What Does It Cost To Live In Mexico

Would-be movers to Mexico often ask how much money do they need to live here. The question is usually responded to by saying it depends on your life style and how much you spend on groceries, rent, entertainment.

We purchased our condo so there is no monthly rent. But expenses for internet, property tax, cable TV, utilities, insurance, shouldn’t be too far off from what we pay and in my opinion these are the exact expenses that have made such a huge difference for us in affording Mexico with plenty left over each month vs not being able to save anything in the US.

Pesos have been converted to dollars using an exchange rate of 16.80 pesos to the US dollar. Utilities are actual and averaged over the past 12 months.

Home owners association dues $ 264 per month  

Electricity   119 per month

Propane:(hot water,gas dryer,stove)    18 per month

Water 6 per month

Telmex Landline Phone + DSL internet   23 per month

Cable TV+Internet+Phone***   54 per month

Property tax*   177 per year

Bank trust Fee   464 per year

AT&T Mexican cell phone 2 GB data includes unlimited text and talk to US     308 for 2 years

Yearly vehicle registration   114

Liability only vehicle insurance   460 per year

Local mailbox with a US address**       228 per year

Groceries       532 a month        

TOTAL Monthly Expenses 1130 USD (excluding the mailbox)

*Our property tax is discounted 50% for being permanent residents and for residing in our home. We also received another 10% discount for timely payment.

**The only reason to have a mailbox is for the rare times we need a new credit card mailed or to receive insurance cards. We are not going to renew the box and will have a family member send those infrequent documents via DHL when necessary.

***This will go away if we can ever get the Telmex phone company to set up fiber optics.  It’s in the building but there’s not enough connections. The DSL internet is very weak so we use the cable company internet.