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Green-Collar Intel · Cost of Living

The pay is 2–3× higher. So what does a month actually cost?

In the salary report I said that for the same role and seniority, Singapore’s nominal pay is roughly 2 to 3× Taiwan’s. That’s true. But every time someone sees that number and starts pricing flights, I want to add one line: first work out what a month costs. This page subtracts rent, utilities, transport and food, item by item, to see what’s left.

Second-hand estimates from February–August 2026; official data retrieved 2026-08-06, each table carrying its own reporting period · 1 SGD ≈ 25 TWD (FX as of 2026-08-08) · Every figure cites a source

The conclusion first, because it isn’t what most people expect: Singapore’s cost of living all but eats the entry-level pay advantage. Only once you have seniority does that multiple actually land in your pocket. Here’s the maths.

Singapore: what a month costs

SGD / month · three ways to live

ItemLean (shared)Normal (suburb 1BR)City-centre 1BR
RentS$1,200–1,800S$1,500–3,500S$2,277–5,000
Utilities & internetS$80–150S$200–300S$200–300
TransportS$100–150S$100–200S$100–200
FoodS$500–700S$700–1,000S$800–1,200
Everything elseS$150–300S$200–400S$300–500
Roughly per monthS$2,100–3,100S$2,700–5,400S$3,700–7,200

Second-hand estimateReporting period Feb–Aug 2026 · checked 2026-08-06 · sources: uhomes (compiled Feb 2026), Numbeo (retrieved 2026-08-06, excluding-rent measure) · these are second-hand estimates, not official statistics; the data.gov.sg block further down this page is the first-hand layer

The market estimates I found put a single person at about S$4,894/month including rent, of which S$3,429 is a city-centre one-bed (range S$2,277–5,000, from uhomes’ February 2026 compilation), which lines up with the city-centre column. A word on units while I’m here: the “S$1,507/month” on Numbeo’s Singapore page is explicitly excluding rent (retrieved 6 Aug 2026), so it is not the same thing as the rent-inclusive total above and the two do not compare directly. One honest note: Singapore rent spreads enormously. A room in a shared flat versus a city-centre one-bed can differ threefold, so “what does Singapore cost” has no single answer. It depends on how you’re willing to live.

Official, first-hand

HDB official · median whole-flat 4-room rent · 2026 Q2

The official numbers: what Singaporeans actually pay to rent an HDB flat

That line about there being no single answer, official data can answer half of it. This section is not like the two tables above: those I assembled from public estimates such as Numbeo and Wise, while every figure here is published by the Singapore government and you can follow the link to check it in the original dataset. The Housing & Development Board (HDB) publishes a median whole-flat rent for each town and flat type every quarter, computed from actual registered tenancies rather than estimated. Below are all 25 towns at the 2026 Q2 median for a 4-room whole flat. One thing to say first: this dataset covers public housing only, so private condominiums and landed housing are not in it at all.

Second-hand estimate

Second-hand estimate · city-centre 1BR

S$3,429

Private condo · one bedroom · usually one person

Official, first-hand

HDB official · CENTRAL

S$4,600

Public housing · whole 4-room flat · usually two or three people

Before the numbers, the difference between this and the table above, because the two cannot replace each other and cannot be added together. The second-hand “city-centre one-bed at S$3,429” above is a private condominium, one bedroom, usually one person. The “CENTRAL at S$4,600” here is a whole 4-room HDB flat, three bedrooms, usually shared by two or three people. Different tenure, different flat, different number of people splitting it. Line the two up and you get the opposite conclusion: split S$4,600 between two people and it is about S$2,300 each, which is cheaper than that one-bed. So the official table is the price of a whole flat, not the price of one person’s room, and the two tables have to be read separately.

