Are you curious to know the cost of living in Thailand and how to stay long-term? In this article, we will break down our monthly expenses while living in Krabi, Thailand including rent, utilities, transportation, insurance, activities, and food.
As a couple, our cost of living is around $1516 a month which includes housing, utilities, transportation, medical insurance, activities, and food. However, you would not believe what our biggest expense is! Hint: It’s not our housing costs, but more on that later. For now, let’s take a deep dive into the most common expenses when living in Thailand, so you can plan and prepare for your new life in paradise.
Housing Costs in Thailand
Our first main expense is housing. One of our favorite house rentals so far in Krabi, Thailand has been the Nature House. This property has individual 1 and 2 bedroom villas that are so comfortable and quiet. We love the secluded vibe of this property and being surrounded by a serene natural landscape.
Our one bedroom, one bathroom villa includes wifi and weekly cleaning for only ฿10,000 baht ($334 USD) monthly, and we are very happy with the quality and comfort level of this unit.
Want to see this unit for yourself? Check out our full video below!
This is the least amount of money that we’ve paid for monthly rent in Thailand. However, we’ve also paid ฿15,000 ($500 USD) a month for a two bedroom condo, and we have paid as much as ฿30,000 ($1000 USD) to have a sea view. So prices vary greatly in Thailand depending on the features and amenities that you would like to have while you are living in the land of smiles.
We also looked at properties as low as ฿8000 baht ($267 USD), but decided against that because it was too small. And as low as ฿5000 baht ($166 USD) but decided against that because it was not furnished. The choice is always up to you to decide if getting the lowest price or if having the most amenities is most important to you.
One of the things that we love about Thailand is that most rental properties come fully furnished so you do not need to come to Thailand with any furniture making it really easy to move to another city whenever you would like a change of scenery.
Utility Costs in Thailand
In addition to monthly rent, you also have to consider utilities. In our one bedroom, one bath villa, our electricity costs ฿1675 baht ($55.95 USD) a month and water was ฿90 Baht ($3 USD) monthly.
Our current villa only has one air conditioning unit, but we have also stayed in several properties that have two air conditioning units. Please keep in mind that if your property has two AC units, chances are that your utility bill will be double the one listed above.
Transportation Costs
Transportation costs are another important consideration. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has very good public transportation that allows you to easily get anywhere in the city. However, if you choose to live outside of Bangkok, you will need to rent or buy your own transportation.
We chose to rent a motorbike in Krabi, because it is not only the cheapest way to get around, but it is also the most convenient. Parking a motorbike is really easy. The only drawback to having a motorbike is that longer trips over an hour are very uncomfortable. Those motorbike seats are not really designed for long haul rides, but for short trips, under 45 minutes, having a motorbike is ideal.
We pay ฿2500 baht ($83 USD) a month and chose to get motorbike insurance as well for ฿500 baht ($16 USD).
Gas only costs around ฿320 baht ($11 USD) a month.
We also looked into renting a car. Car rentals range from ฿8,000-฿11,000 baht ($267-$367 USD) monthly. Fuel for a car would also be more expense. We estimate that fuel for a car would cost around ฿3200 Baht ($106 USD) monthly.
Medical Insurance
Now, being sick is scary enough without worrying about whether you can afford the costs. This is why we chose to get medical insurance.
While we were travel, we decided to buy travel insurance from Safety Wing because it’s cost effective, easy to enroll, and easy to renew every month. Plus, Safety Wing covers cancelled flights, hotels, and emergency medical care. It gave us peace of mind while we traveled.
Their rates are very affordable but dependent upon age so click here to get a quick quote.
Once we decided to live in Thailand long-term though, we opted to buy comprehensible medical coverage with Seven Corners. Seven Corners offers great medical coverage including preventative care. Preventative care is usually not necessary when you are traveling, but it is necessary if you plan on living in one location over the year.
The Cost of Activities
For activities, we spend most of our time at the beach which is free to enjoy. However, we also enjoy going on kayaking tours through the many lakes, caves, and canyons of Krabi. We also like to rent paddle boards around Railay beach to take in the beautiful views there. There really is a lot to do and we are spending about ฿4190 Baht ($140 USD) per month on activities.
The Cost of Food in Thailand
How much you spend on food is a very personal choice. For us, we choose to eat at home for breakfast and lunch and eat out every evening for dinner. This brings our weekly grocery bill to ฿3,982 Baht ($133 USD).
By far our biggest expense is eating out at restaurants and bars. We spend ฿37,293 Baht ($444 USD) a month! It’s still surprising to us that we spend more on food than we do on housing, but eating out was our chosen luxury item.
Naturally, a person can spend much less than this eating out in Thailand, but this is just our personal preference to enjoy our evenings out.
Total Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand
So, our total monthly cost of living in Thailand is $1516.42. We are very happy with this price as it is half of the cost of what we would spend in the United States and we feel like our quality of life is much higher.
Thailand Visa Options
You can stay in Thailand for up to two months on a tourist visa. So, if you are considering relocating to Thailand long-term, then you should consider long-term visas like an education visa, volunteer visa, retirement visa, or a work permit.
We chose to get an education visa to learn Thai so we could better navigate the local culture while in Thailand.
Our school Alongkorn offers both 6 month and 12 month visas. We chose the 6-month option as we were unsure of how long we wanted to stay in Thailand, but we wound up extending this visa and staying a full-year. Six months of Thai lessons costs ฿20,000 ($667 USD) per person with visa renewal costing ฿5000 Baht ($166 USD).
Want to learn even more details about Thai visas and Thai visa agencies to consider then please check out our blog post coming soon!
The Cost of Living in Thailand Conclusion
Naturally, this budget is just one couple’s example of the cost of living in Thailand. A solo traveler will naturally have less expenses and a family will naturally have more. Our goal with this article is just to give you a range of prices that you can expect to pay so you can better plan your time and your budget in Thailand.
Feel free to let us know if you have any questions in the comments below!
We’ve loved our time in Thailand and can highly recommend it as a great place to live.
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