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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Approximate Thai Baht (฿) conversion rates as of 29th March 2024

฿36 to one US Dollar
฿46 to one Pound Sterling
฿39 to one Euro
฿24 to one Australian Dollar
฿0.65 THB to one Philippine Peso

Mark

Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings Around 60,000 baht

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

I earn 40K a month as a primary school teacher. Plus another 13-14K a month from corporate gigs and 7-8,000 from private students (who thankfully cancel quite often)

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Not much at the moment! Maybe 20,000 baht a month. Things will get better this year when the car is paid off. Right now gas prices are really low, so that's a big monthly saving for me.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I designed and built a large house in the country and borrowed some money from a Thai bank to do it. The mortgage is 9,800 baht a month.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

This is the big one - car payment, gas and insurance about 15,000 baht a month. Sounds like a lot, but I travel a lot for work. The commute to my school is 500 kilometres a week! My other jobs require trips to Bangkok (I live in Ratchaburi.)

Utility bills

Electric, internet, and others add up to about 5,000 a month. This figure also includes street lighting, pool maintenance, water and security.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

Another big one, but entirely discretionary. About 5,000 a month. I have a nice kitchen and I cook a lot.

Nightlife and drinking

I never go out and I don't drink.

Books, computers

I'm a gadget nut and I love computers so that accounts for my 'fun stuff/hobby' spending. Difficult to say how much but probably 100,000 baht a year.

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Perfect, I work at a reasonable pace and make a reasonable living. If I was in the UK/US I would have to work a lot harder and I would still never get what I have here in Thailand. I keep waiting for the dream to end and someone to tell me to wake up and sod off back to England. Life couldn't be better.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Property prices. Prostitutes... so I've been told.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

It varies and this question is impossible to answer. Some people can live very happily on half what I make and others would struggle to pay their bills. I'm smack dab in the middle, I think. If you are looking to move to Thailand, you should aim to be making at least 40,000 baht a month within a year of being here. 50,000 baht within three years. When I lived in Bangkok I earned more money, but I hated every second of it.

Phil's analysis and comment

Although Mark has put down 60K as his monthly income, I guess it's probably closer to 50K in a lot of months when those private students or corporate gigs start cancelling (December is probably a prime example) But as I've said many times before, private students, and to a certain extent corporate contracts, are the icing on the cake. Never ever factor them in as 'guaranteed monthly income' but enjoy the extra disposal income in a month when it all comes together and no one cancels.

I always had a love/hate relationship with private students. I used to teach a teenage brother and sister every Sunday for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Oh man, they were just the dullest students you could imagine. I think I only agreed to accept the job because I got on well with their father.

However, on the very rare occasion they used to cancel, I would punch the air and literally dance a jig around the living room. I didn't like losing the income but not having to give up my Sunday afternoons to teach those two deadbeats was more than adequate compensation.

Going back to Mark's survey, hats off to him for making his money go a long way. He's built his own house in the country. He runs a car. And he clearly enjoys life. You can't say fairer than that.    


Trevor

Working in Lamphun

Monthly Earnings 28,000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

28,000

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Two to three thousand baht to cover unexpected bills.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I live in a house.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

1,000 baht

Utility bills

700 baht

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

15,000 baht

Nightlife and drinking

2,000 baht

Books, computers

Nothing

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Comfortable

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Utility costs, food and dining out

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

To have a reasonable standard of living I would say that you need to be earning 25,000 to 30,000 if you live out of Bangkok and double that if you live in Bangkok.

Phil's analysis and comment

Not really anything to get my teeth into there, although 15,000 baht on food when you earn 28K a month doesn't seem quite right. Er....Lamphun is quite nice so I've heard. Is it?


Sebastian

Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings 65,000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

My salary after tax is around 65.000 baht a month. I work for a very large and prestigious secondary school in Bangkok and although the wage is decent, they expect you to maintain a high level of performance. There are no slackers here!

