Hi everyone! I'm planning to relocate to Cancun this fall and have been making preparations for a while now. I've been doing a lot of research, but have come across a bit of a conundrum. In several forum posts (here and elsewhere) I've seen responses that indicate the cost of living isn't that much different in Cancun than in the US. In a lot of these responses I've seen $1800 USD as the typical monthly living expense. This is largely at odds with what I've found through personal research and is actually more than I spend on living here in the US (Midwest). I'd like to iron out the details around this, as I plan on living off of savings for at least one year. Admittedly, I live a fairly minimalistic lifestyle and hope to continue such in Cancun. So, here are my living costs in the US -- if any of you would care to illustrate the rough equivalent in Cancun, I'd be very appreciative! My US living costs: Rent: $900 (2 bed/2 bath house in a medium sized Midwestern city) Electricity: $75 (I don't use AC here in the summer (highs around 90) but this goes up to about $120 in the winter for heat) Water/Trash/Sewer: $30 Cell phone: $60 Broadband: $50 Food: $250 ($60 worth of groceries a week) Gas: $100 Car Insurance: $60 Cigarettes: $60 (I know, it's horrible) So my total living costs here are only: $1600 I've found lots of decent [looking] places in SM 31/32 (which is where I'd like to end up) for < $500 a month... so I'm failing to see how the cost of living is so high. I'd like to get a 2 bedroom house or apartment, but I'd take a one bedroom if it was a good deal. I know it's hot in Cancun, but it's my initial plan to go without A/C. I do that here, but we only have 3 months of 90 weather, so it might be a different story once I arrive in Cancun Also, I won't have a car in Cancun, but I'm guessing it might safe to estimate I'd spend the same amount on bus fare/taxis there as I do on gasoline here. Anyway, all insight would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Coby - Nice to see you posting here. Rent: $900 (2 bed/2 bath house in a medium sized Midwestern city) Landlords here are not what they are in the states. If your water heater breaks (and it will) you will buy a new one. Landlords mostly don't fix things and mostly expect you to buy your own appliances too (fridge, stove, etc). Cancun's rents run the gamut price-wise, I know someone who pays $250 MXP per month for a crappy palapa with no running water that's 6 miles from downtown. He dumps his sewage in a cenote...nice. I know someone who is renting out his 3 BR 2 BR house out for $2000 MXP a month (it's far away and in a place I'm scared to spend time in). I rent my own 3BR condo out for $5200 MXP per month, it's in SM31 (we included appliances in that and everything is new). One person on this board rents his condo in the hotel zone out for about $1800 USD per month. I know someone who rents a home in the hotel zone for $4500 USD per month. So rents are TRULY all over the map! That said if you have a budget of $500 USD to $800 USD and want to rent a 2 BR apartment you can probably do that in a safe area of downtown. Electricity: $75 (I don't use AC here in the summer (highs around 90) but this goes up to about $120 in the winter for heat) No one has heat here. Most folks run a/c at least part of the time between about March and November. My neighbor across the street spends $2500 MXP a month on electricity and has a/c on a lot (he has a 3 BR house). We spend much less and don't have a/c in the bedroom and don't run the a/c much. Water/Trash/Sewer: $30 Our water bill is $50 MXP per month. In our neighborhood we don't pay for trash removal (they come once a day usually). I know others on this board do pay for trash removal. I know some folks, who live in crappy areas of the city who complain that the garbage truck come only every 4 or 5 days (which means the stray dogs rip open the bags so the garbage is all over). Cell phone: $60 and Broadband: $50 I spend $150 MXP per month on my cell phone (I use phone cards). Hubby has a plan that costs him about $200 MXP a month and allows him to call me for free for up to 5 mins at a time. We spend $550 MXP (or so) on DSL and a landline. We have a plan that gives us unlimited national long distance. We spend $20 USD per month on a Vonage phone line that is VOIP and gives us a US phone number (which saves your family gobs of money when they