Cost of Living in Jeddah
Fixed monthly costs to live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Housing, transport, utilities, and school fees. Every row pulled from a verified primary source. The interactive calculator handles your scenario.
Monthly fixed costs
AED 9,800
Range: AED 7,320–13,158
Totals shown in AED for cross-GCC comparability. See the category breakdown below for local-currency anchors.
Comfortable salary
AED 13,720
+40% for variable spend
Strong runway
AED 17,150
Comfortable + 25% savings
Watch out for
The Saudi dependant levy
AED 1,176 / month for a family of 4
Every dependant on a family residency adds SAR 400 per month (AED 392) to the visa cost. A family of 4 carries AED 1,176 per month in dependant levy alone. Jeddah's lower housing makes the single-professional budget the most attractive in the GCC, but the levy still applies the moment a family joins.
Where your money goes in Jeddah
Monthly fixed costs by category, comfortable tier, a single professional. Verified Q2 2026 market data.
| Category | Monthly AED |
|---|---|
| Housing & Accommodation | 6,000 |
| Transportation | 2,947 |
| Utilities & Connectivity | 776 |
| Visa & Residency | 77 |
| Total monthly | 9,800 |
Variable spending (groceries, dining, lifestyle) varies too widely per household to estimate reliably. Excluded by design.
What salary do you need in Jeddah?
Three tiers anchored to the fixed-cost total. The Gulf advantage: these are net figures with no income tax to deduct.
Cover fixed costs
AED 9,800
Bare minimum to cover housing, transport, utilities, and (where applicable) schooling. No headroom.
Comfortable
AED 13,720
Fixed costs plus a 40% buffer for variable spending: food, lifestyle, occasional travel. Most professionals target this tier.
Comfortable + save 25%
AED 17,150
Builds a meaningful savings runway alongside the comfortable lifestyle. The tier that compounds.
Sectors hiring in Jeddah
Verified salary bands from the Tenure Pay Index for the sectors with the deepest source coverage in Jeddah.
How does Jeddah compare?
Open the side-by-side comparison against the cities most often considered alongside Jeddah.
Questions about Jeddah
How much does it cost a single professional to live in Jeddah?
Jeddah fixed monthly costs for a single professional cover housing, transport, utilities, and where applicable school fees. Al Shati or Corniche 1BR runs SAR 3,500 to 7,000 monthly (AED 3,400 to 6,900), the cheapest of the Saudi business hubs. Tenure's calculator pulls verified Q2 2026 market data and lets you customise each category. Variable spending (groceries, dining, lifestyle) is deliberately excluded because individual variation makes those estimates unreliable.
What is the biggest expense in Jeddah?
Housing dominates almost every Jeddah budget, typically 50 to 70 percent of fixed monthly costs. Al Shati or Corniche 1BR runs SAR 3,500 to 7,000 monthly (AED 3,400 to 6,900), the cheapest of the Saudi business hubs. Housing is the cheapest of the Saudi business hubs, but the Saudi dependant levy still applies at SAR 400 per dependant per month (AED 1,176 for a family of 4). Vision 2030 has narrowed the housing gap to Riyadh and Dubai while the levy keeps family budgets close to parity. Use the calculator to compare furnished vs unfurnished, central vs commuter, by exact neighbourhood.
Is Jeddah cheaper than London or New York?
For fixed costs, Jeddah is typically 35 to 50 percent cheaper than London and 40 to 55 percent cheaper than New York. The bigger advantage is the GCC tax-free regime: a salary number in Jeddah is take-home, not pre-tax. The same gross in London or New York loses 30 to 45 percent to income tax and national contributions before housing is paid.
What salary do I need to live comfortably in Jeddah?
SAR 12,000 to 18,000 monthly (AED 11,700 to 17,600) for a single professional. The calculator surfaces three tiers against your fixed-cost total: cover (bare minimum), comfortable (fixed costs plus 40 percent for variable spending), and comfortable plus save (an extra 25 percent savings runway). Two-income households shift the tier downward proportionally; single-income families with children see the largest uplift. The comfortable tier is the salary where Jeddah stops feeling tight.
How current is the Jeddah data?
Every row in this Jeddah breakdown reconciles to a named primary source within ±2 percent. Property prices come from Bayut and Property Finder (UAE + KSA), Bahrain Property World, Property Finder Qatar, and OLX Oman. Utilities pull from the official tariff authorities (DEWA, SEC, Kahramaa, MEW). School fees come from the regulator directories (KHDA, ADEK, SPEA, MOE). The latest refresh is Q2 2026; see the methodology footer on the calculator for full source attribution.
Customise the scenario
The interactive calculator lets you pick your apartment type, transport mix, school curriculum, and more. It also compares Jeddah side-by-side against any other Gulf city.
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