the Plandemic confounds all of this data, but ARS/USD loss in strength maximal, rounded from https://dolarhistorico.com/cotizacion-dolar-blue/2024 annual lows and highs:

2019: 37.25 -> 80 (115% loss)
2020: 76.25 -> 195 (156% loss)
2021: 139 -> 209 (50% loss)
2022: 195 -> 357 (83% loss)
2023: 346 -> 1100 (218% loss)
2024: 985 -> 1500 (52% loss)

...so maybe 2019 was good for permatourists spending Dollars, 2020 would have been good but people were locked-down, 2021 was not as good and still locked-down, 2022 was decent but i imagine still COVID fascism, and 2023 probably was the peak for the SteakBros.

so, for those oldtimers who were in Argentina for many years, which years weren't "expensive" for you? if 2024 was expensive, then 2023 must have been really the only worthwhile year for Dollars from the past 5 years, right? so, 1 year was the Golden Age and cheap and "good" (minus normal people suffering and a posted 60% poverty rate at the end), and that's the only worthwhile year to be in Argentina? 2023??

maybe i'm missing something, but cheap can be found in Thailand, and people are way nicer than Portenos. and the food is actually good 😛 i was in Phuket Thailand for 2 months about a decade ago and it was super affordable and touristy and i constantly saw Aussies, Brits, etc. everywhere, and the Thai people are some of the kindest and most trustworthy. and the curry!!! and the hospital nearby was private and dirt cheap and excellent.

so, why Buenos Aires if all it had was 1 good year in 2023 for spending Dollars? that scenario likely existed in even better numbers in places like Thailand...

i'm asking because i moved to Mendoza for liberty and cost of living and weather and kind people and nature and geoarbitrage and safety and dog-friendliness and the easier spanish dialect (sorry Buenos Aires folks - your dialect is horrible!)...so i still haven't met anyone who has left Argentina in 2024-2025, but i keep seeing a loud minority online post about it a lot.

I asked Grok about COL adjusted for inflation in terms of USD over past 25 years and this is what it said:

Here are the adjusted cost-of-living ranges in 2025 USD for Buenos Aires:

• 2000–2001: $2,790–$3,720/month
• 2004–2011: $1,176–$1,764/month
• 2012–2015: $822–$2,055/month
• 2016–2019: $762–$1,143/month
• 2020–2022: $595–$952/month
• 2023–2025: $927–$1,957/month

Most Expensive Period: The cost of living in Buenos Aires was most expensive in 2000–2001, with an adjusted cost of $2,790–$3,720/month in 2025 USD. The 1:1 peso-to-USD peg during this period made local prices exceptionally high in USD, and inflation adjustment amplifies this due to the lower CPI in 2000. No other period comes close, as devaluations after 2002 consistently reduced USD costs, even when adjusted for U.S. inflation.

ETA: and also to see average COL w each year weighted appropriately Grok came up w:

The average monthly cost of living in Buenos Aires over the 25 years (2000–2025), in 2025 USD, with each year weighted equally, is approximately $1,395 (range: $1,050–$1,739).

 

[earlyretirement]

I asked Grok about COL adjusted for inflation in terms of USD over past 25 years and this is what it said:

Here are the adjusted cost-of-living ranges in 2025 USD for Buenos Aires:

• 2000–2001: $2,790–$3,720/month
• 2004–2011: $1,176–$1,764/month
• 2012–2015: $822–$2,055/month
• 2016–2019: $762–$1,143/month
• 2020–2022: $595–$952/month
• 2023–2025: $927–$1,957/month

Most Expensive Period: The cost of living in Buenos Aires was most expensive in 2000–2001, with an adjusted cost of $2,790–$3,720/month in 2025 USD. The 1:1 peso-to-USD peg during this period made local prices exceptionally high in USD, and inflation adjustment amplifies this due to the lower CPI in 2000. No other period comes close, as devaluations after 2002 consistently reduced USD costs, even when adjusted for U.S. inflation.

ETA: and also to see average COL w each year weighted appropriately Grok came up w:

The average monthly cost of living in Buenos Aires over the 25 years (2000–2025), in 2025 USD, with each year weighted equally, is approximately $1,395 (range: $1,050–$1,739).

Great data. But it's important to note that salaries were much higher in the 1:1 days. I was traveling all over the world in those years. I was traveling extensively all over South America in 1999 to 2001 and I came across a lot of Argentines. In fact, Argentines were making so much then. I met a few taxi drivers in Argentina that were making like $40,000 to $50,000 per year back then. And take inflation adjusted dollars! Dollar is worth nothing compared to back then. So although it was more expensive to live, they were making much more than today as well. That still isn't the case today for the most part.

 

[FuturoBA]

Great data. But it's important to note that salaries were much higher in the 1:1 days. I was traveling all over the world in those years. I was traveling extensively all over South America in 1999 to 2001 and I came across a lot of Argentines. In fact, Argentines were making so much then. I met a few taxi drivers in Argentina that were making like $40,000 to $50,000 per year back then. And take inflation adjusted dollars! Dollar is worth nothing compared to back then. So although it was more expensive to live, they were making much more than today as well. That still isn't the case today for the most part.

Wow. 50k is closer to 90k in today's dollars and more than what those in the US were making here. Argentina really is such a roller coaster

 

[shonda]

I haven't left the country, but I did move neighborhoods. I used to live in Palermo Soho, and now I'm in Almagro. I'm really happy with the change! Plus, the subway gets you to Palermo in just a few minutes. I'm hoping things don't get to the point where I have to think about leaving Argentina; for now, I'm doing well. I'm not one to splurge, I live comfortably but I'm careful with my money, always taking advantage of supermarket discounts. I love to walk, and if needed, the bus and subte work great. I believe things will adjust, and this country will continue to be a good place to live.