call you here, since they call a US number). Food: $250 ($60 worth of groceries a week) I don't track our food expenses. But we definitely spend less on food than we did in the States. Obviously imported food items are more here, but staples and veggies are the same or even cheaper. Cuban rum and limes are very cheap here. Gas: $100 I barely drive here, I work from home and have a few appts a week in the city or in the hotel zone. I spend about $300 MXP a month on gas for my car (it's small and efficient). Hubby drives to 15 km work and back every day, he spends at least $700 MXP on gas a month, maybe more. Car Insurance: $60 This depends on the car you drive and the insurance you elect. Our car insurance is about $6000 MXP a year for both cars, our cars are small and not new. Insurance varies a lot. Cigarettes: $60 (I know, it's horrible) I can't answer this but they are cheaper here. You left out clothing and gear and replacing your computer and immigration costs and trips back home. Clothes are more money here or much lower quality, at least that's what I've found. Electronics (like TVs and computers and cameras) are 30-40% more here than in the US. Most of us buy in the States and bring them back. An FM3 is around $1500 MXP a year, an FM2 is around $2600 MXP a year. The cost to get a lawyer to deal with INM for you is probably close to $4000 MXP a year (if you register a business here and work for it you will have legal and accounting costs for the biz too). You also left out entertainment and eating out. We spend less eating out than we did in CO because we don't like many restaurants here. The prices of restaurants between here and CO is very similar. Movies here are cheaper, which is nice, but you often have to wait a long time for them to get here, and the weirdo arty ones almost never come here. And you left out TV. We have the basic Cablemenos package and pay about $325 MXP a month. Lots of folks here get nicer packages and pay more, or they get Sky. I don't care enough about TV to warrant a bigger bill. Travel home is an important thing to plan for. And you can't use Priceline from here. And you can't use the nice Flexible Dates searches on most of the travel sites to find the cheapest dates. So it can be a hassle to find the cheap tickets, but you will figure that out. You also left out healthcare/health insurance, probably because you are young and immortal. But you should have some kind of health insurance for when one of those incompetent uninsured drivers crashes into you. There are also expenses with registering a car here. I think you can't register a Mexican car here unless you have an FM2. If you won't have a car then you'll have taxi fares. I've barely traveled by taxi here so I can't answer to costs of that. And I've been on the hotel zone bus only 2 or 3 times. Hope that helps.
Hey RiverGirl, I thought you might frequent these parts Thanks for all of the information! It's super detailed and very helpful. I had actually planned my expenses for obtaining the FM3 as 1-time costs and wasn't factoring them into my yearly expenses (renewals slipped my mind), but clearly I need to. I left clothing out on purpose -- I don't remember the last time I bought anything like that. Well, I bought socks about 3 months ago, but I'm hoping not to wear socks much in Cancun I have a back-up 'emergency fund' so I'm guessing I might dip into that if a dog runs off with my sandal or something. Electronics is a pretty good point. I'm the worst kind of consumer for the economy ever -- I'm kind of a pack-rat when it comes to money and rarely buy something that is non-essential. But I know I'll already need to buy a desktop there, and don't have that budgeted out yet. The next couple of things will probably make you think that I'm very odd...but, I don't eat out...ever. Unless my dad is in town or something; I much prefer cooking. And entertainment -- haha -- I wish I had the free time!! 6 years ago that would've been my biggest expense, but how times change! Although, I should budget some money for Tecate -- tasty stuff. And yeah, TV -- I don't watch it. I don't even own one. Haven't for maybe about 4 years. Since I started working from home it became a productivity killer (even just keeping CNN on...), so, I had to kill the habit. Thanks so much for the helpful information! Also, I sent you an e-mail about something sorta related to all of this.
