Life in Jerusalem | Imamother

amother

Heather

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 3:43 am

amother Bergamot wrote:

All of these cery large numbers. Who is making so much money? Who is bringing in 30 - 45 k a month?
I dont live in jerusalem, but I cant get the numbers out of my head. They are huge.

My husband is in sales so his salary does vary and some months combined we make more like 20k after taxes, and some months it's like 32k after taxes. I work in hi tech. We also do have a family member who gives us about 2k a month BH which helps!
We often out money into savings when it's a higher earning month (although have a ton of expenses this summer so will probably be dipping into that).
I do wonder how people pay crazy rents (we moved out of one of the more central Jerusalem neighborhoods to an outlying one to save on rent).

And I do agree, the traffic right now really affects he quality of life here (although if all the kids are on tenders or local maybe it isn't so bad, I drive a lot of carpool). But in the actual neighborhood I'm in there's not a lot of construction or traffic, just on the way. My husband is very passionate about living in Jerusalem for several reasons so for us it's not an option to pick and move out so we are doing our best to make it work.

amother

Cherry

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 4:06 am

amother Bergamot wrote:

All of these cery large numbers. Who is making so much money? Who is bringing in 30 - 45 k a month?
I dont live in jerusalem, but I cant get the numbers out of my head. They are huge.

We do, but dh and I are both in hitech. Between both of us, we bring in 75k pretax (post tax is just depressing)
We don't live in yerushalayim, it's too much money for not enough space.

amother

Lilac

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 4:46 am

As someone who has lived in Jerusalem for 22 years now, I will offer my opinions.

Firstly, my husband and I are very much city people, so we're great with the noise and crowds. But it would certainly be too much for some people.

Currently, Jerusalem is a mass construction site. The air is covered in dust. The traffic is crazy. Yesterday it took me 45 minutes by bus to get to an appointment that wasn't that far away. Aside from the fact that I needed to walk all down the block and then cross and go back up to get to the bus stop because the workers wouldn't let me just cross the street at the corner.
I see people above wrote that the suburbs aren't construction sites. Great. I believe OP is asking about Jerusalem proper, or she would have asked specifically about life in X suburb.

Rent in my area, which isn't particularly fancy, is currently and average of 10K for a small, old, apartment. An apartment that 2 bedroom that hasn't been touched since 1970 would be more like 6000-8000, while a small 3 bedroom with a bit of renovation could go for 12000-14000. And then, as other's mentioned, there's arnona. And Vaad Bayit.

We have 6 kids from married down to 6 years old. (How old are your kids? Little kids are much less expensive than teens.) We are very fortunate to not have a mortgage anymore. We make slightly over 30K after taxes and I feel like that's doable. If we had to pay rent or mortgage we'd need 40K+.

amother

Currant

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 6:34 am

For those who asked, yes my husband has a specific skill that he could use to earn money if he left kollel. Not going into details here. It's not a learned skill but a specific talent that he has that people really run after. I'm not dreaming - when necessary over the years he has taken on small projects to supplement our income. He has been offered full time work. He could easily reach 18000 a month working part time and more than that working full time because a fortune goes on taxes.

As for me, I work remotely for an American company. I have 20 yrs experience in my field, constantly learning and keeping up to date and bH making a nice salary.

We get 90% discount on arnona because we have a child with disabilities.
When I say suburb, think Har Nof, Ramat Shlomo, Bayit Vegan, Ramot. All are suburbs with suburbian living, some more than others but all have cheaper rents and are easily accessible to the city center.

I'm not trying to give people an artificial idea of what is possible at all. In most aliya threads, I've been the one to caution people. This is our reality. Is it duplicable? I have no idea. The point of this thread wasn't aliya. It was how much you need to live on in Yerushalayim.

Bnei Berak 10

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 7:06 am

Elfrida wrote:

That would be logical, but isn't necessarily the case. Jerusalem is built on hills. If the architect uses the topography you can sometimes get a building with gardens on multiple levels. My friend lives four flights up from the street and has a garden.

Regardless of the level, the extra land for a garden will always make those apartments more expensive.

You are 100% right Smile

Living in gush dan where there are few hills so I tend to forget Smile

amother

Gardenia

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 7:53 am

amother Currant wrote:

How? Disability gives you a 30% discount, as per the Jerusalem municipality's website. Not 90%.

amother

Cherry

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 7:56 am

Iymnok wrote:

Har nof, Bayir Vegan, Ramat Shlomo and Ramot are not suburbs and they get all the benefits of Jerusalem. They are not suburban living.
When someone is looking for a suburb of Jerusalem, they do not mean those areas.

Yeah, when someone says 'suburb of Yerushalayim ', I think Mevaseret or Givaat Zeev or Beitar Illit.

amother

Olive

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 8:08 am

It all depends on where you live. What kind of community are you looking for?

The is a huge difference in housing costs depending on the area you pick. Gilo is not Rechavia and Romema isnt Ramat Shlomo. Another thing will vary is schooling : maamad, charedi BY and charedi private schools have significantly different tuitions.

To me - you would need minimum 30k to scarpe by, and 40-45k to be comfortable

a2z

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 8:24 am

Iymnok wrote:

Right, those are outskirts of the city not suburbs

amother

Currant

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 8:25 am

amother Gardenia wrote:

How? Disability gives you a 30% discount, as per the Jerusalem municipality's website. Not 90%.

Depends on the type of disability.
I'm moving off this thread to protect my privacy.

Living in Har Nof or Ramot or Ramat Shlomo is not the center that people were complaining about with traffic, noise, constant building and tiny apartments. It's quiet, clean and you can find bigger apartments for a lower rent.

Hatzlacha to you all! I think OP has her answer.

essie14

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 10:02 am

amother Currant wrote:

When I say suburb, think Har Nof, Ramat Shlomo, Bayit Vegan, Ramot. All are suburbs with suburbian living, some more than others but all have cheaper rents and are easily accessible to the city center.

No one I know considers those suburbs.

shabbatiscoming

Fri, Jul 14 2023, 11:22 am

amother Currant wrote:

These are not suburbs of jerusalem. These are neighborhoods IN jerusalem.

amother

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 4:31 am

amother Whitesmoke wrote:

Cost of living aside, am I the only one who would really caution anyone with a young family to really think carefully about moving to Jerusalem? I don't know where OP is coming from but the small, expensive apartments, constant construction, noise, crowds and traffic really impact the quality of life. Although it was once my dream, I wouldn't move there today if you paid me...
The weather is good, though.

Bumping up the old thread
Where in Israel would you move to with the similar weather?

amother

Molasses

Tue, Mar 12 2024, 6:58 am

Maybe Agan Haayalot in Givat Zev although the newer apts are being built with smaller porches. I don't know where you're coming from but your kids would have to be chareidi and speak Hebrew because there are only 2 boys cheders and 1 bais yaakov.