Editor’s note: This post on the cost to live in Colombia was updated at the end of April of 2023.
The country of Colombia is not in my World’s Cheapest Destinations book yet, but it is in my cheap living abroad book A Better Life for Half the Price. It has a whole lot going for it as a place to live. With the Colombian currency losing some substantial value against the dollar over the past eight years or so, the cost of living in Colombia is a great value for those who settle there temporarily or permanently.
To get the scoop on what they spend on a regular basis, I got in touch with some expatriates currently living in the closest country to Central America. Most of the press about moving to Colombia focuses on Medellin because that’s the city where many foreigners who live and work in Colombia gravitate to. I got some perspective on other locations around the county as well though to see how the cost of living compares.
Peter Lombard runs incentive travel and team retreats company Globe Guides. He is rather typical in the sense that he moved to Colombia for a slower pace of life and a lower cost of living combined. He lives in Bucaramanga now and has no intention of leaving. “My lifestyle here involves more walking, more community, more actual relationships (not just virtual ones). I like the fact that food is made fresh, that people make the time to enjoy what they have (even if it may be deemed minimal by American standards), and that work isn’t the overwhelming priority.”
What’s the average cost of living in Colombia for expatriates?
Most self-funded younger foreigners or fixed-income retirees seem to live in Colombia on a budget of $1,000 to $2,500 per month, a fraction of what they were spending in their home country. Unless they’re really living large in Medellin, in which case they could be spending twice that to live like a millionaire would in an expensive city in the USA or Canada.
“I try to limit myself to less than $1,200 per month, as a ‘rule’ but can sometimes go over if I have to have some dental work done or whatever,” says Ryan Shauers. He runs the Desk to Dirtbag blog and writes a lot about life in his adopted country. He has lived in Medellin for around three years and included in his budget is “$100-150 or so for traveling to nearby pueblos.”
Jason Bennett, who leads marketing for Colombia-based hospitality and real estate investment company LifeAfar, owns his own condo. He says, “My expenses range from $750 – $1000 with household expenses (utilities, property tax, insurance), groceries, dining out, and transportation. I would expect another $100 – $200 once I am eligible for the healthcare system.”
Matt Seager, founder of Go to Grow Abroad, has lived in several spots in Colombia, mostly in the Coffee Triangle region and on the Caribbean coast. “I have generally spent in the range of $1700-2500 per month,” he says. “This covered everything from rent, food and entertainment, some local activities and excursions, and money for partying. One consideration is the strength of the Colombia peso to USD, which is more favorable to Americans today than it was a few years ago. Costs have actually gone down.
Prices are pretty steady region to region, however, for people who are moving to Colombia. Tourist city Cartagena is notably more expensive than anywhere else in the country. The coffee region is a great value as it has several university cities like Manizales, Pereira, and Armenia. The Caribbean coast also has good pricing in Santa Marta, Palomino, and Minca, which is a great value in the Sierra Nevada mountains.”
He says an income that would have you struggling to pay the bills in the USA lets you live it up in Colombia. “For $2,500, you can live well in the sense that you can have your own room or small apartment in a decent area, and be able to basically do whatever you want in terms of activities, eating out, etc.”
What are the rent prices like if you move to Colombia?
One of the interesting facts for expats living in Colombia that you discover when apartment hunting is that the system is very socialist or progressive depending on your point of view. Apartment rental prices in Medellin and other big cities closely align to their zone because taxes and utility costs also vary by zone. So a “Zone 6” house or Strata 6 apartment will have the highest rates and a “Zone 1” place will be in a slum—but with super-cheap utilities. Most foreigners who are getting corporate housing paid for by an international corporation end up in a 6, while most independent workers on their own dime find a compromise in 4 or 5.
So while Jason Bennett says that if he didn’t own a place already in the best part of Medellin, he would probably have to pay $1,200 to $1,500 in rent for a similarly furnished place in a new building with 1,000 square feet and great views. This is the tippity top of the market though and usually if someone is paying that much on their own they’ve got a partner or roommate.
