After doing a little research on cheap countries to live in and not being able to find the straightforward answers on the cost of living I was looking for, I decided to scour the web and start crunching numbers myself to put all of the info in one place.
Here is a list of most countries with monthly cost of living for a single ex-pat.
I’m continuing the crunching to include other essential information in a straightforward way - safety, internet strength, air quality, other perks (long term visas, easy citizenship, access to other countries, etc.) and will keep updating the full data in the article I’ll dedicate to this here.
Country - Monthly Cost of Living
Bangladesh $699
Tunisia $891
Egypt $925
India $929
Bhutan $935
Bolivia $1,044
Togo $1,088
Bosnia and Herzegovina $1,104
Nicaragua $1,108
Madagascar $1,112
Algeria $1,129
Zambia $1,136
Nigeria $1,155
Paraguay $1,162
Cape Verde $1,173
Tanzania $1,196
Suriname $1,214
Lesotho $1,230
Argentina $1,247
Tajikistan $1,270
Botswana $1,305
Azerbaijan $1,320
Bulgaria $1,320
Morocco $1,323
Colombia $1,329
Kyrgyzstan $1,349
Ecuador $1,371
Malaysia $1,373
Brazil $1,382
Peru $1,386
Sri Lanka $1,401
Romania $1,409
Uzbekistan $1,417
Fiji $1,430
Uganda $1,482
Moldova $1,490
Cambodia $1,510
Kazakhstan $1,562
South Africa $1,578
Honduras $1,586
Nepal $1,586
Jordan $1,595
Turkey $1,600
Belize $1,607
Dominican Republic $1,609
Albania $1,614
Guatemala $1,629
Mongolia $1,645
Vietnam $1,662
Kenya $1,667
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines $1,688
Cameroon $1,715
Indonesia $1,725
Mauritius $1,744
Chile $1,762
Hungary $1,779
Rwanda $1,801
Mexico $1,825
Greece $1,843
Guyana $1,845
Ghana $1,846
Latvia $1,866
Croatia $1,871
Slovakia $1,874
Serbia $1,886
Namibia $1,906
Costa Rica $1,914
Uruguay $1,989
Angola $2,031
Mozambique $2,042
Philippines $2,061
Brunei $2,134
Thailand $2,136
Georgia $2,160
Jamaica $2,165
Estonia $2,186
Laos $2,219
Zimbabwe $2,220
Montenegro $2,234
Armenia $2,273
Spain $2,329
Ivory Coast $2,335
Oman $2,347
Portugal $2,366
Panama $2,375
Lithuania $2,382
Poland $2,403
Ethiopia $2,455
Bahrain $2,521
Slovenia $2,572
Japan $2,611
Grenada $2,623
Aruba $2,627
Cyprus $2,649
San Marino $2,688
Turkmenistan $2,734
Maldives $2,771
France $2,836
New Caledonia $2,851
Czech Republic $2,875
Trinidad and Tobago $2,876
Belgium $2,892
Austria $2,926
Italy $2,929
Senegal $2,993
Sweden $2,995
Malta $3,057
Seychelles $3,058
Finland $3,191
Andorra $3,264
Kuwait $3,271
Germany $3,340
Norway $3,353
Canada $3,390
Bahamas $3,392
Israel $3,472
United Kingdom $3,569
Netherlands $3,570
New Zealand $3,652
Barbados $3,843
Vanuatu $3,865
Australia $3,893
United Arab Emirates $3,900
Denmark $4,131
Iceland $4,267
Luxembourg $4,470
Ireland $4,483
United States $4,596
Qatar $4,686
Cuba $4,876
Gabon $5,085
Papua New Guinea $6,125
Switzerland $6,214
Singapore $6,856
Bermuda $13,183
Monaco $16,314
Not every country in the world. Taiwan is missing.
$4569 a month in the states? Are you renting a place in LA and driving a high end car?
