By Diane Schmidt
How much does it cost To Live in Mexico? This is almost like asking,
"How long is a piece of string?" Short answer - it differs from case
to case, obviously. There are stories of people living on as little as US$350 a
month, including rent! And we mean foreigners living there, not the
millions of Mexicans who have actually lived all their lives on that amount or
less. Of course there are others who decide to lavish themselves with the best
of everything and can spend as much or more than they do back in the States.
Getting More Purchasing Power for the Peso
What one can ascertain is that you do get more for your money
in Mexico.
This is unsurprising when one considers that the median household income in Mexico is not much more than a tenth that in the
US.
In general, just about everything required in daily living costs more in the
States, with the exception perhaps of luxury items like brand name products
(designer label jeans and other upper-end clothing items). But then these can
hardly be deemed "must-haves" (at least not by everyone).
How Much Cheaper?
Grocery items are anywhere from 10% to 130% higher in the States. My sister
who has been living in Playa Del Carmen since January 2011,(admittedly a
pricier location, being on the Caribbean
coast) still shakes her head in wonder each time she sees the total bill after
a grocery run. She figures she spends slightly over half what she used to on
groceries when she was in Canada.
Public transportation is almost 200% pricier in the States, eating out in
restaurants almost 50% dearer. And if you are willing to eat as the Mexicans do
at the plentiful little stalls that serve tasty and ludicrously inexpensive
food, you can literally eat out all the time for the same or less than what it
costs to cook at home. My sister tells me she is stunned by how little the
Mexicans charge at these stalls, wondering how they can cover costs. She almost
always feels guilty when she eats at any of these inexpensive joints, like
she's somehow gotten away with something.
And housing is of course quite a bit dearer in the States as well - by about
200%. Utilities? Again the States is higher by over 100%.
The cheaper cost of living is definitely a key reason more people are
finding it tempting to move to Mexico.
For between US$1,000 and $2,000 a month, there are people who live very rich
and fulfilling lives there. When my sister was scouting out a place to move to
in Mexico, she first looked
at Merida, the culturally vibrant capital city
of the State of Yucatan.
There, she and her husband met a man who has been doing just that - living very
well for just about that amount of money. Paul eats out as much as he wants,
has enough to fly home to the States periodically, takes in the cultural events
offered in the city (many are free), and, in short, lives the kind of life many
only dream of.
http://moving.about.com/od/internationalmoves/a/Cost-Of-Living-In-Mex