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Some months I spend more than others so difficult to put a figure on it. I try to save at least 20,000 baht a month I guess.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I live with my Thai partner in a brand new condo development. Our one-bedroom apartment costs us about 25K a month but it's very nice and the condo facilities (gym and pool, etc) are excellent. I should add at this point that my Thai partner earns more than I do. She brings home about 80K a month from her job with an international auditing company.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

About 2,000 baht a month. I use public transport from Monday to Friday. My partner has a car so we drive everywhere at weekends. I've toyed with the idea of buying my own car but so far resisted the temptation.

Utility bills

We use the air-conditioning a lot when we are at home in the evenings and weekends and with water and phone, the monthly bills are about 5,000 - 6,000 baht.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

We will eat out twice a week on Saturdays and Sundays and usually somewhere mid-range or better. rarely do we drop less than 1,000 baht on a meal. From Monday to Friday, I cook at home and my partner will grab something on the way home from work. I guess about 20,000 baht a month. We don't skimp on food at all.

Nightlife and drinking

We don't really go out. The very occasional evening at the movie theatre and that's about it.

Books, computers

I enjoy browsing in second-hand bookshops (but don't seem to get enough free time to read) and my partner and I both have laptops, which we replace every couple of years. But this is not a significant amount of money each month.

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Far better than I ever had back in England. I live in a nice place and we don't go short of anything. My partner has been offered an opportunity with her company to work in Vietnam or Cambodia and we're chewing it over. It would only be a 12-month contract but it would mean quitting my job and renting the apartment out. But it would be a fantastic opportunity to taste life in another country.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

I wouldn't class anything as truly unaffordable but as others have said in this cost of living section, Bangkok is definitely becoming more and more expensive.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

Once you've been earning over 60,000 baht a month, you can't ever imagine going back to live on 30K, but I did for several years and survived perfectly well. But in Bangkok, I'm not sure I would fancy living on less than 40K these days.

Phil's analysis and comment

Almost 150,000 baht a month coming into the drum and no kids to worry about. That's always going to get you a nice standard of living. There's a price to be paid though and it's an all too familiar one. Sebastian also said that he and his partner are like ships in the night during the week. His partner especially works long hours and often returns home very late at night.

I've been in this situation myself and wondered whether the hard work is all worth it when you have little or no time to spend with your significant other. Oh well, that's modern life I suppose.

Funny enough, my wife was in the same situation as Seb's partner as regards re-locating to another country. Her bosses started talking about needing someone to transfer to Tokyo for a year or two. My wife was apprehensive about approaching the subject with me but I said "Tokyo! For 12-months in a serviced apartment with all the trimmings? Where's my suitcase?"

Truth is I would have loved the opportunity to spend some time in Japan but unfortunately the offer never became anything more than idle speculation.   


Eric

Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings 100,000 - 170,000 baht a month

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

My base salary is 72,000 after deductions. I supplement this with private lessons. In a good month I can rake in an additional 100,000. In light months I earn as little as 20,000. I'd say the private teaching averages over the year at something like 60,000.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

I generally save my salary and I use my private tuition. My school auto-deposits my salary into a bank account. The private tuition is usually cash in hand. Some months I take money out of my bank account and other months I put some cash into it.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I live in a one bedroom condo with my wife and newborn. It's kind of tight but it's quite livable for now. I'm planning on moving to a larger place soon, mostly for the kid to have more space. My rent is 10,000 including utilities.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

I walk to work and take other types of transportation 2-3 times per week. I also have a motorcycle. About 700 for me. But my wife has a long commute. About 4,000 for her.

Utility bills

Telephones are about 1,000 between the two of us for top up slips. Nursery for the baby is 10,000 per month.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

I try to eat cheap but good. Usually it's pad gra pao or some similar fare but a couple times per week we go mid-scale (B400++). Baby milk isn't cheap either. My little family eats for about 20,000 per month.

Nightlife and drinking

I don't go out too often. As I teach on a Saturday, Friday nights are not going to be late nights. I'll go out just a couple times spending about B3,000 per month. More than drinking I'll spend my money on travel. In the trips I took around Thailand this past year I spent a collective total of about B100,000.

