In my last destination in Aruba, my monthly cost of living was $2300 USD. Both of us was $4600 USD. Aruba is a paradise but it is quite expensive. In Aruba, we even cooked a lot at home to save money and didn’t dine out as much as we like to. In Puerto Morelos, we didn’t sacrifice anything, we dined out whenever we feel like it and bought whatever we want at the groceries. Our monthly cost of living is $1900 for both of us. ( $950 USD per person).
We live in Colonia side ( Non-tourist side of town) and not the beach side and things are cheaper.
Exchange rate is approximately is $1 USD = 20 MX Pesos
Here are the estimates of monthly costs (for both).
Monthly Expenses/Costs in USD
Rent (includes utilities & Internet) $850
Groceries $445
Transportation $175
Entertainment/Dining Out $420
Cell Phone Service $10
Monthly Total $1900
What is not included
Healthcare – we do not have one. We pay out of pocket. Dental Cleaning was 700 pesos $35 USD and Chiropractor visit was 600 pesos $30 USD
Clothing – Cute Summer dresses is $15 – $20 and tops are $5 – $10
Personal Items – Hygiene products are all 30 – 50% cheaper as compared to Las Vegas NV.
We didn’t include any personal items, or things such as a used recliner sofa, bicycles, bed toppers etc or our 3 day trip to Holbox, Mexico.
DETAILS
Rent – we are staying at the non-tourist side of town called Colonia. If you were to rent on the Beach side ( tourist side) it costs more.
We found our rental through a taxi driver that we regularly used. It’s a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom Town House with a private backyard and community pool for 17000 pesos ($850 USD) per month including utilities: power, gas, water and Wifi. That comes to $28.33 approximately a night.
Even though the so-called contract we signed stated all utilities included, we had to pay extra for power bill for that one month, the rental property administrator says our power bill was too high. They wanted us to pay 1000 pesos going forward but we negotiated paying half of the monthly gas bill.
Rent price and contract terms in Mexico are all over the board. You can find a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom from $500 to $700 USD. We saw several attached homes here for 8000 pesos ($400 USD) not including utilities.
Utilities
Our utilities are included but here’s an estimate of what they would cost on average
Internet $35 – $65
A fiber-optic internet is about $24 on average.
Electricity ( depends on usage) $75 – $200
The utility bills you get is always for 2 months. This electric bill comes to $105.75 USD per month.
Water $20 – $30
Gas $35
We paid $35 a month for gas
Groceries
Depending on what you buy. Local products are cheaper.
Entertainment/Dining Out
Dining out in Mexico is very affordable. Sometimes it’s cheaper to eat out but to stay healthy I also cook at home. The most affordable are street food, like tacos, tortas and quesadilla for $1 – $3.
The restaurants on beach side in Puerto Morelos average around 200 pesos ($10 USD) for an entree which is still reasonable.
Transportation
Averages $75 – $100 but we spend much more due to taking taxis to Cancun.
Local transportation here is collectivos (shared minivans) are 10 Pesos ( 50 cents USD). The taxis from Colonia to Beach is 60 Pesos ($3 USD).
We take taxis to Cancun for Costco, mall and theater. The cost for round trip is between $1200 – 1400 pesos. The driver will wait for you while you shop. We take collectivos when we don’t have lot of things to carry home.
Cell Phone Service
Sim card is so inexpensive here. We pay 200 peso for 30 days.
3 GB, rolls over
Unlimited calls & texts
Social media does not count against data plan.
The average cost of living in Mexico can range anywhere from $600 to $2,000 a month depending on your lifestyle. I feel that for a comfortable life it cost about $1,000 for a single person.
Life has been very comfortable and peaceful here. The humidity and mosquitoes/ bugs can be a pain sometimes. And also for me, the neighbors and neighborhood are very important where you live.
bigworldawaits 