2026 Q2 · median whole-flat 4-room rent (SGD)

S$/month, whole flat

  1. 1CENTRALS$4,600
  2. 2QUEENSTOWNS$4,130
  3. 3BUKIT MERAHS$4,000
  4. 4CLEMENTIS$3,900
  5. 5GEYLANGS$3,800
  6. 6KALLANG/WHAMPOAS$3,800
  7. 7TOA PAYOHS$3,800
  8. 8BISHANS$3,650
  9. 9ANG MO KIOS$3,500
  10. 10JURONG WESTS$3,500
Show all 25 towns
  1. 11TAMPINESS$3,500
  2. 12BEDOKS$3,400
  3. 13JURONG EASTS$3,400
  4. 14SERANGOONS$3,400
  5. 15MARINE PARADES$3,350
  6. 16PASIR RISS$3,350
  7. 17BUKIT BATOKS$3,300
  8. 18PUNGGOLS$3,300
  9. 19HOUGANGS$3,200
  10. 20SENGKANGS$3,200
  11. 21SEMBAWANGS$3,180
  12. 22WOODLANDSS$3,100
  13. 23YISHUNS$3,100
  14. 24BUKIT PANJANGS$3,000
  15. 25CHOA CHU KANGS$3,000

The unit is a whole flat per month, not one person’s room. Highest is CENTRAL at S$4,600, lowest S$3,000, a spread of 1.53×.

Source: HDB · Median Rent by Town and Flat Type ↗Reporting period 2026-Q2 · Retrieved 2026-08-06

my calculationHere is what can actually be compared. The median across the 25 towns is S$3,400, with a P25 to P75 range of S$3,200 to S$3,800. Split between two people that is roughly S$1,700 each, which lands inside the S$1,200–1,800 rent range in the “Lean (shared)” column of my table above. That division and that median are both mine, computed from the official series rather than published by the agency, but it does suggest the table above is not wildly off. Note that the official median is what registered tenancies transacted at, excluding agent fees, deposits, furniture and utilities, and that a median is neither an average nor the price you will personally pay.

Another set of official numbers is worth more of your attention. For the same whole 4-room flat, PUNGGOL had a median of S$1,900 in 2020 Q3 and S$3,300 by 2026 Q2, up about 74% in six years. Over the same period TAMPINES rose about 75%, JURONG WEST about 75%, ANG MO KIO about 64% and QUEENSTOWN about 59%. Those changes are mine, computed from the official quarterly series. This is what rent itself did, which is a completely different thing from the inflation figure below, and the next paragraph explains why.

Three more official numbers that decide whether this sum keeps shrinking

All-items consumer price inflation, year on year

+1.9%

June 2026 · SingStat

Overall prices are 1.9% higher than the same month a year earlier. Within that, food is +2.1%, transport +7.5% and housing & utilities +0.3%. That +0.3% needs care: the official housing component includes owner-occupied imputed rent and government utility rebates, so it is not what a new tenant actually pays. The official rents above, up roughly 59% to 75% over six years, are that. Also, the CPI basket is the national household basket, not a single expat tenant’s basket. For scale, the peak was +7.5% in September 2022, and the cumulative five-year rise is about 17.5%.

Source: SingStat · Consumer Price Index (CPI), 2024 As Base Year, Monthly ↗Reporting period 2026-06 · Retrieved 2026-08-06

Median gross monthly income, full-time employed residents

S$5,775

2025 · MOM

This figure includes employer CPF contributions. Excluding employer CPF, the official median is S$5,000; both are published, and which one you want depends on what you are comparing against. Mind the population: this is all residents (citizens and permanent residents) across all occupations, not a green-collar band and not foreign-employee pay. Three different populations, so none of them can verify another. One comparison worth making: the Employment Pass salary threshold quoted in this site’s salary report is S$5,600 a month, above the S$5,000 resident median excluding employer CPF. That threshold is immigration rule rather than part of this statistic, but put side by side, the bar for a foreign professional sits above the local middle.

Source: MOM · Median Gross Monthly Income From Employment of Full-Time Employed Residents (Total) ↗Reporting period 2025 · Retrieved 2026-08-06

See the actual bands for green-collar roles →

Overall unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted

2.0%

June 2026 · MOM

The last 13 quarters have all sat between 1.9% and 2.0%, against a ten-year range of 1.8% to 3.4%, so this is the tight end of it. One limit has to be said out loud: this is the overall rate including non-residents, and a non-resident who loses a job usually leaves Singapore and drops out of the labour force. It therefore understates how hard a foreign job search is, and it is not an indicator of how easy it is for a foreigner to get hired.

