An American entrepreneur in Iceland: earning $73,000 a year and feeling “at home”! An article shares her reasons for immigrating to Iceland, her monthly living costs, and why she likes it here

• Fitness: $352 for a gym membership and a personal trainer

• Eating out: $321

• Life insurance: $73

• Gasoline: $65

• Unexpected expenses: $61 for an emergency visit and medication for strep throat

Jewells’ biggest monthly expense is rent, which costs about $1,941 per month for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in downtown Reykjavik, which comes with a storage area and an indoor parking space (Iceland is very cold in the winter, after all).

She also spent more than $850 on food for herself in June. Food, especially restaurant food, can get expensive quickly. Jewells estimates that an entree at a restaurant in Iceland typically costs $25 to $30, and a cup of coffee at a downtown cafe costs $7.50 to $8.

Chambers’s spending is absent from several big-ticket items that often appear in Americans’ budgets. Some of them are related to her job. Because she has a brand partnership with a rental car company, she can use the company car for free; she only pays for gas.

Other costs, such as health insurance, are not included because Iceland heavily subsidizes universal health care. Jewells did spend $61 to treat strep throat in June. She said she would have paid less if she had gone to a nearby health center instead of the emergency room.