Why there is no price list on this page
You came here for a table of what things cost. Here is why we are not giving you one.
Consumer prices in Argentina rose 33.5% in the twelve months to August 2026. A price we published today would be materially wrong by Christmas, and most of the price lists you will find in English are eighteen months to three years old with no date on them at all. Worse, they are almost always unsourced — somebody’s recollection of a supermarket, rounded.
What is published, monthly, by the national statistics institute and the city’s own statistics institute, is how fast each category of spending is moving and relative to what. That is more useful than a number, because it tells you which parts of your budget are about to hurt. So that is what this page is.
Inflation, by category, and which parts are outrunning the rest
National figures, released 2026-09-10 for August 2026:
- 1.7% for the month — a fourteen-month low.
- 21.3% year to date.
- 33.5% over twelve months.
- Housing, water, electricity and gas led the month at +2.8%, and core inflation was driven primarily by higher housing rents.
The city’s own index, which is the one that actually describes a Buenos Aires household, for the same month:
| Category (share of the basket) | Month | Year to date | Twelve months |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | +1.7% | +21.5% | +33.3% |
| Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels (17.4%) | +2.6% | +25.9% | +37.7% |
| Transport (11.4%) | +1.2% | +24.4% | +42.5% |
| Restaurants and hotels | −0.1% | — | +30.0% |
City consumer price index, August 2026, published September 2026.
Read the last column. Transport at 42.5% and housing at 37.7% are both running well ahead of the 33.3% headline, while eating out is running behind it. So the parts of your cost of living that are fixed and unavoidable are rising faster than the parts you can choose. That is the opposite of how most newcomers budget.
The dollar-terms point, which is the one that actually matters to a foreigner
If you earn in dollars, the question is not what Argentine inflation is. It is whether the peso is falling as fast as prices are rising. It is not — and this is the one figure on the page worth reproducing yourself, so here is the arithmetic rather than an adjective.
On the central bank’s own wholesale reference rate (Comunicación “A” 3500), the dollar averaged $1,399.90 across the business days of September 2025 and $1,511.02 across the nine business days of September 2026 up to the 11th. That is a peso depreciation of about seven percent. Consumer prices rose 33.5% over the twelve months to August 2026. Put those two together and the same basket of Argentine prices costs a dollar earner roughly 24% more than it did a year earlier.
Computed from the BCRA’s published daily exchange-rate series, retrieved 2026-09-13. Measured day-to-day instead of on monthly averages the depreciation is smaller — $1,427.58 on 2025-09-11 against $1,509.91 on 2026-09-11, about five and a half percent — because early September 2025 was the month the rate spiked towards the band ceiling. We publish both numbers rather than pick the flattering one.
That is real appreciation, and it means your dollar income buys steadily less here than it did. It is the mechanism behind every complaint you will read from long-term residents that Buenos Aires “stopped being cheap”, and it is measurable rather than a mood.
The reason the peso held so steady is the managed band the central bank defends, described in our blue dollar guide. The short version: on 2026-09-11 the wholesale reference rate was $1,509.91 against a band ceiling of about $1,919 — the rate sat about 21% below the ceiling, which is the same thing as saying the ceiling sat about 27% above the rate — so the currency is not being held at a wall.
And the arbitrage that used to make dollar earners feel rich here is gone: on 2026-09-13 the parallel rate was about one percent from the official one. Buenos Aires is still cheaper than New York or London. It is no longer a bargain, and it has not been since the gap closed.
Housing: the biggest line, with two official-ish sources that disagree
Rent is the single largest item in most newcomers’ budgets and the one with the most published data. We are going to give you two sources that do not agree, and say so, rather than average them into a fake precision.
The city statistics institute, second quarter of 2026 (provisional), asking rents for standardised peso listings:
| Unit | City median asking rent, per month |
|---|---|
| Studio (monoambiente, standardised 30 m²) | $565,658 |
| One bedroom (2 ambientes, 43 m²) | $764,485 |
| Two bedrooms (3 ambientes, 70 m²) | $1,174,304 |
A major listings portal, August 2026: a studio at $771,871, a one-bedroom at $886,527 and a two-bedroom at $1,196,413, with rents up 19.2% year to date against roughly 21.5% inflation — a real fall of about two percent — and listing stock at 3.4 times its February 2023 low.
