Thinking about a move to Reykjavik

Speaking Icelandic is pretty much optional. At least in Reykjavík, the percentage of people who speak English is pretty close to 100%. The only problem you run into is the non-human interactions. Web sites, automated phone systems, labels on items in the store, etc., will usually be in Icelandic only. That's proven to be not too much of a problem. Google translate isn't very good, but it's usually enough to get a basic understanding of a web page or a letter you get in the mail. In shops, you're of course looking at the items, so even if you don't understand the words, you can recognize chicken when you see it. And of course there are a lot of American brands as well, so you see Coke and Pringles and the like with English labels.

Apartment prices seem to have ticked back upwards slightly from the lowest levels. Prices depend quite a lot on where you want to live and the level of amenities you require. 140.000 to 150.000 ISK can get you a "luxury" one-bedroom apartment pretty near to downtown. Below about 100.000 to 110.000 ISK and it seems you start making fairly significant sacrifices. A studio should be a bit cheaper. All the places I was interested in were in the upper part of that range, but I wanted things like a washer/dryer in the apartment, etc. You can look at http://www.leiga.is/leit/default.aspx (in Icelandic, of course) to see some examples of what apartments for rent are going for. The postal code for downtown is 101, but 105 and 107 are pretty nearby as well.

Thank you SO much for your excellent, informative post. Leiga looks so useful.

Would that be 145.000 ISK per month? What about the cost of food?

that's correct on the price. You'll get a pretty nice spot for that price.

Last year I was paying 85000 isk for what's called a rís here, sort of a loft/attic/studio kind of place, in postcode 107. It was the full top floor of a building but had sloping ceilings so not all the space was liveable. Heat, hot water, and electricity was included in that cost.

food depends on what kind of things you want to purchase. For one person I used to spend about 2000-5000 isk on grocery trips 2x per week. I like lots of fresh veggies and grains that are kind of expensive here though. You could probably get by on less.

as for how difficult it is to go to the supermarket, at least half the people who work in the grocery stores I frequent are not Icelandic and use English as their default language anyway. Regarding food and the labeling, the only mishap I've seen happen more than once is in the dairy aisle. There are a lot of different products and I've seen more than one person think they're buying milk and actually are buying buttermilk or one of the dozens of liquidy yogurt type things.