Cost of Living Casablanca 2026: Prices Are Falling, Not Rising

MOROCCO · EXPAT GUIDE

Every guide to this city quotes an inflation figure from two years ago. The real number has a minus sign in front of it.

Work out the cost of living Casablanca offers and the first thing to fix is the inflation figure. Almost every guide has it wrong by a wide margin.

Moroccan consumer prices fell 0.6 percent in the year to July 2026. The country is in deflation.

Food led it down, falling 3.7 percent over the year. Non-food prices rose 1.9 percent and core inflation fell 0.1 percent.

Month on month the index dropped a full percent. Vegetables fell 7.6 percent and fuel 4.9.

Casablanca’s own city index fell one percent in the month. Any guide quoting Moroccan inflation at one or two percent is using 2024 or 2025 data.

The Currency

The dirham traded around 9.4 to the dollar in mid-September 2026. That is an aggregator rate rather than a central bank one, because the central bank’s pages are closed to automated retrieval.

Treat the figure as approximate. One Moroccan research house put the pair at 9.26 in late August.

Rent, and the Two Markets

Casablanca has two rental markets and confusing them will wreck a budget. Crowdsourced averages describe one of them and expatriate districts belong to the other.

Market data for furnished flats puts a one-bedroom in Hay Hassani at 2,500 to 5,000 dirhams, about US$266 to US$532. Bourgogne runs 3,000 to 6,000 dirhams, some US$319 to US$638.

Maârif runs 5,000 to 12,000 dirhams, some US$532 to US$1,277. Gauthier runs 4,000 to 9,000 dirhams, about US$426 to US$958.

Then the market changes character. Racine and Anfa both start at 10,000 dirhams and reach 20,000, roughly US$1,064 to US$2,128.

Casa Finance City runs 12,000 to 22,000 dirhams, near US$1,277 to US$2,341, and Aïn Diab 12,000 to 25,000. Three-bedroom flats in Aïn Diab reach 40,000 dirhams, about US$4,256.

Crowdsourced data puts a central one-bedroom at 5,847 dirhams, about US$622, and a central three-bedroom at 10,155, near US$1,080. Those averages sit at roughly the Maârif level.

So use the crowdsourced figure for what a Moroccan professional pays. Use the neighbourhood table for what you will actually be quoted.

Service charges are extra and typically add 200 to 1,500 dirhams a month, some US$21 to US$160. Ask for that figure before signing.

Utilities

Electricity is banded and each band is billed at its own rate. The first 100 units cost 0.9010 dirhams each, about US$0.10.

From 301 to 500 units the rate is 1.3817 dirhams, near US$0.15, and above 500 it is 1.5958, some US$0.17. Those top two bands are where expatriate households land.

Crowdsourced data puts basic utilities for an 85 square metre flat at 467.49 dirhams a month, about US$50. Air conditioning through a Casablanca summer will push well past that.

Broadband at 60 megabits or better runs about 418 dirhams a month, some US$44. A mobile plan with ten gigabytes costs about 98 dirhams, near US$10.

Food

Groceries are genuinely cheap and getting cheaper. A litre of milk is 9.24 dirhams, about US$0.98, and a kilo of tomatoes 7.45 dirhams, near US$0.79.

Potatoes are six dirhams a kilo, about US$0.64, and onions 6.92. Bananas run 14.79 dirhams and apples 15.61, near US$1.66.

Protein is where the cost sits. Chicken fillets run 70.28 dirhams a kilo, about US$7.48, and beef 116.91 dirhams, near US$12.44.

Local cheese is 107.10 dirhams a kilo, some US$11.39. Rice is 18.03 dirhams a kilo, some US$1.92, and a dozen eggs 17.76, about US$1.89.

Eating out is inexpensive by European standards. A cheap restaurant meal is 47 dirhams, about US$5, and a three-course dinner for two 300 dirhams, near US$32.

Getting Around

The tram and busway are the bargain. A single ticket costs 8 dirhams, about US$0.85, and falls to 6 dirhams on a rechargeable card.

A weekly pass is 60 dirhams, about US$6.38, and a monthly pass 230 dirhams, roughly US$24. The card costs 15 dirhams and lasts five years.

Small taxis start at 8 dirhams, some US$0.85, and run about three dirhams a kilometre. They are metered by law and the meter is frequently broken for foreigners.

Insist on the meter or agree a price before you get in. That is the single most useful sentence of Casablanca advice.

Petrol costs 14.90 dirhams a litre and diesel 14.93, both about US$1.59. Note the inversion, because diesel is now dearer than petrol in Morocco.

That reverses the historic relationship and it matters when you choose a car. Prices are revised fortnightly.

Schools, the Line That Breaks Budgets

The main American-curriculum school publishes its fees, and they are the real number. Elementary costs 133,700 dirhams a year, about US$14,225.

Middle school is 153,900 dirhams, near US$16,374, and high school 168,700, some US$17,948. Kindergarten is 107,640 dirhams, about US$11,452.

A one-time entry fee of 40,000 dirhams applies to a first child, about US$4,256. A second child pays 30,000 dirhams, near US$3,192.

Lunch and the bus add roughly 20,000 dirhams more, some US$2,128. All fees are payable in advance.

Discounts exist. Three percent comes off for paying in full by the end of June.

A second child gets five percent and a third gets ten. Every fee is non-refundable.

One published figure to ignore. Crowdsourced data gives international primary schooling at 53,245 dirhams a year, about US$5,665.

That number is almost certainly capturing Moroccan bilingual private schools rather than international-curriculum ones. The French system is cheaper than the American schools and is what much of the foreign community actually uses.

What It Adds Up To

A single person in a mid-market district, with tram travel and home cooking, lands near 9,000 to 14,000 dirhams a month. That is roughly US$960 to US$1,490.

A family of four in Anfa or Racine with a car is a different order, starting near 30,000 dirhams, some US$3,192. School fees sit on top of every figure here.

Those ranges are built from the components above rather than taken from any published budget. Rent and schooling are the two lines that decide them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cost of living Casablanca for a single person?

Roughly 9,000 to 14,000 dirhams a month, about US$960 to US$1,490, in a mid-market district with tram travel. A family in the expatriate districts starts nearer 30,000 dirhams, some US$3,192, before school fees.

Is Morocco’s inflation high?

No. Consumer prices fell 0.6 percent in the year to July 2026, with food down 3.7 percent. Guides quoting one or two percent inflation are using 2024 or 2025 data.

How much is rent?

A one-bedroom runs 2,500 to 5,000 dirhams in Hay Hassani, about US$266 to US$532, and 5,000 to 12,000 in Maârif. Anfa, Racine and Aïn Diab start at 10,000 dirhams, near US$1,064.

What does public transport cost?

A tram ticket is 8 dirhams, about US$0.85, falling to 6 on a rechargeable card. A monthly pass is 230 dirhams, roughly US$24.

How much are international school fees?

At the main American-curriculum school, 133,700 dirhams a year for elementary, about US$14,225, rising to 168,700 for high school, some US$17,948. A 40,000 dirham entry fee, near US$4,256, applies to a first child.

Sources: Haut-Commissariat au Plan consumer price index for July 2026, ONEE residential tariffs in force June 2026, Casatramway operator tariffs, Lebrief fuel tracker, Fincasa market compilation of May 2026, Numbeo of 6 September 2026 and George Washington Academy published fees.

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