News Forum - Survival Guide: How much does it cost to live in Thailand?

[Thaiger]

Thailand gets a lot of attention as a fantastic travel destination in Southeast Asia; it’s also a great place to call home. The most common questions before moving to a new country include, “How much is it going to cost me?” and, “Is X amount enough each month?” While there are no fixed amounts, we are here to help paint the picture. There are many factors to consider and we’ll cover the basics in this post. So without further ado, here’s a shortlist of common expenses for life in Thailand. Rent Let’s get the elephant out of the room. This […]

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[LandOfSmiles]

Huahin is cheaper than Bangkok. And more beautiful.

[mcambl61]

If you have a ch, don't live in a major city. 

 

Rents are cheaper, transport options are plentiful and less noise and pollution. 

[Disenfranchised]

Quite a silly article.

It all boils down to quality of life. It can be dirt cheap if you live in a grass hut on the beach or it can cost a fortune if you like the good life.

 

[LandOfSmiles]

21 minutes ago, Disenfranchised said:

Quite a silly article.

It all boils down to quality of life. It can be dirt cheap if you live in a grass hut on the beach or it can cost a fortune if you like the good life.

I think that's the point of the article. It's subjective depending on your lifestyle and the size of your wallet.

[Fluke]

You can  live in a Condo from 3000 Baht per month and live on 200 Baht per day for food or you could stay in a 10 000 Baht per night resort on Ko Samui and spend 2000 Baht per day on food , so the answer to the question of how much it costs to live in Thailand , its between 9000 Baht per month or 360 000 Baht per month  , could even be cheaper or more expensive than those figures  

[LandOfSmiles]

What. You can live in a condom!? 

Edited January 31, 2022 by LandOfSmiles

[Artemis080]

3 minutes ago, Fluke said:

You can  live in a Condom

I'm probably too big...

[Fluke]

4 minutes ago, LandOfSmiles said:

What. You can like in a condom!? 

Why did you give my post a sad emoji ?

[LandOfSmiles]

3 minutes ago, Fluke said:

Why did you give my post a sad emoji ?

Oops, haha. I thought it was the rolling my eyes expression. We need more emoji options.

[Cabra]

How long is a piece of string...

[ozvenision]

Add a Thai wife in on the deal and it doesn't matter as they will spend the rest anyway 

[ThaiEyes]

The article might be a good starting point for those that are thinking of moving here, but most of us readers are here already and many for quite some time. I would suggest any reader to go to a forum that’s specific to the area they want to live and ask folks on there the relative costs of living.  

[mcambl61]

23 minutes ago, ozvenision said:

Add a Thai wife in on the deal and it doesn't matter as they will spend the rest anyway 

In this case, it's cheaper to rent. 

[LandOfSmiles]

22 minutes ago, ThaiEyes said:

The article might be a good starting point for those that are thinking of moving here, but most of us readers are here already and many for quite some time. I would suggest any reader to go to a forum that’s specific to the area they want to live and ask folks on there the relative costs of living.  

I bet the Thaiger receives a lot of clicks from people who have visited Thailand before or those who want to visit in the future. The guys who comment on the articles are the mostly those who live here already. We're probably not the biggest slice of the pie. 

[HiuMak]

I like how you can live cheaply or live extravagantly by choice. Not all countries have this choice

[Peron]

I live here.  It can be cheap if you choose to live like most Thais outside of Bangkok.  I live in the greater Bangkok area, and it is not cheap.  Even before COVID, most of my friends and family had started to bypass Thailand as even as a tourist, they've noticed the rising costs.  A number of people have quoted a monthly income of 80,000 baht to 100,000 if you want to have a similar lifestyle to the one you're used to in the West.  That's about right from my experience...

[LoongFred]

35 minutes ago, Peron said:

I live here.  It can be cheap if you choose to live like most Thais outside of Bangkok.  I live in the greater Bangkok area, and it is not cheap.  Even before COVID, most of my friends and family had started to bypass Thailand as even as a tourist, they've noticed the rising costs.  A number of people have quoted a monthly income of 80,000 baht to 100,000 if you want to have a similar lifestyle to the one you're used to in the West.  That's about right from my experience...

 

35 minutes ago, Peron said:

I live here.  It can be cheap if you choose to live like most Thais outside of Bangkok.  I live in the greater Bangkok area, and it is not cheap.  Even before COVID, most of my friends and family had started to bypass Thailand as even as a tourist, they've noticed the rising costs.  A number of people have quoted a monthly income of 80,000 baht to 100,000 if you want to have a similar lifestyle to the one you're used to in the West.  That's about right from my experience...

I live in the north and can concur. I spend 100k baht +/ month.  We live well and contribute to local event plus the Buddhist temple.

