Colombia's most expensive cities

Hello everyone,

What are the most expensive cities to live in Colombia? What are the costs of things such as rent, utilities, weekly groceries, dining out, etc.?

What is the lifestyle like in these cities, for expats and locals?

What are the different neighbourhoods like? Are there more affordable areas?

Do you have any experience living in any of Colombia's most expensive cities? What was it like?

Which cities in Colombia would you recommend? Are there any that offer particularly good value for money when it comes to cost of living?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

A recent ranking showed that Colombia's capital is the most expensive city in the country. 

Below, listed from most expensive on down, are the seven cities with the highest cost of living in Colombia, according to a ranking posted this year on expatistan.com....

Bogotá

Medellín

Barranquilla

Cartagena

Bucaramanga

Cali

Pereira

For the rankings, including each city's cost-of-living score, google:

expatistan colombia cost of living

  -- cccmedia

Very interesting list cccmedia. I would not have thought that it would look anything like this.
My thoughts might have been Cartagena which currently has a shortage of finished construction projects. Then Medellin, Bogota (mainly due to the large supply of higher paying jobs), Bucaramanga, Santa Marta, then the coffee regions and then Baranquilla, Cali etc. Cali is quite expensive in certain neighborhoods fetching 20-30 million per month for housing. Locals are quite expensive in the best barrios as normal.

I have not found an affordable place to live in Cartagena close to any tourist areas and without a foreign income stream of decent size most will not be able to live where they want in this city.

I like www.fincaraiz.com
for rates and rentals

handymantulsa wrote:

Cali is quite expensive in certain neighborhoods fetching 20-30 million per month for housing.


I haven't heard or read of this level of pricing in Cali or anywhere in Colombia.

20,000,000 to 30,000,000 pesos per month works out to between $6,825 US and $10,237 US per month if it can be believed.  In Colombia, I suspect that any such rents would price out of the market all but the super-rich seeking mansions with swimming pools and other fancy amenities.

The figures presented could be off by a factor of 10, so it raises the possibility that the poster may have been thrown off by math in attempting to calculate a currency conversion.

Brother Archer, can such supposed pricing be believed?

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

cccmedia wrote:
handymantulsa wrote:

Cali is quite expensive in certain neighborhoods fetching 20-30 million per month for housing.


20,000,000 to 30,000,000 pesos per month works out to between $6,825 US and $10,237 US per month

Brother Archer, can such supposed pricing be believed?

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera


Not to my knowledge - however if they could get it, they'd be willing to accept that much!

One of the most expensive and upscale neighborhoods in Cali, Ciudad Jardín, estrato 6, is not close to those prices for rentals.  Most apartments there rent for 3 million COP and under, although I see one for over 8 million.

https://www.fincaraiz.com.co/apartament … rdin/cali/

Even houses there rent for less, also around 3 million or less, but with one that's almost 6000 sq. ft. for just under 8 million COP/month:

https://www.fincaraiz.com.co/casas/alqu … rdin/cali/

Note that the price point of 3 million COP/month is a LOT, over $1000 USD/month, for which you can get some very nice places indeed with all amenities, anywhere in Cali.  You would pay more in either Medellín or Bogotá, depending on the neighborhood and certainly in one that's estrato 6.

Some other listings for Ciudad Jardín:

http://www.metrocuadrado.com/apartament … ad-jardin/https://casas.mitula.com.co/casas/arrie … dad-jardinhttp://clasificados.eltiempo.com/aparta … dad-jardin

Apartments and houses in what one article considers the five best barrios in Cali for their overall livability - Santa Rita, San Antonio, La Flora, Ciudad Capri and El Ingenio - are generally even less, as can be seen if you use the above links and look for those barrios.

http://micasainmobiliarios.com/los-cinc … on-actual/