Source: MOM · Overall Unemployment Rate, Quarterly ↗Reporting period 2026-06 · Retrieved 2026-08-06

Official figures above are from data.gov.sg (HDB, SingStat, MOM), used under the Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0. Retrieved 2026-08-06; each figure carries its own reporting period beside it. This page is derived analysis, not an official publication, and this site is not affiliated with the Singapore government. Medians, quartiles and rates of change flagged as “my calculation” are computed by me from the official series; where they differ from officially published figures, the official figures stand. If more than 90 days pass without a refresh, this section says so itself, and the official links are the thing to trust.

Taipei: what a month costs

TWD / month · two ways to live

ItemLeanNormal
Rent (studio)NT$9,000–15,000NT$17,000–20,000
Utilities, internet & bitsNT$3,000NT$4,000–5,000
TransportNT$1,200 (metro pass)NT$1,200–2,000
FoodNT$8,000NT$9,000–10,000
Roughly per monthNT$21,000–27,000NT$31,000–37,000

Second-hand estimateReporting period 2026 · checked July 2026 · sources: Taipei rent guide 2026, Wise, Storm Media citing DGBAS, 2026 Taiwan cost calculator · all second-hand estimates; there is no first-hand official block on the Taiwan side

Official and media figures for a single person’s baseline cost in northern Taiwan land around NT$32,000–35,000/month, matching the “normal” column. Rent spreads here too: a studio in Nangang or Datong runs NT$9,000–15,000, while an independent studio in Daan or Zhongshan sits at a NT$17,000–20,000 median.

The real multiple, net of living costs

Subtract the costs above, factor in Singapore’s markedly lower personal income tax, and you get the multiple on disposable income. That is the gap that actually reaches your pocket.

StageNominal multipleDisposable multipleWhy
Entry, 1–3 yrs~2.4×~1.6×Entry pay in Singapore isn’t high, but living costs are a fixed block that takes a big bite up front.
Mid, 4–8 yrs~3×~2.5×Pay rises while living costs don’t rise proportionally, so the share they eat shrinks.

My estimateMy own estimate, not anyone’s published figure · derived from the two tables above plus a rough tax assumption · bands from the 2026 APAC Green-Collar Salary Report on this site (data as of July 2026) · 1 SGD ≈ 25 TWD (FX as of 2026-08-08)

The one line that matters

Move across at 0–3 years and the headline looks great while your pocket barely notices. Move at 4+ years and the multiple actually lands on you. This is the same thing the salary report says from another angle: the EP salary threshold is S$5,600, and your odds improve markedly at 4+ years. The market and your wallet are both telling you not to jump too early.

A few things I need to be straight about. First, tax here is a rough estimate; Singapore’s personal income tax is clearly lower than Taiwan’s high brackets, but your actual bill depends on tax residency and reliefs. Second, I haven’t included FX swings, money sent home, insurance, healthcare or flights back to Taiwan; add your own. Third, rent spreads so widely that how you choose to live rewrites the whole table. This is a sheet to open up the maths, not an answer telling you to go or stay.
Read the salary report first: where the 2–3× comes from →

So, given where you are, is it worth the move?

This page gives you the cost side. Your half depends on your skill combination, seniority and target market, which is exactly what the free green-collar MRI does: it places you into the real bands and tells you what’s missing and when moving actually pays.

Take the green-collar MRI (free) →

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Sources & method

Cross-checked against public sources in July 2026. Every figure is a range, with no false precision. Exchange rate: 1 SGD ≈ 25 TWD, as of 2026-08-08, consistent with the salary report on this site. Salary bands come from the 2026 APAC Green-Collar Salary Report here. The disposable multiples are my own estimate from the costs above plus a rough tax assumption; change how you live and the numbers move. In August 2026 I added official data from data.gov.sg (HDB, SingStat, MOM). Official first-hand figures and second-hand estimates are presented in separate sections; they are never merged into one calculation and never substituted for one another, and the official figures stay in SGD with no conversion to TWD.

© 2026 AhaMoment Green-Collar Intel · Market information, not personal financial or immigration advice · Figures cite sources and keep ranges; estimates are flagged.