Different portals, different methods, different quarters. Both are real; neither is “the” number. What they agree on is the direction: rents have been converging with general inflation for about five quarters, and supply is abundant by recent standards.
Three costs newcomers forget
- Expensas — the monthly building charges tenants pay. The most recent figure we could source is La Nación’s, which put the city average at $324,404 a month in March 2026. That is six months old in a 33%-inflation economy, so read it as a floor and not as today’s number. Ask for the last three months’ bills before you sign — those are the only expensas figures that describe the building you are actually renting.
- The guarantee. Budget roughly one to two months’ rent for a surety product if you cannot produce a property-owning guarantor. Our garantía guide is the whole story.
- The dollar market. Around a quarter of city rental listings are priced in dollars, and the share rises sharply with apartment size and in Palermo, Belgrano and Recoleta — so a foreigner shown furnished units in those barrios is shopping in a market the peso statistics above do not describe. Our neighbourhood guide has the barrio-by-barrio breakdown.
The arithmetic on a rent increase, which people get wrong
Contracts now index to the consumer price index, commonly every three or four months. You compound the monthly figures; you do not add them. Four months at 2.6%, 2.1%, 1.9% and 2.1% is 1.026 × 1.021 × 1.019 × 1.021 = 8.99% accumulated, not the 8.7% you get by adding. On a large rent that difference is real money, and it is the single most common mistake in rent-increase calculations.
Transport, with the fares
Transport was the fastest-rising category in the city index over the year to August 2026, at 42.5%. Here is where it stands:
- Subte: $1,753.00 for each of your first twenty monthly trips with a registered SUBE card, and $2,541.10 without. Past twenty trips a month the fare drops to $1,402.40, past thirty to $1,227.10, past forty to $1,051.80.
- Colectivo (bus): a minimum fare of ARS 753.74 for trips up to 3 km with a registered card, as of May 2026.
Subte fares read from the operator’s own fare table on 2026-09-13 — note that page publishes no effective date. The bus fare is secondary-sourced and four months old; treat it as indicative and re-check.
Two things follow, and both are worth acting on. First, register your SUBE card: it cuts about 31% off the subte fare immediately, and the discounts deepen with monthly volume. Second, on these figures the subte now costs more than twice the bus — so every guide calling the subte the cheapest way around the city is out of date.
What the numbers look like from the other side
It is worth knowing what these costs mean to the people around you, because it shapes everything from how landlords behave to how a price is quoted to you.
A June 2026 national tenants’ survey of 808 households across sixteen provinces found that 29.7% of tenant households were in housing emergency, 72.9% carried active debt — the highest in that survey’s series — and that while tenants paid about 40% of their salary in rent on average, 48.5% were paying half or more. Median rent in the survey was about $656,500 nationally and $700,000 in the city.
That is an advocacy organisation’s survey rather than an official statistic, and it should be read as such. But it is the only tenant-side measurement published, and the direction is consistent with the official rent and inflation data above.
For reference on wages: the statutory minimum wage in force for September 2026 was ARS 383,800, stepping up through October, November and December. It is reset by resolution, and it doubles as the basis for the rentista visa threshold — five times it — described in our residency guide.
The fixed costs of being legal here
Two recurring costs a newcomer usually does not budget for, both covered in detail elsewhere on this site:
- The monotributo if you freelance: a fixed monthly amount set by your income category, reindexed every February and August, now bundled with the city turnover tax in a single payment. Not a percentage of billings, which is why it is proportionally expensive at the bottom of a category. The live table is on the tax authority’s own page, and our monotributo guide explains which of its three components you actually pay.
- Health cover. The monotributo bundles an obra social contribution; private cover on top is a separate monthly cost, and prepaga prices have moved frequently since the December 2023 deregulation. We publish no prepaga prices for that reason — our healthcare guide explains what the law guarantees you instead, which is the part that does not move.
Add the one-off costs of arriving legally: government migration fees are trivial (roughly USD 65 for a non-Mercosur residency filing at September 2026 rates), but apostilles and certified translations are not, and neither is the time.
