Every new arrival wants to know if they can survive or live well in Thailand on X thousand baht a month?
It's a difficult question because each person has different needs. However, the following surveys and figures are from teachers actually working here! How much do they earn and what do they spend their money on?. And after each case study, I've added comments of my own.
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Robert
Working in Ang Thong
Monthly Earnings 35,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I work at a Thai government school in Ang Thong and my full-time pay is 35,000. For this I teach about 16-18 contact hours a week. I only do two hours on a Friday morning so I'm free to leave at lunch time, which is nice. I'm also paid directly by the school and it's great not to have to shout at an agent down the phone and ask why my salary isn't in the bank (been there, done that!)
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I try to put away 5,000 baht every month and I do manage it most months. That 60K a year mostly goes on short trips to various Thai islands. I like to travel whenever we have a school break.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 5,000 baht a month for a small studio in a fairly new apartment building. Over the past year, the restaurant has closed, the little convenience store has closed, the gym has been locked up for months and there's a mysterious green substance floating on the surface of the swimming pool. Some mystery person is also taking a whizz in the elevators. But my studio apartment is OK. I've got a hot water shower, a new air-conditioner and there's also a wardrobe and a little bedside table. I've also put up a few pictures to make it look homely and you can get a nice rug from Homepro for a few hundred baht.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I have my own small motorcycle so that's just a couple of hundred baht each month on petrol. Repairs are as cheap as chips here! Without your own wheels in Ang Thong, it's tough to get around.
Utility bills
200-300 baht for electricity and water. I'm something of a tightwad when it comes to turning on the air-conditioning (that thing just eats up the juice) I might stick it on for an hour in April when the temperature becomes unbearable, otherwise I have four fans (one in each corner of the room) battling it out.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I try to keep this cost down as much as I can but find it difficult. Even at a hole-in-the-wall joint an evening meal with a large beer can cost 150 baht. That's 5,000 a month right there. Thrown in some patong-ko and moo ping for breakfast on the way to work and a 7-11 lunch (I like the sausage and cheese toasties) and you can easily eat your way through 10K even as a single bloke.
Nightlife and drinking
There's nowhere to go out in Ang Thong unless you go out with a group of Thais and although I do have Thai friends I prefer to keep them at arm's length when it comes to night-time partying. No, I like a beer with my evening meal and a couple at lunchtime if I'm not working. That'll do me.
Books, computers
We have an old bookshelf at school where past foreign teachers leave dog-eared paperbacks before going on to teach elsewhere. I've read 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' four times. Sometimes it's the boredom that can kill you.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's OK. One of the reasons I left Bangkok was because I could never seem to make ends meet. I was earning 40,000 baht a month and it didn't seem to go anywhere. I was always skint before the end of the month. At least here in Ang Thong I'm not living on cans of tuna from the 24th onwards.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
I can go down the fresh market and come back with a great big bag of fruit for 150 baht. I'd love to get myself organised and buy fresh meat and fish but I'm hopeless in the kitchen. I'd probably burn the condo down anyway if I was allowed access to a gas ring.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
35,000 is enough in rural Thailand because there's nothing much to spend your money on. You need at least double that in Bangkok though.
Phil's analysis and comment
Nice survey Rob, We always like to hear from the teachers in the 25-40K bracket because that's what so many foreign teachers get paid and have been doing for the past 30 years. We don't hear from many teachers in Ang Thong either.
Yes, it's hard to keep those monthly food bills down if you want to eat reasonably well. It think learning how to cook might be a good move if it gets you off the Chinese donuts and the 7-11 junk food (difficult to resist though isn't it?) The meat and fish can be really cheap at those morning markets.
Max
Working in Chiang Mai
Monthly Earnings 47,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
47,000 is my total salary, excluding a small amount for a pension fund.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
About 10,000.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 10,000 baht a month for a two-bedroom house with a garden.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
500 baht on gas each month for my motorcycle.
Utility bills
750 baht for water, electricity and internet.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I eat out every day so with a bit of supermarket shopping, this bill comes to about 10K.
Nightlife and drinking
I have a few beers at the weekend but it doesn't amount to more than a thousand a month.
Books, computers
Maybe 100 baht a month on a game for my playstation.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Perfect. I do much better than I did in Europe. I earned more money in Europe, but I seem to have more spare cash here.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Going out to eat. 40 Baht for really good dishes is amazing value.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
As a foreigner in Chiang Mai, you need around 25,000 to survive and 35,000 to live fairly well.
Phil's analysis and comment
Chiang Mai is always a difficult place to analyze in terms of cost of living because I always feel that it has all the Western temptations and trappings of Bangkok but teacher salaries are generally not as high as they are in the capital. That said, Max's salary of 47K is very decent for Thailand's 'second city' and it's clearly enough to live relatively well on.
Jim
Working in Phattalung
Monthly Earnings 25K
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
25,000 is my take-home pay from a full-time job teaching English in a government school.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
Zero.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I live in a large 3-bedroom terraced town house which costs 8,000 a month.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Gas for my scooter is 1,000 baht a month and another 2,000 goes on the loan repayments for it, so transportation comes to 3,000.
Utility bills
I pay 1,000 for electricity, 100 baht for water and 600 baht for the internet.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I never cook at home and eat mostly from food-stalls. I would call this around 8,000 baht a month.
Nightlife and drinking
The final 4,000 baht a month goes on booze and smokes.
