Cost of living in the Philippines in 2026

My reply to the questions you have asked but first

Have lived in Cebu for 7 years, married and own our own house.

Own our house but the cost of being ripped off has gone up.

Trike fares have increased by 5 pesos a trip locally, more if it is further.

Taxis are renowned for "fast" meters, 32 minute trip showed 58 minutes on meter.

Household about P30k a month living well and doing most of my own cooking.

No health insurance, too costly.

No children at school, all 3 work.

Electricity P7k, they love the A/C. gas P400. PLDT P1900.  Water and subd. fees P1500.

Rearely eat out, P2K. Beer P15k. Others P10k.

I hope this helps someone.

Like you GoDees we own everything, home, cars, bikes. No power bills (stand alone power system) limited fuel for the bikes, the main car is PHEV but honestly we still spend an average of P110K per month, still cheap compared to Oz but in the 15 years I've been knocking around and living here for 7 of those years the costs have risen 30 to 40% compared to when I worked here 15 years ago but I see the average wage has stagnated for the locals sadly.

Like you no private health insurance, only PhilHealth for 3 of us including our live in care taker so really self funded or P2,000 per month, Internet P1300, Cignal like P3K (5 outlets/boxes)  phones maybe P500 per month, Municipal rates like P700 per month, car insurance P2,500 per month, Food and we do eat very well around P30 to 35K per month, eating out and take aways maybe 6K pr month, Air conditioner cleaning x 7 units every 3 months = P 1,700 per month, then there are all the peripherals but all up we are P100 to 120'k per month. If we had power bills and car fuel costs we could add a further P30k +.

The only things that are cheap here are eggs and chicken for day to day living and I will add that cigarettes are a tenth of the price compared to Oz and alcohol is far cheaper but it's still got me beat how the locals can Iive on P 10 to 20K per month, seems they manage and still have a smile everyday.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Monthly costs for couple living in Eastern Samar:

Rent (2br apartment) 10000

Utilities (Elec, Water) 6000

Internet 700

Cell phone (her, local) 700

Cell phone (him, Australia) 1800

Transport (local) 1800

Gym (2) 2000

Medication 3500

Beauty requirements (alleged) 5500

We have a small apartment and I run the AC almost 24/7. My cell phone is billed to Australia and includes roaming in Philippines. Trikes are 15 pesos a trip and my girlfriend averages 4 trips daily (I walk everywhere). We have no health insurance but are looking into it. My medications are generics from TGP. My girlfriend’s skincare, make-up and trips to the salon cost nearly as much as our utilities 😅.

My last trip to S&R over $700 USD.

@bigpearl

Hello bigpearl.

I get by on P70k a month pension.

No car, no petrol, no insurance, big saving. Only go out of Mactan rarely.

regards  Bruce

All good Bruce. For me the money is there and self fund but the better half thinks it grows on trees and often I have to pull him up with a few, many stern words about reality. Can be frustrating but 15 years on we are still here and have weathered the storms, as most of us do. Wheels are a must for us as its a 600 metre walk to the main road for a tricycle, the bikes are handy for the wet market/town 4 klicks away greens and 30 minute drive to the malls and we like the freedom of jumping in the car or bikes and heading off to explore.

Saying that if we didn't smoke or drink, me mostly we would be back to 80K per month with no power and limited fuel costs.

When I first visited and worked here I worked out that I could live like a king on less than AU 2k per month, now it's AU 3K per month or better 15 years on.

Happy here.

Cheers, Steve.

Eggs we an eat a lot of and chicken, veggies as they are reasonably cheap, even the 2 Labradors get eggs and veg with dry food every day and 2 very happy dogs.

What pisses me off is when we first moved here our rubbish was collected weekly and we paid the Barangay for that but through Covid it stopped and became once a month and we had to load the SUV and take it 600 metres to the main road, a few times a sign would be erected saying truck broken down, next month, so a weekly pick up turned to monthly or longer but they still have the hand out annually for the fees.

As we know welcome to the Philippines.

Cheers, Steve.

Our rubbish is supposedly managed by the body corporate but they have rules no-one understands so everyone (ourselves included) burns their trash on the vacant lot next door. Recyclables are piled where the trash is meant to go and they do vanish from time to time (assumedly removed by the body corporate). My only concern is that anyone walking must see the recycling and realise a western dude lives here as cans of baked beans, cans of tiger and heineken, cans of soda water, absolut vodka bottles and empty containers of methylated spirits (every teenage Australian pyromaniacs accelerant of choice) abound. If we suffer a home invasion I know we will have been tracked by our recycling

@Enzyte Bob

If I want to save and budget money, I try to avoid that place. But No Can do,

Like you, every time I step through those doors 20K+ slips outta my wallet.

LOL, maybe we are lucky there's not an S&R store within coee.

What is cheap here is labour, 18 months of building here and while material was expensive all our guys were inexpensive, we even paid them an extra 50 pesos per day and were promptly told by our lead mason not to pay them extra as they will expect it all the time, told him it's our money and if they ask the going rate we will pay extra to keep them happy and they were.

One of those workers (a labourer) we have employed for 2 years now after our building works finished, I watched and noticed he always cleaned up after the guys, wiped their arses and now our caretaker allrounder and has worked very well and is a self starter and knows well up and down. He is only a young bloke but does everything and made us very lazy I suppose. We only pay him P400 per day 6 days a week and with his PhilHealth, food, toiletries, he has an A/C bedroom with his own ensuite, Wifi, Cignal tv, the freedom to use one of the bikes for shopping or a basketball match and rarely goes back to his home in the Fishermans village as it's noisy, polluted, no A/C and says he eats better here and seems very happy. Even his day off will participate in our daily goings on, dishes, feeding the dogs, cooking, washing etc.

We would hate to lose him and even suggested to the better half to up his wage a bit,,,,,,,, I was chastised severely so shut my mouth. Look at it this way, all up with every thing including the proverbial 13th month pay sets us back  around P13K per month or a tad over US 200 per month.

We go O/S for a week or 2 and he becomes Charles in Charge and never an issue.

As we say in Australia "every house should have one".

Cheers, Steve.