Where to look up today’s number
- INDEC publishes the national consumer price index monthly, around the middle of the following month.
- The city statistics institute publishes the city index and, quarterly, the rental market report with asking rents by barrio.
- Dolarito, DolarHoy and the Argentine financial press publish every exchange rate daily.
- The subte operator and SUBE publish current fares.
- ARCA publishes the monotributo table with the date it took effect.
That list is the real answer to “what does it cost to live in Buenos Aires”. Everything else, including this page, is a snapshot with a date on it.
Commonly repeated, and now wrong
| You will read | The position as of 2026-09-13 |
|---|---|
| “Buenos Aires is incredibly cheap for dollar earners” | Less each month. On the central bank’s wholesale series the peso lost about seven percent of its dollar value over the year to September 2026, while prices rose 33.5% — so the same basket costs a dollar earner about 24% more. Cheaper than New York or London; no longer a bargain. |
| “Use the blue dollar and everything halves” | The gap was about one percent on 2026-09-13. |
| “The subte is the cheapest way around” | Subte $1,753 against a minimum bus fare around $754. And register your SUBE card — it is about 31% off. |
| “Rents are exploding faster than inflation” | Asking rents have been converging with general inflation for about five quarters, and one portal’s August 2026 index showed a small real fall. Housing costs in the city index are still outrunning the headline, at 37.7% year on year. |
| “There is no rental supply” | Listing stock hit an all-time series high in the second quarter of 2026. |
| Adding up monthly inflation to work out a rent rise | Compound it. Four months at 2.6, 2.1, 1.9 and 2.1 percent is 8.99 percent, not 8.7. |
| Any undated price list for groceries, coffee or rent | In a 33%-inflation economy an undated figure is not information. Check the date on anything you read, including this page’s. |
Common questions
What was inflation in Argentina in 2026?
For August 2026, INDEC reported 1.7% for the month, 21.3% year to date and 33.5% over twelve months. The city of Buenos Aires index for the same month was 1.7%, 21.5% and 33.3%.
Is Buenos Aires still cheap in 2026?
Less so each month. On the central bank’s own wholesale reference rate the dollar averaged 1,399.90 pesos in September 2025 and 1,511.02 pesos over the first nine business days of September 2026 — the peso lost about seven percent of its dollar value — while consumer prices rose 33.5% in the twelve months to August 2026. That is real appreciation: the same basket costs a dollar earner roughly 24% more than a year ago. It remains much cheaper than New York or London, but the era of the blue-dollar bargain ended when currency controls on individuals were lifted in April 2025.
How much is rent in Buenos Aires per month?
The city statistics institute put median asking rents in the second quarter of 2026 at about $565,658 for a studio, $764,485 for a one-bedroom and $1,174,304 for a two-bedroom, in pesos. A major listings portal reported higher figures for August 2026. Both are asking prices for peso listings; roughly a quarter of city listings are priced in dollars and sit outside that data.
What costs are rising fastest in Buenos Aires?
On the city index for the year to August 2026, transport at 42.5% and housing, water, electricity and gas at 37.7% — both well ahead of the 33.3% headline. Restaurants and hotels ran behind it at 30.0%. The unavoidable parts of a budget are rising faster than the discretionary parts.
How much does the subte cost in Buenos Aires?
On the operator fare table read in September 2026, $1,753.00 for each of the first twenty monthly trips with a registered SUBE card and $2,541.10 without, dropping to $1,402.40 past twenty trips, $1,227.10 past thirty and $1,051.80 past forty. Registering the card cuts about 31% off the fare immediately.
What are expensas and how much are they?
Expensas are the monthly building charges an Argentine tenant pays on top of rent — maintenance, staff, common services. The most recent sourced figure we have is La Nación’s, which put the city average at $324,404 a month in March 2026 — six months old at the time of writing, so treat it as a floor. Ask for the last three months of bills before signing; that is the only number that describes your actual building.
How do I calculate my rent increase in Argentina?
Compound the monthly inflation figures for the period your contract indexes over, do not add them. Four months at 2.6, 2.1, 1.9 and 2.1 percent compounds to 8.99 percent — 1.026 times 1.021 times 1.019 times 1.021 — where adding gives 8.7. Check which index your contract names and how often it applies.