How much an expat family living on $136,000 in Greece spends per month: We ‘felt like we were living paycheck to paycheck’ in the U.S.

Moving from Texas to Greece has so far proven to be the right decision for Cara West and her family. 

“I wanted to be somewhere that was by the water that was really calm and peaceful, and that’s exactly what we’ve had here in Syros,” West told CNBC Make It last year. She moved to Greece in June 2024 with her husband and daughter.

The devastating 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, played a role in pushing West to move her family out of the U.S. After spending about a year living nomadically in places like Portugal and Belize, the family settled into a home on Syros, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea.

Living in Greece offers West and her family a better and more affordable lifestyle, she said. Her husband was able to stop working and they live comfortably on the six-figure income West earns as a luxury travel concierge and content creator. She made around $136,000 in 2024.

That “has been the biggest change for our family — to be able to spend more time with each other, to just have a slower pace of life,” she said.

“I feel like when we were living in the U.S., even though we were making more money, we still felt like we were living paycheck to paycheck and we just couldn’t enjoy the little things,” West added.

Things like going to the movies or out to dinner was tough in the states, “but once we came here to Greece and just to many other countries in Europe, we were able to afford those little luxuries.”

Arriving in Greece wasn’t cheap, though. West and her husband, Harley, spent around $15,000 in June 2024, the month they moved to Syros. Here’s a breakdown of their expenses:

• Moving expenses: $5,880 toward first and last months rent for their apartment in Greece, flights, digital nomad visa application and attorney fees
• Credit card payment: $4,221 toward credit card bills
• Food: $1,952 on dining out and groceries
• Housing and utilities: $1,428 for rent, Wi-Fi and utilities
• Medical: $1,278 for international health insurance, doctor visits and prescriptions
• Discretionary: $446 for clothing and makeup
• Subscriptions: $131 for gym memberships, Netflix, HBO Max and Apple storage subscriptions
• Phones: $192 toward phone bill
• Transportation: $78 for a rental car and gas

Naturally, their expenses were higher the month they moved to Greece, but they won’t have to pay for things like the security deposit on their apartment or the attorney who helped with their visas again.

They also had a little over $60,000 in credit card debt at the end of last year. However, they see a path to paying it off by lowering their living costs in Greece. 

“Next year is going to be such a huge transition for us in being able to have the resources to put towards getting the assistance that we need [and] having a financial advisor who can tell us where to start putting our money so that our money is working for us,” West said.

All in all, West is glad to be living in Greece and feels she and her family are getting their money’s worth. 

“It is truly such a more fulfilling, more richer life abroad,” she said. “Just being able to see the world, to meet new people, to experience a new language, cultures, traditions — it’s just so special and something that we aren’t really exposed to enough in the United States.”

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