Living alone has many advantages, but cheap it is not. Every bill lands on one doormat and there is nobody to share it with. The average fixed expenses of a single-person household in the Netherlands are around € 1,335 per month (indication for 2025, loosely based on example budgets from Nibud, the Dutch national institute for budget advice, and figures from CBS, Statistics Netherlands). In this article you will see what that amount consists of, why living alone is relatively expensive and where you can save most easily as a single person.
What counts as fixed expenses?
Fixed expenses are the recurring costs you are tied to through a contract or obligation: rent or mortgage, energy, insurance, subscriptions and taxes. Groceries and going out are not part of them - those are variable costs, and we will get to them below.
Average fixed expenses of a single person per month
An indication per category, for a single person in 2025:
| Category | Per month |
|---|---|
| Housing (rent or mortgage) | € 750 |
| Health insurance | € 150 |
| Energy | € 130 |
| Transport | € 120 |
| Internet and TV | € 55 |
| Insurance | € 35 |
| Municipal taxes | € 35 |
| Subscriptions | € 25 |
| Mobile phone | € 20 |
| Water | € 15 |
| Total | € 1,335 |
Note: these are ballpark figures for comparison, not official norms. If you rent in the Randstad, your housing costs will quickly exceed that € 750. If you live without a car in a village with a paid-off mortgage, your total can be considerably lower.
Why living alone is relatively expensive
Compare it with a couple without children: together they pay around € 1,890, which is about € 945 per person. A single person therefore pays roughly € 390 per month more per person than someone who lives together.
The explanation is simple: many fixed expenses are per household, not per person. A home, an energy connection, an internet subscription and the waste collection charge cost almost the same for one person as for two. Only costs that are truly personal, such as health insurance and your phone plan, are paid twice by a couple.
How much of your income goes to fixed expenses therefore also differs strongly per household type. In this article about fixed expenses as a percentage of your income you can read which rules of thumb to use.
Do not forget the variable costs
Besides fixed expenses, you also spend money on variable costs. For a single person, an indication is: around € 300 per month on groceries, € 90 on fuel (if you have a car) and € 100 on going out. Altogether that quickly adds up to € 1,700 to € 1,800 per month in total spending, before clothing, holidays and unexpected costs. Curious whether your grocery budget is normal? Read what groceries cost per month.
How to lower your fixed expenses as a single person
Precisely because you pay everything alone, every saving goes straight into your own pocket. The biggest opportunities:
- Check your benefits. As a single person you qualify for Dutch healthcare benefit (zorgtoeslag) and rent benefit (huurtoeslag) sooner than a double-income couple, because the income limit applies per household. Check it on the Belastingdienst website.
- Compare your energy, internet and phone contract every year. Prices differ considerably between providers and switching usually takes only half an hour.
- Take a critical look at your subscriptions. You do not share streaming services and gym memberships with a partner, so everything you keep, you pay for entirely yourself.
- Check your insurance policies for overlap. A single person usually only needs single-person liability cover instead of family cover, for example.
Want to know more? Our ten saving tips for fixed expenses show you step by step where to start.
Compare your own fixed expenses with the average
Averages are a useful starting point, but what matters is your situation. The VasteLast calculator puts your own spending per category next to the average for a single-person household and automatically highlights the categories where you can probably save. Free, no account, no ads.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Consider consulting a qualified professional about your personal situation.