Warsaw Vs Krakow which is best for raising family and working in?

Hello everyone,

Just from your experiences, where is it easier to find a job. Krakow or Warsaw. I'm also wondering if there are companies that hire english speaking people that you only work with english. Also, I know Warsaw is one of the most expensive city in the world. Where is the best place you're most likely to save some money in Warsaw or Krakow minus all the expenses. Which city is best to raise a family?

Warsaw vs Krakow...

Hello Gen,
And welcome to the Polish Forum.
Krakow is nicer :)
But Warsaw is the capital.
Teaching Eglish is probably the easiest thing you can do.
Where are you from?
Krakow is better

Krakow :)

by far :)

Er, I know it's not a cheap capital city any more but this may be a slight exaggeration. Try Moscow or London or Tokyo if you want expensive.....

Warsaw is bigger, more people. Depending on the area you want to live, they are both nice.

Hi I'm from Canada,
Thank u for the greetings,

I thought English before in Poland, it's not something I'm into.
I'm wondering if there are companies in Krakow that you just work in English.
I think Warsaw has a few companies that are from other countries that work requires only for you do work in English, that's what I heard but I'm not sure if that is true or possible.

And Warsaw is on # 35 as the most expensive city in the world way more expensive than Toronto which is at # 54 WOW.

Hello Gen,
The reason I asled is because it is important to answer you comment about Warsaw being one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Although this statement is true to a certain extent, you will probably find it cheaper than Ottawa.
But this is an assumption on my part, I have never lived in Warsaw or Ottawa.
I live near Krakow.
Krakow is nicer.


That is a very vague question, I would suggest getting something that suits your skills and/or education.


really? who said that?

Yeah that's some bullshytting about Warsaw being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Capitals, maybe.

Krakow is better for raising a family & just plain living. If you want to make more money (not teaching english, but big int'l co), and sacraifice a longer commute (to save on rent costs), then Warsaw is good.

citymayors.com/economics/expensive_cities2.html - most expensive cities to live in (2008)

Toronto 24th
Warsaw 44th

I should say this was just the first site I pulled out of the net,
I do not know if it is true but at a guess I would say Warsaw is a lot cheaper than Toronto.

Actually Moscow being 37th does not look right on that list.
I hear that Moscow is quite expensive?.

Ah sure there must be a million ways to make such a list

Definitely Warsaw....

Forbes and also mercer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_cities_for_expatriate_employees


So there anything else I can do rather than teaching English in Krakow.
My skills and experience are Customer service, Administrative Assistant, Office Clerk, and in the transportation logistics area. I wonder if there are companies like that you just work with English.

I found it on Mercer.
35 Warsaw march 2008

I can't find it on Fordes

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name.

I still think it is not accurate, I can't imagine Warsaw being that much more expensive in comparison to other countries.

What does it mean to be the most expensive city for expatriates?
Does this mean expats get ripped off?

I don't mean to badger the point, I am just curious now.

Probably your best bet is to get a job in a multinational at home and transfer out to PL with them. Obviously the transfer would take time. Getting a job 'cold' in Pl with no Polish language skills is very difficult as you would expect. Might be worth checking out the companies with international call centres in PL that handle nglish calls and customers. Wouldn't be my choice but.....

So my best bet would be to stick with English Teaching...
rather than that it's call center stuff... yikes..

I work in Krakow for IBM and don't speak any Polish either :)

Why would there be?

To the extent they exist they're international and send people to Poland from other countries rather than recruit locally (except for Polish staff).

My advice is to use connections (a way of life here). Try to get jobs teaching business English which can make you contacts.
You might also hunt around in headhunter offices but again, knowing someone is key and without knowing Polish it'll be hard to make the right kind of contacts.

Failing that try to find out where expats working for intl companies hang out and start hanging out there too.

Well like one person said IBM, I think that is a choice, also Hitachi in Krakow.
If you go to their career website all the job postings are in English. Makes me wonder if these positions you work in English. Then again same with Shell in Krakow their listings are in English but when I talked to them they said you need to also know Polish.

The listings are in English, because they seek bilingual people. If they write in Polish, many Poles with no english skills will apply. So this is a method to weed them out.


Moscow is #1 most expensive city in the world. Its followed by Tokyo; London; Oslo, Norway; and Seoul, South Korea.

forbes.com/2008/07/23/cities-expensive-world-forbeslife-cx_zg_0724expensivecities.html