Cost of Living in Merida-2023

 

Cost of Living for a Family of Four in Merida-2023

Cost of living anywhere is always changing. I thought a recent post for a family of four would be useful to those who are wondering how much it would cost to live in Merida vs. their current city. 

Please keep in mind that spending can vary for everyone. If you are single, a married couple, a family with small children, or a family with older children, everyone's spending can look differently. You may be able to live on less than us, or may need to spend more. This is just to give you a general idea of what you could be working with. 

Rent- Depending on what you are looking for it can range from $350 and up. The $350 range is for smaller, furnished homes with 1 bedroom. $850-$1500 Can get you a good sized home for a family of 4. Usually this includes garbage collection, groundskeeping, guard at the gate(if applicable), and internet. Depending on your family size and rooms needed, whether furnished or not, this number can be whatever you want it to be. In that I mean, you can compromise and get a place for below your budget, or you can splurge on things you have to have and be right at or above your budget. I've seen $2000+USD rentals/ month as well as nice ones in the lower range. This is a personal decision and can vary with each family. Our rent is 25,000 pesos ($1250 USD) for a furnished 4 bedroom 5 bathroom home(the bathrooms are ridiculous, I know). 

**Update-As of March 2023 we are in a new rental and it is 22,000 pesos per month ($1,195 USD) It is an unfurnished 3 bedroom 4 1/2 bathroom home(they like their bathrooms around here). We are now paying less and the house actually has more room than the previous one. Although we have to furnish it now.

Water Delivery- You can't drink tap water here without getting some kind of bacteria that invades your stomach so it's common to have water jugs delivered to you. They come 2 times a week for us. Each jug is 35 pesos(as of March 2023 the price has gone up to 36 pesos per 5 gallon jug). Seems like we are going through 3 or 4 a week which comes to 140 pesos($7 USD). You can also purchase bottled water but the big 5 gallon jugs seem to be the most cost effective.

Electricity- This is the whopper. We get the bill every 2 months. This first bill we got we paid half because it fell between us and the previous renters. We used too much, I'll tell you that right now. Going from central A/C to these mini splits takes some getting used to. I was running it way too much, the kids would forget to turn theirs off in the morning so they would run an extra 2 hours longer than they needed to,... etc. etc. So our part of the bill was 6000 pesos for one month ($300USD). Which is a lot. Through trial and error though, I have discovered ways to hopefully improve our electricity usage. I discovered that you can set timers for how long to run the mini splits at night so that way they turn off automatically in the morning. I set them on auto so they stay at the temperature you set and use less energy, and I turn on the living room mini split for about an hour at a time. I let it cool the room down and then wait until it gets too hot again before turning it back on for about an hour. If it's about to rain, the air gets cooler and I open the windows to let the breeze through. We'll see end of July if any of these changes helped improve our bill at all! Hopefully it does!

** Update 2022: We got it down a bit. Our bill for 2 months was 8,000 pesos so $200/month. A smaller house in a more Southern location would drastically reduce the bill(That's what we'll be looking for once our lease is up here).

**As of March 2023 we are in a new place that has solar panels. Once we get our first bill I will note how much it costs us.

Internet- Now usually a lot of landlords include this in your rent. Ours did, however, it was the lowest internet speed and since my hubby works from home we needed the higher speeds. So we pay the difference. This for us is about $22USD.

**As of March 2023 we have bought Starlink internet. There is an initial start up cost for them to send you the dish and router but after you have that, you can set up anywhere in the world. Very handy! It is $1100 pesos per month. You may not need this and can still use what we previously did, since hubby works online though he needs really good internet.

Water- This bill for us comes every 2 months and it cost us around 153 pesos or $7.50(USD).

**Update March 2023-we are on well water now and therefore do not have a bill.

Gas- We were told that when the propane guys come that they will fill it up and it cost a minimum of 200 pesos. We haven't had to fill it yet so this is still to be determined. A friend of ours said they've been in their place 2 years and haven't had to get it filled yet so I'm going to say $35USD to fill it and divide that by 12 months. 

-While in that rental we ran out of gas and had it filled. It cost us about 3-4,000 pesos.

Groceries- This depends on each family. I try to spend between $100 and $200 per week. Some weeks can be less than this and sometimes it can be more depending on our needs. I'm not going to include this in the below tally because it can very so much per family. I would say plan to spend what you spend right now and then if it's less once you live here, then great! 

Phones- This cost us 400 pesos ($20USD) for 2 phones/month.

Eating Out- This depends on each family. If you cook at home more, you'll spend less on eating out. If you eat out more, your groceries will be less. This you won't find out till you are here and see what your routine ends up being. I'm not going to include this in my below calculations but I would also say to budget what you spend now and go from there.

Pool Cleaning- This cost us 190 pesos/week or $44USD per month. They adjust the chemicals, scrub the floor and sides, and skim the pool.

**Update as of March 2023- We have a larger pool now but it only requires cleaning every other week for 330 pesos. This is about $18, so $36/month. 

Fuel for Car- We try to fill it up once or twice a month. It's about $60USD each time.

Misc.- This can be for recreation, doctors visits, prescriptions, gardening, etc. This also will be dependent on each person/family. For instance, movies are waaay cheaper here. We spent $20 for 7 people for tickets and maybe another $15 for everyone to get popcorn, bottled water, nachos, icees, and a few other things. 

 Monthly Budget for a Family of 4

Rent- $1196

Water Delivery- $7

Electricity- $50(to be updated with first bill)

Internet- $60

Water- $0

Gas/Propane- $15/month 

Phones- $20

Pool Cleaning- $36

Fuel-$120

Total: $1484USD Per month- This does not include groceries, eating out, or more personal misc items, as this is always changing and depends on each person/family. 

So there you have it! This is approximately what we spend each month on bills. Hopefully it gives you an idea of what you would be spending if you are deciding to live in Merida!