[TSS]

All essentials paid in full years ago, our family of three living comfortably on (give or take) 80-100k baht per month. No rent, mortgage, car payments, property taxes. We moved here from a high cost West Coast US state. 100k baht from where we came from would be just about or slightly above poverty level living (squeaking by)

[Marc26]

7 minutes ago, TSS said:

All essentials paid in full years ago, our family of three living comfortably on (give or take) 80-100k baht per month. No rent, mortgage, car payments, property taxes. We moved here from a high cost West Coast US state. 100k baht from where we came from would be just about or slightly above poverty level living (squeaking by)

How is that? if you had all the essential paid for, why would you just be squeaking by on 3kusd/mo?

 

That would basically be spending money on food and entertainment, no?

 

I live in an extremely expensive city on the West Coast(Vancouver) and if all the essentials above were paid for, I wouldn't spend close to 100k and we go out quite a bit and don't really budget for food, we make expensive meals

 

 

Now throw in rent or mortgage, and for sure you are just squeaking by...........

[TSS]

Now throw in rent or mortgage, and for sure you are just squeaking by..........

yep, that's excactly what I was trying to get across- I know nothing about costs in Vancouver, B.C. or Vancouver, Wa. but home prices, high taxes, basic cost of living are quite high where I'm from (Ca. & Hawaii) compared to what you get in return. Wasn't a huge problem covering all that as a fairly well paid blue collar construction worker but after retiring early, decided to sell up, give up that rat race and relocate. No regrets. Finding it far better here- maybe just me. Pre covid, we  travelled yearly to other countries, for now just regionally. I take it you very much enjoy and are happy to afford staying in your home city and that's great!  As for Thailand, (from my experience) 80-100k baht per month for small family, you'll be very comfortable.  Of course, one can get by with much less. As is the case everywhere, it's all about location and lifestyle.  

[Marc26]

1 minute ago, TSS said:

Now throw in rent or mortgage, and for sure you are just squeaking by..........

yep, that's excactly what I was trying to get across- I know nothing about costs in Vancouver, B.C. or Vancouver, Wa. but home prices, high taxes, basic cost of living are quite high where I'm from (Ca. & Hawaii) compared to what you get in return. Wasn't a huge problem covering all that as a fairly well paid blue collar construction worker but after retiring early, decided to sell up, give up that rat race and relocate. No regrets. Finding it far better here- maybe just me. Pre covid, we  travelled yearly to other countries, for now just regionally. I take it you very much enjoy and are happy to afford staying in your home city and that's great!  As for Thailand, (from my experience) 80-100k baht per month for small family, you'll be very comfortable.  Of course, one can get by with much less. As is the case everywhere, it's all about location and lifestyle.  

Vancouver BC, I am pretty sure you can rent a crack house in Vancouver WA, not the nicest place

 

But if all essentials covered, you can easily get by on 3kusd/mo anywhere in US/Canada

 

And I think, for you, 80-100k with all the essentials paid would be living a very good lifestyle

I'd imagine that is right around where we'd be budget wise, if lived there full time....

 

I love all of "our places"

We spend a fair bit of time in Vancouver, Boston and Thailand...........and plan on spending even more extended time in Thailand for the  6-10 years before I retire

[JamesR]

You can buy a nice three bed two bath detached single storey house In Phuket in a gated community in a quiet area for about 5,000,000 baht (About $152000), back here in England in a southern seaside area a similar house would cost 25,000,000 baht (about $780,000).

As the house is in a gated area it is safe for the time I am not there, I have never heard of a burglary or car theft in the area since buying it ten years ago. I have not been there since August 2020 due to the covid situation but the house is still safe.

If you like Thai street food you can buy moo dang noodles and other dishes for about 50 baht even in the Central shopping centre food hall.

Cook at home and it costs almost nothing.

Petrol is half the price there compared to the UK.

The most expensive thing is a booze night out once a week with the lads.

Walking on the beach and around the national parks is free, it is nice to be there six months a year leading a simple life for a change.

If I do go and live there full time though in the future I will have to take moaning lessons as I see many farangs who say they 'live' there are great at moaning about the country. 

[TSS]

yeah, I just posted my thoughts based on my 18 yrs. here.

 My outlay here is in that 80-100k baht per month range. Family of three. That same amount won't get you much on any Hawaiian island or California town. But sure, you could 'squeak by.'  You need a little cushion in the bank no matter where you live as well.  

 No one moves to Thailand to pinch pennies or baht. It's all subjective to how you want to live. I like it here, it's not for everyone. Didn't post on Thaiger to start controversy.

Edited February 2, 2022 by TSS
need to add something

[LoongFred]

13 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Vancouver BC, I am pretty sure you can rent a crack house in Vancouver WA, not the nicest place

But if all essentials covered, you can easily get by on 3kusd/mo anywhere in US/Canada

And I think, for you, 80-100k with all the essentials paid would be living a very good lifestyle

I'd imagine that is right around where we'd be budget wise, if lived there full time....

I love all of "our places"

We spend a fair bit of time in Vancouver, Boston and Thailand...........and plan on spending even more extended time in Thailand for the  6-10 years before I retire

For us, we own a nice house and nice SUV and spend 3-4 k baht in the country. The city might be more but if you own the house and car it can't be much more. 

Life is good!⁷