Cost of Living
in Saint Petersburg

The subject about the cost of living in St. Petersburg Russia also highlights that Russians no longer survive on just pickled cucumbers, beetroots and a vat of vodka - although the latter is arguably still true!

As more and more Russians in St. Petersburg experience a form of disposable income so the range and quality of products available continues to increase.

The trend towards commuting to large supermarkets on the city outskirts has certainly taken off over the past few years – mainly due to the growth in vehicle ownership.

These larger outlets obviously buy in huge bulk and maintain more competitive prices than their smaller city centre counterparts. The prices, in Russian roubles/rubles, featured in our (changing) shopping list below are only to be looked upon as a guideline.

Eating out
Fortunately there are now hundreds of restaurants, bars and cafes in St. Petersburg to suit all budgets and tastes. In some places 10 USD can get you a good first course meal with a beer or soft drink – in others it will just about get you a beer. It really does depend upon how lavish you want your lifestyle.

There are some organisations that use bizarre schemes for judging the prosperity of a country. One such method is gauging the price of a McDonalds’ Big Mac - for those who eat them (and those conducting such research!) they were 63 roubles each (at the start of 2009). Incidently, there are approximately 37 McDonalds' restaurants in and around the centre of Saint Petersburg.

Fuel (petrol/gasoline)
The general energy costs in Russia are much lower than in Europe.
Fuel of octane grade 95 (Super), used by the majority of vehicles, is priced at around 26 roubles a litre.