The costs of living in the U.S and in other parts of the world are increasing every single day and if you are curious about the cost of living abroad, you might want to start with Mexico. People often ask, “How cheap is Mexico?”

As you may know, we have been making Mexico travel vlog for close to 2 years now and we have been here in Mexico for about 16 months while moving (and living) across 39 cities. So, it is perfectly fair for us to have a strong view as to how the costs of living are in Mexico as of today in 2019.

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Your standard of living is totally dependent on how the cost of living is wherever you find yourself. It is about having enough purchasing power which would afford you to do other things that you might like to do. With higher costs of living, you are limited in your purchasing power which would eventually hinder your standard of living. We set sail to travel to Mexico, leaving everything behind to explore a new culture and find another way of life in Mexico. We have lived in different cities and we can compare how much rent costs in Mexico and other things associated with the living standards here as an expatriate.

The expat life that we live here makes it easy for us to compare the cost of living in the U.S to the costs of living abroad. You might ask, “How expensive is Mexico?” and we have decided to break down our costs for you.

• Rent: We currently live in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico and our rent for the month is $500, which includes 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. It is quite a lovely and simple place too. Renting in Mexico is quite affordable compared to the U.S.

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• Water Bill: $6 to $8 per month, but it’s included in the rent.

• Internet: Our work is mostly online, of course, and we have to use a reliable data bundle. We spend $25.50 on this monthly but it IS included in the price of the rent.

• Electricity: We have not received our electricity bill yet but speaking with our neighbour, we were able to get a breakdown of how much it would cost. It is normal for the price to increase when you have gadgets on and in our apartment; we have the air conditioning which would bring our bill to $75. It is a little bit strange because unlike in the U.S where we pay every month, here we have to pay every 2 months.

• Gas: This is totally dependent on how often we cook in the house. We cook and we also eat out due to timing and because of this, our gas expense comes to $17.47.

• Drinking Water: This comes down to $6.71.

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• Groceries: This includes getting food out when we are too busy or tired to make any food and also, it includes getting things to prepare as well. We have a place where we get our local produce and this costs us about $5.10. In totality, our groceries come to $62.88 every month.

• Cell Phone: We use T-Mobile back in the U.S and we spent nothing less than $100 a month. When we got here, we switched to Telcel and for the two of us; we spend $31.44 every month.

• Car: We have a car which is what birthed our name Tangerine Travels because of its tangerine color. We have insurance in the U.S with Geico which costs us about $63.75 while staying in Mexico. For our Mexican insurance, which has “Deluxe Coverage” costs us $45.10/month (paid annually).

With car maintenance which also includes car washes, we have spent $42 so far. This is not a monthly expense anyway. The transport system in Mexico is quite amazing and cheaper, so you really don’t need your car all the time. When we were in Guadalajara, we didn’t use our car most of the time and that saved a lot of costs too, on gas and maintenance. We spend $26.20 on car gas and when we couldn’t use our car, we resolve into taking uber, which brings our uber ride to about $10 a month.

• Laundry: We don’t have a washing machine and we take our clothes to the “Lavanderia” every two weeks and that costs us $10.50 per month.

• Entertainment: When you change location, you don’t just want to stay indoors and watch how things are from your window. You want to go out there, explore and have fun. This includes going to the theatre, visiting cenotes, drinking alcohol, and also paying for Netflix subscription. We bring the total of this to $100.

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• Shopping: We have always valued experiences more than material possessions. We would rather create memories than try to buy stuff and take them back. We couldn’t even if we want to because we have to fit everything into our car and we don’t have that luxury in doing that. We have budgeted $20 for this.

• Health: Most people thought we were dumb because we didn’t get health insurance and so far, we have only spent $500 in 16 months. We are perfectly healthy adults and we spent that much due to two emergencies that we had when Jordan was taken to the ER.

• VISA: We recently switched from our tourist Visa into a permanent residency and we pay annually which comes to $17.50/month.

• Housekeeping: In the U.S, we spend nothing less than $100 a month on housekeeping but here in Mexico, we get someone who comes to clean twice a month and we pay $21.

• Massages: There is no way the stress of the day would not accumulate and try to take its toll on your body. Having a quality massage keeps our stress level down and helps us to also stay healthy. You get to move around a lot, you get to stress your body and try to do new things which might want to take its toll on your body. Having a massage is not a bad idea at all and we spend $57.64 on this.

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• Dog: We have a dog whose name is Laska as most of you know. If you don’t have a dog, you don’t need to bother about this, really but if you have one and intend to bring your dog along with you, then you will find this helpful. We spend $18.34 on Laska and that includes her feeding and toys. Sometimes when we couldn’t take her along, we have to pay for dog sitting which costs us $31.44.

Our expenses come to $1,570.

As we said earlier, having lived in the U.S all our lives, we can tell the difference between the cost of living there and here in Mexico. This is our Mexico vlog; where we document all our travel experiences; to help you in shaping your choices as to your destination options. This is our life as a digital nomad and from our experiences, we have heard about how many people would love to make Mexico their retirement destination.

You can watch the video below to see more and understand more about our costs of living in Mexico. If you found this helpful, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel to find tons of other helpful information.

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Watch the full video below:

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Or, watch it directly on YouTube here

We use this action cam to shoot our videos.

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Until next time,
@sharingeverybite (Maddie)
@shenanigator (Jordan)
@laska (the Siberian Husky)