Ryan is paying around $400 a month for rent and utilities combined in his Medellin apartment. “The cost for a house or apartment is an incredible value, at least for someone who was originally from Seattle and then lived in Washington D.C. Back in college I was paying $500 a month for a tiny studio apartment in Seattle. Then in D.C. there were ‘English basements’ which were going for $1,200 a month. Here in Medellin, I can pay $315 a month for a spacious three-bedroom, two-bath apartment with a balcony, in a great neighborhood that is walkable to everything.”
“In a university city like Manizales, a small studio apartment can be found for around $300 per month” says Matt. “Furnished apartments are not as common, but can be found in the $350-$500 range. If a person is willing to share an apartment with another person this will lower the monthly expense. For short-term stays, a single private room can be found in a hostel, pension, or family-owned hotel for $15-25 per night. Rooms can be rented for weeks or months at a time in these establishments for even less if you ask. I usually pay around $300-$400 a month for a decent sized private room with private bathroom in a small hotel in Manizales, with internet and cable TV included.”
“My monthly expenses to live in Colombia, aside from travel, are roughly $1000 a month,” says Peter. “This includes a lovely three-bedroom apartment in a secured highrise in Bucaramanga, food, transportation, utilities, and even someone to come in and clean on a weekly basis. I do run my American companies from here so I spend a bit more on telecom than average, but even high-speed internet and unlimited calling together cost me less than $100.”
For utilities, Jason says he pays about $50 for electricity, $25 for water, and $50 for Internet. Note that utility costs vary depending on what strata you are in. In an expensive neighborhood like El Poblado in Medellin, you pay much higher rates per kilowatt hour than you would in a lower strata neighborhood designated as 5 or 4. (The poorest neighborhoods pay nothing: it’s a progressive system based on income.)
John and Susan Pazera, a couple blogging about life in Colombia on their Latitude Adjustment blog, connected with me in Mexico when they were on vacation and gave me the scoop on their prices. After renting for a while n Medellin, they moved to quieter El Retiro and are paying $925 per month for a three-bedroom townhome in a tight rental market. After two years in the big city, they had good reasons for a move:
Colombia’s five-month period of quarantine and lockdown was terrible in many ways, but it did have had one silver lining: peace and quiet. When the restrictions eased, the noise of the city came back with a vengeance. (Maybe it had always been that noisy; we just never noticed it before we had the luxury of months of quiet.) In short, the pandemic spoiled big-city living for us, and it was time for a new horizon. We needed a quieter place with cleaner air, where our two senior dogs could roam a bit and swim in a clean river. We wanted to be closer to nature. And practically speaking, we sought a place where we could feel safer from COVID, with less population density.
It’s a town of 20,000 people, at a higher and cooler elevation than Medellin, and they’re enjoying the more mellow atmosphere.
What does it cost for food and drink in Colombia?
“Dining out is an incredible value,” Jason says. “Lunch is usually around $5, and for dinner it is very hard to spend more than $20 and that includes drinks.”
A decent “meal of the day” lunch will average about $5 in the cities. You can certainly pay less at places where local workers eat, or spend a few dollars more and get much better quality. That’ll generally get you a soup, a main meat dish with a side or two, dessert, and a fresh juice or something else to drink.
“The cost of restaurants and nightlife in Medellin is pretty crazy,” says Ryan. “You can go to an awesome local brewery and get five craft beers for about $8, which is sometimes what ONE beer costs back in the United States. And then there are the menu of the day places where you can get a tasty and complete meal for well under $5. You can’t even get fast food for that price back home.”
“Breakfast is a small and cheap meal, but lunch presents an opportunity for a great value at local restaurants,” adds Matt. “Lunch specials are often generously portioned and priced. For example, a large chicken cutlet served with salad, rice, french fries, and a drink can be purchased for $3-$4 in a local restaurant in Pereira or Manizales. The same meal with fish replacing the chicken cutlet can be found in Santa Marta for roughly the same price.”