Books, computers
Zero
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's very much a hand-to-mouth existence. I have no extra money for savings, retirement, local trips or a flight home.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Street food.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I'd say 40,000. However, I'd recommend staying in your home nation because you'd be better off pushing trolleys around a Walmart parking lot.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Jim, a brutally honest survey there at what you might call the low-end of English teaching in Thailand. I think the figures throw up just one main question - how much longer can you keep doing it? There will be many teachers who say that 25K is more than enough to live on out in the sticks but like you, they won't be saving much or putting away money for their future years. I agree with you that 40K is a far more realistic figure to be aiming for.
Pat
Working in Hong Kong
Monthly Earnings 336,000 baht
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I work at a top international school in Hong Kong. This is my full monthly take-home pay, including housing. My (Thai) wife works as a TA and makes another 65K baht.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I send about 125K baht home every month for a rainy day. I also put about 10K in a retirement fund back home every month. Besides that, I save another 5K for incidentals. Not bad for a 28-year-old!
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My wife and I rent a lovely large apartment with 2 bedrooms for 60K (it's very large by Hong Kong standards)
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Very little. We both walk to work together since it is less than 200 metres.
When we go further, we use public transportation, which is actually much cheaper and far more efficient than when I lived in Bangkok.
Utility bills
So cheap it is a steal. About 300 baht a month for water and maybe about 2,000 a month on electricity and another 2,000 for internet and phones
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
We eat out twice a week, resulting in 3,000 baht a month. Monday to Friday, we eat very healthily and simply, and that costs us about 1,000 baht a week. So food is less than 10,000 a month
Nightlife and drinking
I'm a married man with a very busy job so I am waiting to travel to Thailand to occasionally take part in some debauchery there. Here I spend zero!
I'd say perhaps 1,000 bath a month on the occasional drink
Books, computers
All provided by my employer, so zero!
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Absolutely fantastic. I am living in a marvelous country. I am saving more than most people make in a year and I still live well without going without.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Public transport!
Noodles!
The fantastic assortment of cold teas
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
At least the equaivalent of 100,000 baht a month.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you pat. Even though Hong Kong must be an expensive place to live (certainly for accommodation) I'm sure that 336,000 must cover things very nicely.
Ricky
Working in Pathum Thani, near Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 35,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I earn 30,000 baht a month as the only foreign teacher at a small Thai school and I do about four hours a week at a private language school in the evenings for 300 baht an hour.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
Very little. If I'm left with 5,000 baht then I would consider that a decent month. I seriously don't think I've ever had more than 50,000 baht in my savings account at any one time and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a worry.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 5,000 baht a month for a studio apartment in a fairly newish building that has gone rapidly downhill in the past 12 months. I'm probably the only foreigner here amid all the Thais living two and three to a room. In the early days, I used to try and befriend as many neighbours as possible because I just thought it would be a good idea to have Thai friends (practice the language, etc) Wrong! It wasn't long before I was constantly getting tapped up for short-term loans which were rarely paid back. And if it's just a few hundred baht, you often feel embarrassed asking for it and have to chalk it up as yet another loss. Now I just drift in and out of the building like a phantom, keeping my head down and limiting my social interactions to a nod if anyone says hello. Thai 'friends' from the lower rungs of the economic ladder can be bloody hard work.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I take the bus to and from work. The bus stop is virtually right outside the apartment building and it's a five-minute ride to school. So this is just a couple of hundred baht a month.
Utility bills
Water is about a hundred baht and electricity comes to another thousand. I try to avoid using the air-con whenever possible to keep the costs down.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I find it very difficult to keep the food and supermarket costs down but you've got to eat, you'll always need cleaning stuff for your apartment and toiletries like shaving gel, razors and deodorant I find very expensive here. I can rack up 10,000 a month on this category easily and that's without even venturing into the likes of KFC, Starbucks, etc. On 35K a month you just can't afford those Western fast food prices. Thai food is simply much better value.
Nightlife and drinking
I haven't been out for a beer for the best part of two years (since Covid hit) and I guess I've got out of the habit now. I'll sometimes buy a couple of cans from 7-11 while I'm enjoying my usual evening in with Netflix but that's as far as my drinking goes nowadays.
Books, computers
I download reading material for free and my trusty 5-year-old Lenovo laptop is still going strong.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I live from month-to-month, there's certainly no hiding that fact. I'm a lot better off than many other people though. I can feel the desperation around me as many of the residents in my building have lost jobs, struggled to get benefits from the government, etc. At least I'm still working and can pay my bills.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Oh, Thai food without a doubt. You can pick up a decent meal on my neighborhood streets for 40 baht and carry it home in the little plastic bag. A couple of minutes in the microwave and that's your evening meal sorted.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
More than what I'm earning. Another 10-15,000 baht would be nice. I'm sure you can live on far less out in the rural towns and cities but you need 40-50K in Bangkok as an absolute minimum I would say. I've been working in Bangkok for five years now and I'm seriously wondering if it's time to move away to somewhere in the north-east perhaps, where the money is bound to go further.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Ricky for a rather sobering cost of living survey. That's a very interesting point you bring up about getting 'tapped up for loans' and I'm surprised in a way that it's never been raised before. We all know how many lower income Thais use loan sharks so who could resist a nice interest-free loan from the friendly foreigner who lives down the hall? You don't want to be that man.
Please send us your cost of living surveys. We would love to hear from you! This is one of the most popular parts of the Ajarn website and these surveys help and inspire a lot of other teachers. Just click the link at the top of the page where it says 'Submit your own Cost of Living survey' or click here.
Showing 5 Cost of Living surveys out of 430 total
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