How much does it cost to live together?
Living together in a rented one-bedroom in a mid-sized US city costs a couple around $3,700 to $3,800 a month in total, if rent is $1,600. Rent is the line that changes everything: in a big coastal city it can easily be double. Living together still costs less than living alone: in the example below, each partner spends about 30% less. The numbers are an example to adapt, not a statistical average.
The DuoWallet teamPublished 29 October 20263 min read
The couple's costs, line by line
A couple renting a one-bedroom apartment, sharing one car:
| Line | Per month |
|---|---|
| Rent | $1,600 |
| Utilities (electricity, gas, water, trash) | $300 |
| Internet | $70 |
| Groceries | $720 |
| Getting around (car, gas, insurance, transit) | $600 |
| Eating out | $400 |
| Streaming | $40 |
| Total | $3,730 |
Split in half, that's $1,865 each. With different incomes, splitting by income is often fairer: on take-home pay of $5,000 and $3,500, it's $2,194 and $1,536. The split bills by income calculator runs it with your own numbers.
What the same life costs alone
The same person, living alone in a studio in the same city:
| Line | Per month |
|---|---|
| Rent | $1,200 |
| Utilities | $180 |
| Internet | $70 |
| Groceries | $400 |
| Getting around | $500 |
| Eating out | $300 |
| Streaming | $25 |
| Total | $2,675 |
Alone $2,675, together $1,865: about $810 less each month per person, close to $10,000 over a year.
What gets cheaper and what doesn't
The savings don't come from every line in the same way.
- Almost halved: rent, internet, streaming. A one-bedroom doesn't cost twice a studio, and one internet plan covers two people.
- Up, but less than double: utilities and groceries. You heat the same rooms and run the same fridge; food, though, grows almost in line with the number of people.
- Not shared at all: personal spending and, if you work in different places, each person's commute. With two cars, most of the transportation savings disappear.
The costs the monthly view hides
The monthly tally isn't the whole story. Some costs come once or twice a year and belong in the plan divided by twelve: car registration, a yearly insurance premium, holiday gifts, vacations. Added in, they easily come to $250 to $400 a month. To fit them into a plan, see our guide on how to make a couples budget.
How to split the bill
Once you know what living together costs, you still need to decide who pays what. Rent is the biggest line, and it has its own guide on how to split rent with your partner. For everything else the methods are the same, explained in how to split bills with your partner.
To know each month what you actually spent, and who owes whom, you can log expenses in an expense sharing app for couples. More guides are in couples and money.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost a couple to live together each month?
It depends mostly on rent, which varies a lot by city. In this article's example, with $1,600 in rent, the couple's monthly costs come to about $3,730.
Is it cheaper to live together than alone?
Usually by a lot: rent, utilities and internet get shared. In the example, each partner spends about 30% less than living alone.
Which costs don't get cheaper when you live together?
Food, which grows with the number of people eating, each person's commute, and personal spending. Housing costs are the ones that shrink.
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