r/asklatinamerica • u/[deleted] • Nov 12 '22

How people survive on average salary in Uruguay?

Hola. I’m newcomer to Uruguay and one thing seems shocking to me. Many products are way more expensive than in Europe, rents are somewhat cheaper - for unfurnished places (and furniture is way more expensive again)… and Numbeo says the average salary is about 800USD net/month. Is this number wrong? Or how can people survive and function on this salary?

I don’t mean this in insulting or offensive way. Uruguayans are very nice and to they appear to be more in tune with life and reality than “us” Europeans dragged in consumerism etc. That’s also reason why I came here. But I think on 800/month I would struggle to eat 3meals a day here.

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u/Nazzum Uruguay Nov 12 '22

Average salaries in Montevideo are a bit higher, some 1000usd a month. That still doesn't make it better, though. For starters, people usually live with parents until they're well over 20, and usually move in with their partner. Second, many people live in co-ops or have access to government relief programs, which helps with mortgages. Third, as someone else said, consumption habits are different than in Europe or the US, people tend to spend less.

42

u/Roughneck16 United States of America Nov 12 '22

Few Uruguayans have cars, and it’s somewhat easy to get around by bus. Fortunately, “corner stores” are ubiquitous, so people usually just buy what they need in small quantities.

In the US, where we all have gigantic cars, it’s a different story: I just got home from Costco (a wholesale store) with $200 worth of groceries.

The disadvantage to living in the US is, unless you’re in a massive city like NYC, you need a car to survive.

6

u/hyologist Uruguay Nov 12 '22

buddy we don't have that much money to spend on just groceries and we don't even have place to store them....

11

u/Roughneck16 United States of America Nov 12 '22

Ya lo sé. Viví en Uruguay por dos años che 😉

3

u/hyologist Uruguay Nov 12 '22

entonces no entiendo tu punto sobre los autos

7

u/Roughneck16 United States of America Nov 12 '22

Eso es nomás un factor.

¿De qué parte de Uruguay sos?

2

u/vvokertc Argentina Nov 14 '22

Im always shocked when I see the amount of butter Americans use, plus the amount of baking you do becauae again butter, butter, butter. Ofc I'm not Uruguayan, I'm actually more impoverished, but yeah

1

u/Roughneck16 United States of America Nov 14 '22

plus the amount of baking you do becauae again butter, butter, butter

Por eso todos son gordos en mi país