How much does it cost to live in Norway?

I assume there are some that read this blog that are considering a move to Norway. I thought I might share some very important facts of living here with you. The facts are: a) it is expensive to live here, b) everything is expensive, and c) some things are even more expensive than they should be.

We knew when we came here that it would be more expensive than the U.S. We understood that because many things have to be imported, they would naturally cost more. We knew the tax rate was very high (as this is essentially a social democracy and taxes pay for all those social support programs – government-run health care included.)

We have been quite surprised at how some things seem to be disproportionately expensive. All prices I mention here will be in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate of about 5.4 Norwegian kroner to the dollar. Beer and other alcohol have a heavy “sin tax”, so a single beer is between $2 and $6 in the grocery store (plus deposit on the bottle.) Cars also have several taxes on them, making the typical small car about $45,000 (new) and more luxury models over $100,000.

Several services seem more expensive, and this is because the wages for these service providers must be “fair” and provide them with a living. A men’s haircut can be from $40 (the cheapest) to over $120. A car wash at one of the automatic car washes (express wash – the least expensive) is $30, compared to about $7 in the U.S. Vacuums are free, though!

Clothing can be quite high, such as the cheapest off-brand blue jeans that are “on sale” for about $30 a pair. Shirts are about the same, and one pair of underwear will be about $10.

The people in California tend to pay a lot for gas, but it is even more expensive here. We pay about $8 a gallon for diesel and about $9 for gas. This is pretty typical of most of Europe, though, so I don’t really think too much of that.

Some foods are very expensive. A two-item large pizza from a pizza restaurant will be about $40. Even “essentials” are high, with milk running about $10 a gallon. I have splurged a couple of times on an apple cider from the Telemark region that is really quite good, but is about $22 for three liters.

Finally, if there are things from home that you really miss and want to buy here, beware the import tax. Unless it is an item produced in Norway, or it is an item produced for the Norwegian market that doesn’t compete with a Norwegian-produced item, it will be heavily taxed to encourage consumers to by the “Norwegian” product. An example is Nutella, that wonderful hazelnut/chocolate spread popular all over Europe. It competes with a Norwegian product, so Nutella will cost about $15 a jar instead of the $5 a jar for the Norwegian version. Other “import” prices – Dr. Pepper - $5 a can, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup - $10 a bottle, a small can of Crisco - $7.

Some things just can’t be found at all. We have looked in every store in town and not found unsweetened chocolate for baking. You also cannot find vanilla extract here, though they do have a vanilla flavoring and whole vanilla beans. So if you are moving over, make sure to arrange for care packages of the occasional Kraft Mac and Cheese and other comforts and necessities from home before coming!

One last thing is a little information about the coinage. The Norwegian Krone has denominations that start at 50 ore (1/2 a krone – about 10 cents), then go to one krone, five kroner, 10 kroner, and 20 kroner. The paper money starts at 50 kroner (about $10) and goes up from there. It is a bit difficult to comprehend how expensive things are when the smallest coin in your pocket is essentially equivalent to a dime, and absolutely nothing costs less than a few kroner. In fact, we have begun to think of things that cost 10 kroner, no matter what they are, as being “cheap.”