Happier Abroad Forum Community

Hello everyone. I am trying to get an idea of the basic monthly costs are in the city and country you live in.

For example, the average cost per month where I lived in the captial of Lima Peru is only about $600 to $800 US dollars which includes rent, food, bus travel, basic cable, gas and elec.

It would nice to get a perspective and make a cost comparison on different cities and countries across the planet.

If you can, please quote in US dollars..THANKS in advance.

To live a local middle class lifestyle in the Manila area of the Philippines you need between $600-1000 depending on your spending habits. (less if you live in a provincial city) Nightlife and eating out tends to be quite money draining so if you can limit that then you will spend less.

If you could pull in $1500 or more a month and have no debt you pretty much have it made if you don't blow it on going out to bars and woman every weekend...

In Thailand it's roughly $700-1000 minimum per month to live a decent lifestyle. This includes a decent condo in a new building, internet, electricity, and food. I spend about twice that each month but I also take the occasional weekend flights to islands to relax and eat out much more than most people here. There are times when I spend the minimum though and I don't feel that it gets in the way of recreation. Then again I don't drink very much and I don't frequent night clubs and the like either.

If you live in Asia you can cut down on your budget tremendously by adapting to local food. This wasn't a problem for me since I enjoy Thai food a lot but i've seen expats here drop $100 a week on a food bill since they can't live without the exact same stuff they eat at home.

Thats pretty cheap for Thailand. Mostly it won cost that much when living in Asian countries, but not all though.

Rural China, city of 50,000.

Less than 1,000 CNY or $150 USD a month, and that is spending freely and wildly. More expensive in larger cities, and I do not know about rent as that is paid for by my work contract along with utilities. In a Provincial capital, about 5,000 CNY a month, Shanghai or Guangzhou or other megacity, you will need 10,000 CNY a month or more.

Median income of college educated middle class in The Big Three is 20,000 to 25,000 CNY. About $45,000 USD a year.

One can live far far below that however. It is possible in Shanghai or other big city to get a cheap pad for 1,500CNY a month and spend only another 500 CNY a month and have 20,000 or more to save every month. In one year you can bank an easy $35k USD, but you will live an austere life for that year.

The big cities of China are just like NYC, Moscow, London, Paris. People dress very well, spend a tonne of money dining out, get food and other goods delivered to their expensive apartments, spend a fortune clubbing and on entertainment efc. If you want to step off the materialistic ladder you can, but you will be an outcast just as though you were poor in NYC. The difference is that in China you can find a place for very cheap and eat cheaply. In NYC you cannot find a cheap place and food is insanely expensive. In 12 months you will have $35k, and that buys you an apartment in many medium sized Chinese cities, or several years on a beach in Thailand, RP or Hainan.

globetrotter wrote:Rural China, city of 50,000.

Less than 1,000 CNY or $150 USD a month, and that is spending freely and wildly. More expensive in larger cities, and I do not know about rent as that is paid for by my work contract along with utilities. In a Provincial capital, about 5,000 CNY a month, Shanghai or Guangzhou or other megacity, you will need 10,000 CNY a month or more.

Median income of college educated middle class in The Big Three is 20,000 to 25,000 CNY. About $45,000 USD a year.

One can live far far below that however. It is possible in Shanghai or other big city to get a cheap pad for 1,500CNY a month and spend only another 500 CNY a month and have 20,000 or more to save every month. In one year you can bank an easy $35k USD, but you will live an austere life for that year.

The big cities of China are just like NYC, Moscow, London, Paris. People dress very well, spend a tonne of money dining out, get food and other goods delivered to their expensive apartments, spend a fortune clubbing and on entertainment efc. If you want to step off the materialistic ladder you can, but you will be an outcast just as though you were poor in NYC. The difference is that in China you can find a place for very cheap and eat cheaply. In NYC you cannot find a cheap place and food is insanely expensive. In 12 months you will have $35k, and that buys you an apartment in many medium sized Chinese cities, or several years on a beach in Thailand, RP or Hainan.

How limited is internet access to well known western sites like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, news, etc over there? I've heard mixed reports about it. Not having access to full search indexes and various western sites could prove annoying in the long run.

Internet access is mixed. Sometimes I check in to a hotel and they have free internet and I can plug my laptop into the hotel ethernet. Other times I need to pay for it and they need my MAC address to gateway my box through their network. Even if I plugged in, without my MAC addy at the server gateway access point, no access.

I have a private VPN subscriber solution, there are dozens. This sets up an SSL secure logical tunnel and I can access any site I wish. While it is theoretical that TGFWoC can target these private VPN providers, in theory they are more concerned with the 1.4 B citizens and not 2 million expats. They control information flow by following the USA model of media saturation and provide the people with online TV and IM (QQ) and videos and music and cellphone ringtones, and other means to keep people occupied online texting and communicating with other Chinese and not the outside world.

This cost is minimal, $50 a year.

In addition to unfettered access, the speed increases due to use of better DNS servers. I am downloading videos right now in my hotel room in Central China.

There are solutions to all of your concerns.

What if you are living in a rented place like a house or apartment, not a hotel, same applies? Easy to get access in ones living space?

There are solutions to all of your concerns.

leigh0180 wrote:Thats pretty cheap for Thailand. Mostly it won cost that much when living in Asian countries, but not all though.

SE Asian countries are mostly cheap to live in but you pay for it with inconveniences and lower quality of goods. I think Thailand is probably the best option when it comes to cost of living/quality concerns in the region because there are a lot of decent local brands and a fairly large middle class in Bangkok so luxury and imported goods aren't insanely priced.

If you go to Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia there's a steep drop off in quality and they import everything from other countries so it ends up being more expensive than living in Thailand.

The NE Asian bloc countries which include Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, and culturally Singapore are all pretty expensive to live in so the cost of living divide is as great as the difference between western and eastern europe.


Malaysia is kind of the wild card. It is cleaner and has a higher gdp per capita than Thailand but the trade off is living in a more religious environment.

Where I lived in Piura Peru, the cost of living was low, ($400 to $600 per month). In Lima, the captial, the cost was higher but much lower than any major city inthe United States.

As of my last knowledge update in January 2023, the cost of living in the United States varies widely, but on average, monthly expenses including rent, food, transportation, and utilities can range from $3,100 to $4,800. However, these figures are general estimates, and actual costs depend on factors such as location, lifestyle, and individual circumstances.