How Much It Costs To Be Emily From Emily In Paris For A Day

Emily Cooper is living the dream life in Emily in Paris. When she’s not grabbing a chocolate croissant on the way to Savoir, attending influencer events, or helping her clients prepare for fashion week, the 20-something is taking time off to travel to chateaus in the French countryside or Saint Tropez.

While watching the Netflix series, it’s easy to get so caught up in the love triangles and hilarious characters that you forget just how expensive it is for Emily to actually live in Paris.

Real Talk: How Much Could Emily Possibly Make In A Year?

The reason Emily (played by Lily Collins) is brought to “The City of Light” in Emily in Paris is for work, so her income is presumably enough to afford a more-than-modest lifestyle.

In Season 1, she’s a brand manager, hoping to be promoted to a senior brand manager, at Savoir. According to Glassdoor, the current base salary for a brand manager working in Paris ranges from €41,000 to €75,000. Since Savoir represents luxury clients, Emily is probably earning somewhere on the higher end of the scale, so €75,000 or about $82,000 a year.

She’s also a bit of a content creator, amassing more than 25,000 followers in just a few days of vlogging her French travels. Since Emily has a background in marketing, she’s good at getting the attention of luxury brands like Durée (similar to Dior IRL). This means it probably wouldn’t be too hard for her to snag a few sponsorships or brand deals to make an additional earning as a creator. On average, an influencer in Paris makes about €32,000 to €45,000, which is equivalent to about $35,000 to $49,000 a year.

If you add all of that up, Emily’s total revenue for the year is around $130,000, which seems reasonable for a somewhat luxe life in France.

But as much as Emily earns, she also spends a ton on her wardrobe, skin care, and fine dining. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of just how much the marketing executive spends in a single day, from her glam morning routine to a night out with her current situationship.

The Long-Term Expenses: Emily Rents A Fifth-Floor Walk-Up In Place De L’Estrapade

When Emily first arrives in Paris, she’s shown her gorgeous chambre de bonne apartment on the fifth (not fourth) floor. Located in the Place de l’Estrapade of Paris’ Fifth arrondissement neighborhood — which is known for its central location near the Seine River and quaint cafes — a room like Emily’s costs about $1,662 a month to rent. This is based on a one-bedroom apartment of the same size, just a two-minute walk away from the 29-year-old’s building.

A fully furnished apartment, like Emily’s, usually comes with Internet, but tenants are responsible for electricity and gas. Housing Anywhere estimates that the average cost per month for electricity in France is €79 ($86) and gas is €70 ($77).

While Internet may be taken care of in her apartment, Emily would need to get a French phone plan to be able to post to the ’Gram whenever she’d want. An expat living in France, according to Culture Travel, would need to budget about €20 or $22 a month for a new phone plan. So, all together, Emily is spending about $60 per day for her home and phone ($1,847 for the month).

Total: $60

Emily’s Morning Is Packed With An Early Workout & Extensive Skin Care Routine

7-8 a.m.: Emily likes to start her day off with a morning jog to places like Jardin du Luxembourg. In Season 1, Episode 2, her workout outfit was a white Chanel top, with the same vibes as this $2,850 tee, along with Nike’s Air Zoom Pegasus 36 Trainers ($130) and black Cotton On tights ($40). According to the Instagram account Emily in Paris Outfits (@emilyinparisoutfits), she also accessorized the look with a $1,626 Rose Gold Veracity Necklace from Tana Chung.

Since Emily is such a multitasker, instead of listening to music, she uses her early morning workout to listen to Rosetta Stone French language courses ($16) on her phone with some Apple AirPods ($169). She even stops to take pics for her ’Gram, and shows off her vintage camera phone case ($11).

8-9:15 a.m.: When she gets back from her jog, Emily starts getting ready for work. After a quick shower — one where the water doesn’t shut off — Emily can get into her skin care and makeup routine. In 2020, Collins shared her personal morning routine, which included a “Parisian glamour” day-to-night look like the one she wears on the show.

The first thing Collins does is spray three spritzes of her Beekeeper’s Naturals Propolis Throat Spray ($11) before applying a Saje Peppermint Halo essential oil ($32) all around her face, which she claims “really wakes you up.” Once she’s done some prep, she washes her face with Cetaphil’s Daily Facial Cleanser ($13) and a face scrub ($29) before toning ($9) and applying Lancôme’s Advanced Génifique Serum ($57).

After giving her face a quick massage with a jade roller ($32), Collins then makes sure her face is properly hydrated by spraying on a Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Face Mist ($36), applying Handmade Heroes Ultra Sexy Scrub to her lips ($10) with a brush ($6), adding on some Burt’s Bees lip balm ($4), and finishing it off with Lancôme’s UV Expert sunscreen ($48).

The sunscreen is also a primer, so Collins is ready to get into her makeup. She starts off with Lancôme’s Teint Idole foundation ($57) followed by their powder ($52). Then, she adds on blush ($34), highlighter ($42), eyeliner ($16), mascara ($30), a nude lipstick ($35), and Juicy Tubes lip gloss ($25). Before getting dressed, she applies deodorant ($26), hand cream ($17), and Lancôme’s La Vie Belle perfume ($150).

Given the look Collins prefers, her on-screen counterpart probably has similar tastes.

