Singapore tops global cheap eats: Locals can eat out 500 times monthly on average salary, study shows

SINGAPORE: Singapore has been named the world’s most affordable city for cheap eats, where a casual restaurant dish costs just 0.2% of the city-state’s average monthly salary, or about US$9.30 (S$11.94).

A new global study by international food magazine Chef’s Pencil, which analysed more than 180 cities globally through crowdsourced figures from Numbeo, found that with an average monthly salary of US$4,642, a Singaporean could afford to dine out 500 times a month at low-cost restaurants.

Unsurprisingly, the most affordable places for budget dining in the world are concentrated in Asia.

However, for those in Cairo (2.29%), Lagos (2.49%) and Caracas (3.63%), even cheap meals take up 10 times more than in the city-state.

The city-state also ranked sixth globally when it comes to affordability in dining at mid-range restaurants, with a typical meal priced at just 0.8% of locals’ average monthly salary, or US$39.

Dining affordability was seen in other wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo (7th), Shenzhen (8th), Seoul (9th), and Doha (11th), though it dropped sharply in South and Southeast Asia.

Topping the list was Dallas in the United States, where a mid-range restaurant meal costs about US$35, or 0.7% of the city’s average monthly salary of US$4,687, though dining out remains a luxury in Cairo, Kingston and Nairobi. Caracas and Lagos ranked the least in dining affordability.

The food magazine compared the price of a three-course meal with average monthly salaries across 177 cities worldwide to measure how much dining out in mid-range restaurants costs locals.

Meanwhile, coffee was found to be moderately affordable in the city-state, at 3% of locals’ average monthly salary.

The study noted that while coffee prices were found to be the most affordable in high-income countries like Switzerland, Italy, and the US, cultural habits also played a role in the ranking.

For example, Italy’s café culture kept coffee cheap and widely accessible despite wages not being the highest. /TISG

Read also: Netizen urges Singaporeans to ‘do more’ to support local businesses as more restaurants shut down and payment woes hit food suppliers

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