Trying to eat familiar food from home is not the way to go though, says Matt. “Normally cheap foods from America can actually be significantly more expensive in Colombia. For example, the famous Subway five dollar foot long does not exist in Colombia. There is a certain prestige and status that comes from patronizing these American brands, and a foot-long Subway sandwich that would cost five dollars in America can easily cost $10+ in Colombia.”
Everyone I’ve spoken to who lived in Colombia says they eat better and feel healthier after moving there. “Fruit is the way to go-incredibly varied, delicious, and cheap throughout the country,” says Matt. “Fresh mango is sold everywhere for pocket change.”
“You can get a big cup of chopped-up mango or papaya for less than a dollar,” adds Jason.
John and Susan agree, saying “Seven dollars will get you a huge pile of fruit and vegetables. We frequently pay 10 cents for an avocado, 25 to 50 cents for a full pineapple. A fresh-squeezed juice is a dollar or less. A beer is around a dollar and we get a pound of fresh-roasted coffee straight from the farm for $4.50.”
Dinners can run the gamut, from cobbled together street for for a couple dollars up to high-end restaurants that will cost nearly as much as you would spend in Europe.
How much does it cost to get around in Colombia?
City buses are around 50 to 75 cents one way in most locations. A one-way ticket on the nicest “TransMilenio” in Bogota will run you about the same. The Medellin metro is cheaper now than it was six years ago in dollar terms.
“Transportation within the city is very economical,” says Ryan. “The metro system is about $0.75, same with any single bus fare (there are also some buses that are integrated with the metro system and provide a reduced overall price, along with the metro cable/gondola, streetcars, etc). Generally speaking, you can get most anywhere you’d want to go in the city in a taxi for about $7-8 (but it’s often less).
“Taxis and Uber are also very low cost, as you can go miles in any direction for about $5,” Jason says. The Pazeras agree, saying they “almost never” spent more than $5 to get where they wanted to go in Medellin. I spent less than $4 a trip in Bogota when I was there in 2022.
In smaller cities like Bucaramanga, it’s even less. “I pay somewhere in the area of $10-15 a week in Uber/taxi, with the average ride being somewhere between $1.20-1.90,” says Peter.
Intercity buses start at around $8 for a couple hours and can cost as much as $55 for long overnight routes, so sometimes it’s worth it to spend roughtly the same or at most double that and fly. The two most expensive routes in the country are Bogota to Cartagena and Bogota to San Andres, Jeff says, but there are frequent specials if you book ahead. You can sometimes find internal flight fares as low as $45 and often the longest routes are going for around $100.
“Intercity long-distance buses often cost me about $50 per ticket round trip,” says Ryan, “but you can also get a ticket on a budget airline like Viva Air for about the same price if you book in advance and have some flexibility with your dates. “That will save you many hours on those winding mountain roads.”
Eight hours of a bus may cost you $20 or less Peter says. “They don’t do straight roads here so it’s hard to sleep and slow going, but it is cheap if that’s your priority. The best way to get in or out of Bucaramanga is by plane. We have flights to Bogota, Medellin, and Panama City with single connection flights to all of North America, South America, and most of Europe. With a second connection I can nearly anywhere in the world. Flights to Bogota, or nearly anywhere in the country, are fairly reasonably priced, $100-200 round trip.”
Don’t take the prices you pull up on Skyscanner at face value, however, when you’re checking domestic flight fares from abroad. “Domestic flights purchased from within Colombia are significantly cheaper than when purchased from outside the country,” says Matt.
What are some of the best bargains if you live in Colombia?
When I asked expats who live in Colombia what some of the best life values were, some mentioned various party substances. Matt cited transportation, lodging, local food, and tobacco. “The worst values may be clothing and foreign food,” he added.
