What is the cost of living in Thailand must be one of the most asked questions on internet forums. The question should rather be what is your allowance each month and live according to that. Lets take a look! Well how long is a piece of string? Over the eyars I have seen expats get by on 25,000 Baht a month while others could not live on less that 75,000 Baht a month.
Apartments range in prices in Bangkok and in Pattaya. In Pattaya much like Bangkok a small un-airconditioned room might cost you 3,000 Baht a month or a fully airconditioned room could also cost you 30,000 Baht a month.There is a rule to check the prices. The closer to the subeway system or skytrain you are the higher the price for the apartment and the smaller the apartment. Further away makes for a cheaper apartment with a larger floor space. As an example a prive house, double story with 2 rooms will cost you 5,000 Baht a month in a private village 30 minutes from Central Bangkok, where a small 25 square meter apartment close to the subway system, would cost the same. Food is cheap as you could have dinner everynight for abut USD1 (35 Baht) Thats correct a dollar meal. At a mall where they might serve a buffet you would be looking at about USD2 (70 Baht) a meal. Either way food in Thailand is cheap. Internet serices are also cheap ranging for 800 Baht a month to 3,000 Baht a month depending on the speed. Late afternoons irrespective of you bandwidth allocation the internet slows down to almost a crawl. Health insurance is reasonable and the modern hospitals are not that expensive with relation to prices at home. Going to the dentist to have a tooth pulled costs about 50 Baht (USD 1.50) and root canal cost about 2,000 Baht (USD 57).
A medical checkup is also cheap and in the range of about 300 Baht ( USD 9). Transportation in Bangkok can be expensive during peak traffic however there are loads of metered taxis. Most times living in Bangkok you would make use of a scooter bike taxi and these range in price but still dirty cheap. What ever you do, dont buy a motorbike thinking you can get through the traffic. Most accidents in Thailand tend to be motorbike accidents. I would strongly advise you against this idea! Bangkok also has taxi boats on the canal which can be hair raising in the morning and I would not really advise anyone to use it during peak hours. Its just not worth the risk! Pattaya makes use of Baht Busses which get you around and are simple to understand. Prices have remained low over the years however there is no real way of known which route the Baht bus is really going. Its just a hit and miss affair but cheap as chips. With offices in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, Samui and Chiang Mai we are best able to assist you with retirement in Thailand. Speak to us today – see our main website!