9:15-9:30 a.m.: Emily’s closet is full of designer pieces that really make her stand out in a crowd. She doesn’t opt for just a simple work ’fit, either. Instead, she gravitates toward bright colors and statement pieces like her look from Season 2, Episode 10, when she was caught in between Madeline and Sylvie.

If Emily wore this look again, she’d want to grab her Agnès b. Rue du Jour top ($192), and pair it with a green Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini miniskirt ($250) and yellow belt ($460). To complete the ’fit, she’d throw on Christian Louboutin boots ($2,395) before grabbing her Elie Saab shoulder bag ($952) and heading out the door.

9:45-9:55 a.m.: On the way to the office, Emily stops by La Boulangerie Moderne for a chocolate croissant in the pilot episode. According to Yelp, the pastries are all less than $2 and so worth it.

9:55-10:30 a.m.: Savoir is just a 35-minute walk from Emily’s apartment, so she likely opts for the scenic (and free) stroll on the way in and arrives just in time for the work day to begin.

Total: $9,864

Emily’s Afternoon Includes Work Lunches

10:30 a.m.-noon: While Emily is working and coming up with brand campaigns for her clients, she’s not spending any money. However, the Savoir office treats lunch like a work meeting, so around noon she heads out with Sylvie, Luc, and Julien.

Noon-1 p.m.: In Season 1, Luc says that the French don’t “live to work,” they “work to live.” Showing up to the office late and taking a long lunch break is how they like to do things, so Emily goes to nice restaurants with her co-workers to grab a delicious meal and even some Kir Royale cocktails.

A spot nearby that the team actually dined at in the pilot episode is Café 52 at the Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal. This would be a great option for a typical day in Emily’s shoes. The eatery even has a Kir Royale on the menu for $22, as well as a $22 Cocktail Emily, made with Champagne, crème de framboise, and framboise. Either would be something Emily would order along with a $32 steamed fish and veggie plate.

1-5 p.m.: For the rest of the day, Emily works on more campaigns or meets with clients to pitch marketing ideas, leaving her wallet untouched.

Total: $54

Emily Spends Her Evenings With Her Current Petit Ami & Bestie

6-7 p.m.: Emily also manages to squeeze in a French class into her day. In Season 2, she attends class after work, which is where she meets Alfie. A school like L’Atelier 9 in Paris has an evening course that costs $503 for 12 weeks — about $8 a day for classes Monday through Friday — and an Uber there and back is roughly $44.

7:30-8:30 p.m.: After class, Emily grabs dinner, most likely with whichever boy she’s currently seeing (is it Alfie or Gabriel?). A popular choice is Gabriel’s restaurant, Terra Nera, which is close to Emily’s apartment. She might even make a pit stop to change out of her work clothes and into something more fitting for the evening like a $3,790 Paco Rabanne Gradient Chainmail Midi Dress. To complete the look, Emily wears $1,409 Maison Skorpios gold boots, a $760 Lilian Afshar bag, $220 APM Monaco earrings, and a $4,390 Dinh Van ring.

At dinner, since she knows the chef, she might get a discount on her food, but to accurately budget how much Emily would spend on any given day, pretend she’s paying in full. The first time she visits Gabriel’s restaurant with Mindy, she orders a medium steak ($26) with a glass of red wine ($18).

9-10:30 p.m.: If there isn’t a work event for Emily to attend, like a party for Antoine’s Maison Lavaux or a night at the ballet where she runs into Pierre Cadault, she’d spend her evening supporting her BFF Mindy. La Nouvelle Eve is the club where Mindy performs in Season 2, and a ticket for a show is about $87. To get there from Emily’s neighborhood would be around $39 for an Uber.

11 p.m.-midnight: At the end of the evening, Emily returns home (another $39 Uber) and gets ready for bed. Her nighttime routine is not as extensive as her morning one, but she would cleanse, tone, and apply the same Lancôme Advanced Génifique Serum.

Emily in Paris’ lead makeup artist, Aurélie Payen, also shared with CNN that a product she likes to use on the cast is Talika’s Eye Therapy Patches ($70). Payen said these reusable patches are “great for refreshing tired eyes,” which is something Emily would want at the end of a long day.

After getting ready for bed, she slips into something comfortable, like a matching PJ set. She wore a cute Kate Spade set in Season 1, and a similar ’fit is $78.

Total: $10,978

TL;DR: Emily Needs To Start Budgeting More

While Emily’s $130,000 annual salary is impressive, she’s definitely blowing through a lot of that on fashion and skin care. Wearing designer attire around Paris adds up, especially when you’re not repeating any ’fits. Luckily, she’s not buying products every single day, which can save her some money day over day.

Hopefully, Emily is able to make a few deals with her fashion clientele or through her influencer connections to get some dresses and handbags for free. If not, she needs to start selling her clothes on Poshmark to make extra money — or she could just start *gasp* wearing things again. As it stands, Emily’s daily spending could surpass Blair Waldorf’s from Gossip Girl and Marissa Cooper’s from The O.C., two characters who come from family money.

If she wants to keep up with her high-fashion colleagues and afford those holidays to European destinations, Emily needs to be more financially responsible. She definitely doesn’t want to end up funemployed again like she did in Season 3 — that would be très terrible for her bank account.

Total: $20,956