When Dave Lee of GoBackpacking lived in Medellin, he thought the great nightlife in Colombia was the best bargain. He says going out to clubs and having a blast is not going to set you back very much in Medellin compared to a place like London, Las Vegas, or New York City. In a nightclub the usual routine is for the group to get bottle service. You pay $30 or less for a 750ml bottle of rum or aguardiente (the favored anise-flavored local spirit) and you get ice and mixers.
“Colombians go out in groups,” he says, “so if there are five of you that’s $6 a person. Very few places have a cover charge. If they do it’s generally a couple dollars and at the most, maybe the equivalent of $12 at the very fanciest place.”
My pre-paid cell phone plan is another steal,” says Jason. “2GB of data is about $10 per month. Same with my gym membership, just $20. While I am not eligible for the healthcare system yet, there are plenty of stories of overall costs being significantly lower than in the United States.”
John and Susan pay $35 per month for 50 Mbps internet, then another $30 per month for more calls and data than they need for their cell phones. Their health insurance is $200 per month with NO deductible.
What are the pros and cons of living in Colombia?
Ask people what they like about Medellin and the weather usually comes first in this place nicknamed the “City of Eternal Spring.” Dave Lee says, “You can wear a t-shirt and jeans day or night pretty much all year. ” There are two rainy seasons though, which can range from mild to ongoing deluges from year to year and Dave says if expats complain about something, that’s usually it. Bogota is higher and colder. It has the big city attributes on the plus side (museums, great restaurants, the arts), but also more of the normal big-city problems.
“Beyond the cost of living, I’d say the best reasons to live in Medellin are the weather (it is a warm 80+ degrees all year round) and the friendly local people who are always warm and talkative with you,” says Ryan. “Plus you’ve got big-city amenities (high-end restaurants, big shopping malls, living in big towers, fast internet, trendy coffee shops, coworking spaces) with a feel of a town that isn’t TOO big like most of the sprawling capital cities in Latin America—some of which have metro populations of 10 million+.”
“There is a saying that if you put three Colombians in a room together you have a party. This is simply to say that Colombians are a fun-loving and friendly people,” says Matt. “They are very self-aware in terms of the reputation the country has abroad and the stigma that came with the Escobar years. Consequently, they have received and continue to receive significantly fewer visitors than many other countries in the region. This seems to make Colombians almost go out of their way to be extra friendly, but also genuinely interested in getting to know their visitors and making sure they enjoy their time in Colombia. The women are also among of the most beautiful in the world…” he adds.
Peter says the dramatically lower cost of living and slower pace he was seeking out have done wonders for his overall well-being. “My new life in Colombia allows me to life comfortably, pay down debt, and save towards a house, without having to work the hours I used to work. I’m more involved in my community, youth groups, church, and a healthy social life than I ever was in the states.”
The music, the beautiful women, and the gorgeous countryside get high marks from residents, plus the relatively low labor costs mean that almost no expat cleans their own apartment or does all their own gardening work if they have a house.
The quality of life in Colombia is exponentially better than my former home of San Francisco,” says Jason. “Back in the states, you’d be lucky to make eye contact with anyone on the street. In Medellin locals will offer to give you a tour of their city within a minute of meeting. The pace of life is slower, which has taught me patience and gratitude. I also like how the city and country are still under-the-radar. It’s remarkable the questions I get from people back in the states about safety, when the reality is I feel safer here than I did most places in the U.S.”
The Colombian visa situation
The visa situation to live in Colombia permanently is a fluid one, so check the embassy sites and local message boards to get a feel for the current situation. In a general sense, you get three months in Colombia upon entering the country as a tourist. To extend that another three months you can either leave the country and return or go apply for an extension for about $40. But you can only stay six months of a calendar year this way, so you have to get out after that or apply for something long-term.