I think if the data existed to give the medialn cost of living for one person in a one bedroom apt, the values would be more realistic as the extreme lifestyles wouldn’t be increasing the average so much.
I’ve been living in indonesia and malaysia. My experience in indonesia is a bit higher than that for jakarta greater area and special region of yogyakarta
But for malaysia, mine is much less than that unless you rent in KL sentral
It’s crazy how much work people put into Reddit posts. You’re a legend. This is amazing.
Preferred of this same list could Be city based and specific to living in a neighborhood where expats would like to live (ie plentiful of cafes with avocado toast).
I’d also like a Rolex delivered by the 90’s version of Monica Bellucci but…we take we can get.
The cities assessment is in progress and I plan to share the insight here if the “that’s not exactly what I spent when I visited that one time” crowd tones it down a notch. We shall see.
Thanks !
there are too many factors for this information to be useful on its own.
I have to agree with others here, sorry this isn’t a constructive take but I’m not buying some of these numbers. For instance Nepal is one of the cheapest places in the world but it’s far down the list and it’s right next to Jordan, which I found to be a bit expensive (as in, comparable to EU). Portugal is also known to be cheaper than Spain, and Ethiopia much cheaper than both, in my experiences (and also of people I know in the nomad community). Maybe the lifestyle and location variables are screwing with it… I also think there’s a difference between a business expat and a DN; with expat assignments they really spend a ton more than they should in developing countries.
Also there is a similar service to this called NomadList; they break it down by city and also include a bunch of other really helpful data around safety, internet speeds, English literacy, and a ton of other data points.
Also as an aside, your website has a lot of ads; as someone who loves travel blogs I would be so annoyed and exit immediately.
Yeah the numbers here are a joke
Portugal is not cheaper than Spain! Have lived in both countries.
Mexico is more expensive than Chile?? In my experience, Chile and Uruguay are the most expensive countries in Latin America. If your data from Mexico is just Mexico City or beachtowns, then maybe. But Santiago has basically European city prices and Patagonia even more expensive.
Where has this data come from? It seems to be of with a lot of countries. You do know Reddit doesn’t give a follow link? You also won’t get any traffic with misinformation.
Your price for Bhutan is way off since it costs $200/day just to be in the country for foreigners
I compare to my own living experiences in some of the mentioned countries and I actually agree with almost all of them. Of course the majority of the expenses are driven by the cost of rental!
I certainly would not expect Thailand to be more expensive than Philippines.
Certainly lots of locals in PH are living in $100 a month apartments, but if you want AC and Internet you are spending significantly more. BGC, Makati, Cebu City where most DN would stay seem much more expensive than BKK or Chaing Mai.
Similar story for Thai vs Pinoy food.
Cuba at nearly $5k seems inaccurate.
Offical exchange rate is 24:1 USD. But real life was 80 last time I heard. This may be the problem.
Yeah - You could live comfortably in Cuba for $1000 (or less if you really want to live like a local). Not a great location to be a DN though.
His whole list is very inaccurate, I’m thinking he lives a very lavish life and is counting luxury in the budgets
Yeah I’ve lived in expensive US cities for 20 years on 1-2k per month
In your car or with roommates right? And your car was paid off or you were in one of the few cities you don’t need a car in. I don’t know anyone who can live on their own in an expensive US city for $2k/mo.
Yup that’s right. Living alone is a luxury
Yeah, that’s not realistic for most people. Especially if you have pets or kids, or want to be in a relationship.
It’s definitely unusual but you can definitely have a relationship while living with housemates. Most nomads wouldn’t have pets either
Great work! But I’m thinking that a list based on city/area would probably be more accurate/useful. Especially in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, USA etc. that have massive cost differences between areas. Thoughts?
I see houses for sale in Portugal for €10,000 or €15,000.
Admittedly pretty shabby ones - you can get something pretty sound and merely in need of redecorating for €30,000 or €40,000.