Coby: Your living expenses and lifestyle seem pretty similar to mine. I lived in Cancun for about 10,000 to 12,000 MP per month. I took buses about 80% of the time, which I believe may be rare for the expat crowd. But if you live in the downtown area, buses will work just fine. I didn't have a computer (which sounds like it's a necessity for you) but if I moved back, I'd simply bring my laptop from home. Three years ago, I rented a centrally located house with a huge patio for 3,000 MP per month. But it took a lot of looking to find that great house. It was actually located very close to where you are looking and where I'd probably look should I rent down there as well. Just about all of my acquaintances and friends rented places for, at most, 4,500 MP. And they were very nice by Mexican standards. I only had AC in one of the apartments I lived in, but would have liked to have always had it. But on hot nights, we slept in a hammock with two fans going. When we did run the a/c at night in one room, it never was more than about....oh man, I can't remember, but it was very cheap. I know that rental prices have probably gone up, but for 5,000 to 8,000 MP per month, you could probably get a palace. I think the reason why you're finding costs estimates all over the map is because many expats recreate their lifestyle from back home in Cancun. But if you make enough to cover your expenses in the States (and you didn't mention if you also sock money away for savings regularly...and it's none of our business anyway..) and your income won't change because I'm guessing you work from home, I imagine you'll be just fine. Food won't cost very much unless your cooking style necessitates buying imported products. But if your diet approximates the Mexican diet, costs will be low. I easily ate on about $7-10 USD per day. Fruit, yogurt, and bread for breakfast, comida corrida from the lady down the street for 35 MXP (if you're not a big eater, that would easily last you for two meals), and a light snack for dinner. But I also splurged on things like bagel chips at Soriana. Refilling your caguama bottles (don't think they have Tecate in caguamas) will cost between 22 and 25 pesos at the local tiendita. We just had very basic cable and never needed or wanted more than that. And I always rented in areas that were either very poor or lower middle class so almost everything we needed was low cost and easily accessible. Never, ever went out in the Hotel Zone (well, maybe three times in five years) and spent most of our social time on Yaxchilan where the beer runs 35 pesos for 2. Good luck and you'll be fine!
A note on your desktop computer buying plans.. In Cancun the cheapest RETAIL (complete) desktop computer your going to get will run you around $5000 pesos ( ~ $360usd with 14x1 exchange) I'd strongly recommend that you buy a budget laptop before you leave and bring it down. Chances are it will be a more powerful, and nicer computer than the $5000 peso desktop you could get here, for about the same price. You cant really bring in a desktop duty free, but a laptop is no problem. Not to mention that 99% of computers sold here are only available in Spanish with Spanish keyboards.
@gbchayctca Thanks for the info! I'm a big fan of public transportation (unfortunately my current city has virtually none) and I remember the buses being cheap in Cancun -- I'm looking forward to that. The fact that I do not want to have a car has a huge effect on where I live, so near downtown is ideal for me. I make pretty decent money here (contract programming) but choose to live a minimalistic lifestyle -- it's just what I prefer. So yes, that kind of life is ideal for me in Cancun as well (and the thought of sleeping on a hammock in the summer is horribly enticing). I'm actually planning to start working on my own projects in Cancun, so for a while, it's likely I won't have an income stream. By the time I arrive I should have enough money to live on for 18-24 months (basing that on $1100 USD/month - my current estimate of my living expenses in Cancun), without any kind of additional income (although I hope that I don't have to burn through all of my savings), but I also have a 5k emergency fund; just in case some unforeseen disaster occurs or something. 35 pesos for 2 cervazas?? Yes, please @Life_N_Cancun Thanks for the pricing information on computers. I actually just bought a new laptop (netbook actually) for this very reason. The thought of brining my desktop seemed like a horrible idea, so I'll probably just sell it when I leave. While I don't need a cutting edge desktop, the cheapest variant probably won't suit my work well, so it looks like I should probably budget 10k MXP for a new computer. Thanks again!
Coby - You can buy a desktop from Dell Mexico with an English O/S (and an English KB) on it. It won't be as cheap as a Dell desktop in the States, but they include shipping and everyone I know of who has dealt with them has been happy. Sleeping in a hammock is not for everyone. I can nap in one but I don't sleep deeply in a hammock. What I'm saying is don't count on liking sleeping in a hammock, try it before you decide against buying a bed.
I have to say I sleep like a baby in my hammock...the trick is to get a big hammock...a familial.....and you can spread out just like a king size bed.....I LOVE MY HAMMOCK......enjoy
don't get tricked in paying anything over $40. US for a familial hammock......my buddy makes them and sells them...check him out at meridahammock.com......his name is Constantino.....I'm sure he has some in Cancun......but he can also send it to you in the US for a small shipping fee.....I have had mine for years and LOVE IT
You can search www.MercadoLibre.com.mx (Mexico's Ebay) to see what the price range will be for a computer that suits your needs. Then you can order one once your here. Always cheaper than buying retail anywhere in Cancun.
