Life in Colombia

2POSTS

11 years ago

Hello guys, I'd like to know how is life in Colombia, like the minimum wages and if as a teacher with TESOL certification, I can be able to pay all my bills (supermarket, electricity, water, etc) and by the end of the month I have some money left to hang out? Also, if there is demand for an english teacher to work more than 30h per week. Thanks in advance.

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SteveRusso Serial expat

533POSTS

11 years ago

Hi
Minimum salary: 248.000 pesos. Around 100 USD. Monthly.
Native English teacher with teaching experience and TESOL, probably around 2.5 million pesos. 1000 dollars.
Yes you can pay your bills with that, but won't be la vida loca. It will be a simple life especially if in Bogota or Medellin, where real estate is high.
Good life in Bogota implies much higher wages. Otherwise you'll just spend your life in traffic jams.

2 members reacted to this post

OsageArcher Colombia Expert

1660POSTS

11 years ago

Actually the minimum salary in Colombia for 2015 is almost 645,000 pesos per month:

"Salario mínimo en Colombia para 2015 será de $644.350" is the headline in El Colombiano at

http://www.elcolombiano.com/salario-minimo

At today's exchange rate of 2558.50 Colombian pesos for 1 USD that's $251.85 USD per month. That would put you at a subsistence level. But I assume as SR said, if you can get employment that would pay 2.5M pesos/month ($977 USD/month) as a native English teacher that would put you in the middle class in most Colombian cities.

At this site which has Colombia salary data
http://www.tusalario.org/colombia/Porta … tu-salario
...the actual salaries reported for a high-school level teacher with 10 years of experience range from about 1.5M/month to 2.3M/month. You might be able to get more especially if you also do private tutoring.

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GuestPoster120 Guest

0POSTS

11 years ago

Colombia is a wonderful place to live, IF you have an external income. That is, you derive some income from outside the country. Wages here are extremely low. Practically speaking, you'll be lucky to make more than 2 million pesos (COP) per month (2500 pesos equals about 1 US Dollar), as an English teacher. Of course, you'll also need to get a cedula and a work permit, before you can work and receive a legitimate salary.

That said, most Colombians, earning about 600K COP/month, manage to survive and drink lots of guaro. Of course, the average Colombian does not live as well as the average North American or European.

If this is to be your first visit to Colombia, I suggest you come for an extended visit (one to three months), without giving up your current life in wherever you're coming from. I have a very well educated friend here, who has been searching for work for more than three years, without success. So, I suggest you not burn your bridges too quickly.

2 members reacted to this post

SteveRusso Serial expat

533POSTS

11 years ago

Oppps yes I made a typo regarding the minimum wage. My bad.

SawMan Serial expat

577POSTS

11 years ago

I think the originator of this thread got scared off!

What makes countries like Panama, Ecuador, and Colombia excellent retirement/second home destinations makes them horrible places to earn a living. As someone said above, these places are best enjoyed for those folks bringing money with them.

1 member reacted to this post

ma.bragion Member

2POSTS

10 years ago

Thanks for your information guys, I just wanted to know how would be a teacher's life in Colombia. I realized that you have been living in several countries, which one was the most similar to the us?