There were once 17 different kinds of visas in Colombia. That number has been simplified a bit, but if you want to stay longer, it’s best to be patient and super-organized in your applications or hire an attorney to sort it out. There’s a business visa and an “independent activities visa” which can work for some location-independent workers. Those who have found local love can apply for a “civil partnership visa.”
If you want to live in Colombia as a retiree, you can get a retirement visa just by showing an income of more than 3X the local minimum wage. That currently means you need to show less than $800 per month in income to support yourself. Under some rules changes instituted a few years ago, this only has to be renewed once every three years.
In 2022, Colombia introduced a digital nomad visa, which requires less paperwork, but there’s a big flaw you find in many of these: you owe local taxes if you stay longer than six months. So you may want to go the traditional route instead of you’re going to stay longer than that as an expatriate with a base here.
To find out more about living in Colombia
I’ve got an in-depth chapter on the cost of living in Colombia vs USA in A Better Life for Half the Price. This is not one of the absolute cheapest places to move to in the world, but it’s a good value in nearly every respect and has good air connections when it’s time to go elsewhere.
When I first put this post up in 2019, the exchange rate was 35% less advantageous than was when I updated it again in 2023. In some respects, the cost of living in Colombia is now cheaper than Mexico and many spots in Central America.
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ki
Thursday 26th of May 2022
cops pull u over to get your money. DONT HAVE CASH ON YOU. TRUST ME>
Keith
Saturday 20th of November 2021
“ The women are also among of the most beautiful in the world…” he adds.
To cite the beautiful women without mentioning the amazingly gorgeous men is a travesty.
Alan R Estes
Monday 7th of September 2020
Lived in Bucaramanga for 4 1/2 years, but it's been almost 10 years since we left. To me the biggest concern was safety. Married to a Colombiana and she knew where the safe places to live and travel were. Her biggest concern was kidnapping because many people there assume that any gringo there has plenty of money. My step-daughter says that it has gotten much safer since we left.
At the time I only had my military retirement of around $1000 (after alimony) a month which was sufficient when added to the little bit my wife made selling art work, Occasionally worked for some local English Schools.
If we go back it will be after selling our house here, hopefully for around $150,000. I now also have social security, so have an income of around $2000. We probably would move into a gated community in San Gil, where a sister in law lives. Probably a quarter acre lot and easily have a house built from the proceeds from the one here. One big advantage in that part of the country, is that you don't need heat or air conditioning. Maybe a fan and possibly a fireplace, depending on elevation. Construction labor is also very cheap, but will need to ask locals to get someone actually qualified.
Probably the biggest problem I have with Colombia is the way people treat others of a lower class. For instance, people rich enough to own a car gave pedestrians no leeway at all. You had to be very careful crossing streets and keep reminding yourself that the crosswalk means nothing. In the Santander Estado, women weren't treated very well by the males. Called a guy out one time on a bus who jumped into the only empty seat before an old lady could get to it.
Gotta go but am happy to answer questions.
Anthony claudio
Tuesday 3rd of March 2020
I am interested in living in Colombia. I am a retired military veteran with two pensions adding up to about $5000 a month. I speak excellent Spanish too. I wanted some advise on the cities to live in. I like Medellin and the country side. I don't really care for the big city life with large population and traffic. I would enjoy tranquility with some progress but also with some small amenities like internet service and maybe local festivals or events? What cites would anyone recommend me to consider for long term stay.
Luis
Sunday 7th of March 2021
Hey Anthony, I lived there for a year.. My colombian wife lived in Rio Negro/Llando Grande Area. I love that place.. Excellent weather, spectacular views, plenty of restaurants, coffee shops, golf and very affordable. We were paying 300 per month for an apartment with great views.. Not a lot of traffic.. Lots of parks. Very close to the airport and to Medellien.
Tim Early
Wednesday 26th of February 2020
What is the scoop on Barranquilla? Anyone stayed there for any length of time ?
Thanks
Tim