Books, computers

This year I've spent about B30,000 on some new video games. It's a mini-fortune for video games, but I like games now and then. This year has also seen other large costs paid like: tuition (B60,000), baby delivery (B45,000), baby stuff (B30,000) and add-on construction to the family-in-law's home (B50,000).

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

I wouldn't want to work like this forever but I'm happy at present to earn big and save.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Transportation is really cheap. Street food is cheap. Clothes can be cheap. Electronics are not cheap.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

I lived quite happily on 45k for years as a single man. I had enough savings at that time to take some months off just for traveling and also to support myself for a while when I returned to the west when I decided to upgrade to a BEd. Now that I have my BEd and a young family I'm aiming to earn as much as possible to eventually invest in a property.

Phil's analysis and comment

Wow! A teacher who can sometimes earn 100,000 baht a month from private teaching! Although Eric didn't say how much he charges per hour for private tuition, he did have the following to say about his workload -

"The "good" months are very busy months where I work 12-hour days from Monday to Friday and another 8 hours on Saturdays. I like tutoring as much as possible, but Sunday is a work-free day, even though I could earn another 40k per month if I was open for lessons then. My BEd has paid off but not in the way that I thought that it would. Instead of earning a much increased salary, I got a somewhat increased salary and a much increased opportunity for well paying private tuition"

I take my hat off to someone who can hold down a full-time job and juggle around all those well-paid private lessons. That's an incredible achievement. 

Eric didn't actually state where in Thailand he works, but I'm assuming he's in Bangkok.


Shayan

Working in Pathum Thani

Monthly Earnings 30,000 - 50,000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

I’m not a teacher, which is funny because whenever I tell people I work at AIT, they automatically assume that I am. I earn 30k after tax as a marketing professional. I also work as a freelance writer and marketer which earns me another 15-20k a month, depending on the frequency of projects and work completed.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

I had hoped to save at least 50% of what I earn but since getting married and wanting to travel more, it is a lot less. Almost 10-20%. My aim is to save more and alter my lifestyle a little.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I live with my parents in Bangkok

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

I take the MRT and then the van to work. That’s 2,400B/month. Sometimes it is higher because I end up driving. So realistically, it is around 5,000B.

Utility bills

ok, so I live with my parents still. Despite being married, we live in a culture where it is about being in an extended family. It isn’t by choice. So I get to save by not paying utility or accommodation.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

Both restaurants and supermarket shopping – we buy our own groceries, however. I try to have a healthier lifestyle than my parents so I get a lot of organic stuff, which costs a lot. This comes up to be 3000-4000B a month.

Nightlife and drinking

The bulk of where my money goes but something I’m looking to decrease so my wife and I can travel more. We recently started a travel and lifestyle blog so we want to save or money for trips. Realistically, I spend close to 7000/month

Books, computers

I read online a lot. I have a mac from years ago. I spend a bit on phone accessories, camera equipment and other travel electronics. Around 2k/month probably

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

It’s really open and free. I think I spend way more than I should. Trying to adjust my standard of living. Go out to bars and restaurants less unless it’s for our blog or some big event. I would summarize it between luxury and casual. Very outgoing, taking trips, doing weekly adventures and seeing new places.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Bangkok has become more expensive over the years. Real bargains are all over the place but you have to explore a bit to find them. Eating roadside food is your best option. There are some great restaurants and bars that have happy hours that can be really light on your wallet.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

30k is not enough by a long shot, even if I was single and not going out at all. Rent alone for a good decent apartment is no less than 7-10k. Combine grocery, transportation, utilities and a bit of outing, you’re down another 15k leaving you with about 5k. Is that enough saving? I would say to live comfortably; you need to earn at least 50k - 70k depending on your lifestyle. If you earn close to 100k, you’re life is set here.

Phil's analysis and comment

Shayan is not a teacher (in fact he's the first non-teacher we've featured in the cost of living section) but he asked me very nicely if he could complete the survey and I thought well, why not? He earns a monthly salary that is comparable with a teacher's. However, things are skewed a little by the fact that he lives with his parents so there are no accommodation outgoings each month. I do like his numbers in the final question though and I agree with him 100%.


Showing 5 Cost of Living surveys out of 425 total

Page 65 of 85


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