The honest cost of living in Cambridge (MA) as an international Harvard or MIT PhD
Departmental stipends are generous on paper. Then rent and health insurance arrive. Here's what the actual monthly leftover looks like.
Who this is for: Incoming Harvard / MIT international PhD students trying to figure out whether the stipend will actually cover Cambridge.
Most Harvard and MIT PhD acceptance emails include a stipend figure that looks generous in your home currency. Then you start pricing one-bedrooms in Cambridge MA and the math gets uncomfortable fast. This piece is the honest monthly breakdown — what comes in, what goes out, and how much you actually have left for the things that matter.
What lands in your account
MIT's 2025-26 graduate research assistant stipend is roughly $4,200/month before federal and Massachusetts state tax. Harvard's GSAS PhD stipend is in a similar band, roughly $4,000-4,300/month. International students on F-1 status are exempt from FICA but still pay federal income tax (around 12-15% effective at this income level) plus MA state income tax (around 5%). Net take-home for most international PhD students lands at roughly $3,300-3,500/month.
What goes out before you have any choice in the matter
Rent: a shared 2-bed in Cambridge runs $1,500-2,200/month per person depending on neighborhood (Inman Square, Porter, Central, Kendall — Kendall is the most expensive, Porter the most affordable). A studio runs $2,200-2,800/month. We tell incoming students: assume $1,800/month for rent if you can find a roommate, $2,500 if you can't.
Health insurance: MIT's student extended insurance plan is approximately $3,800/year for 2025-26 ($317/month). Harvard's HUSHP equivalent is roughly $5,100/year ($425/month). Some departments cover this. Most international PhD students are required to be on the school plan unless they prove equivalent coverage — and proving equivalent coverage from a non-US insurer is harder than it sounds.
Utilities + internet: $80-120/month combined in a shared apartment. Phone: $40-60/month on a US carrier's BYOD plan (Mint, US Mobile, or Visible). Transit: MBTA semester pass is $90/month if you commute by subway, free if you only walk to campus.
The actual leftover
Net stipend (~$3,400) minus rent ($1,800) minus health insurance ($317) minus utilities + phone + transit ($230) = roughly $1,053/month for groceries, dining out, books, travel, and anything you save. Groceries for one in Cambridge run $300-450/month. Eating out two nights a week adds another $200-300. Real discretionary income for most international PhD students sits at $400-600/month.
It is not a poverty wage. But it is also not the comfortable life that the gross stipend number suggests. Anyone planning to send money home, fly home for the holidays, or save anything meaningful needs to either find a roommate, find a cheaper neighborhood (Allston is roughly 20% cheaper than Cambridge proper), or have outside funding.
Two practical levers students underuse
- Take the MBTA pass even if you mostly walk — it's $90/month versus $2.40 per ride, breaks even at 38 trips, and removes friction from going anywhere outside Cambridge.
- If you have any departmental teaching opportunity (TA-ship, recitation), the supplemental income is roughly $400-700/month and is what changes the math from 'austere' to 'fine'.
- Apply for institutional summer funding by January — most international PhD students don't realize the deadlines are six months ahead of summer, and the difference between a funded and unfunded summer is roughly $10,000.