Cost of living 2019 in the Philippines

How much does it cost to rent an apartment or a house in the Philippines? How about buying an apartment or a house in the Philippines?

We rent a condo in a gated community in Cebu with amenities, for 32,000p/mo ($600 US). You don't need to spend that much but it's quiet and secure and a good expat community. You can buy a newer but very small condo for 4-6M, older larger home for 5-10M, in a decent neighborhood.

How much do you pay on average for public transportation (bus, subway, train, tram, taxi)?

We have a car, but the occasional taxi ride is 100-150p ($2-3) to get anywhere in town. You can take a jeepney for 8p but you have to breathe the polluted air when you do that. Cebu is very congested.

How much do you pay for basic food items such as rice, bread, and pasta?

Good local multigrain bread 100p per loaf, white rice 2500/10Kg sack, brown rice is more.

What is your monthly budget for groceries?

Approx 25,000/mo ($500 US) for 4 people, eating well, buying fruits and veggies at farmers market or local stand.. add 5-10K for meals out in Western restaurants

How much does it cost to see a doctor or health specialist in the Philippines?

Very little - 500-1000p per visit plus extra for labwork or prescription. Max usually 2-3000p ($40-60) with everything. A dentist cleaning is 800p.. if you take care of your teeth, 2000p if you don't.

How much do you pay for health insurance per month?

I keep high deductible US coverage only, no PI insurance, just go to the doctor.

What is your child's schooling budget per month?

About 5K each ($100) per month. Each tuition (private school) is 30-50K/yr plus books are 10K. That's not a high end school like international school which is 100K/yr.

How much does it cost to fill up your cars fuel tank? 1200-1500p ($25-30)

How much do you pay for electricity/gas/water etc., per month?

Building water/sewer 1000/mo
Bottled water additional 500/mo
Electric 2000/mo winter, 5-6000/mo most of the year
Gas bottle (for cooking) is 750p every few months.

Total is 4000-8000p/mo ($75-150) usually at the high end of that.

How much do you pay for your internet and phone subscription?

[i]PLDT fiber internet 1800/mo ($35)

How much do you pay for an espresso coffee?

Brewed coffee 60p, espresso 100-120p. We never go to Starbucks.

We do eat out a couple times a week and take an occasional weekend getaway. The kids always need something - shoes, school supplies, doctor visits, etc. Our total expenses are around $2000 US/mo.

3rd year here in Cagayan de Oro and still  living comfortably on 1,000 USD. pension per month. Lease furnished studio  condo across the street from SM mall, 300. dls. per month.  utilities of elec. , water appr. 80.00 dls. per mth. That's using the air con a lot.  Below average cable tv and internet  service 30.00 per mth. Food, appr. 200.00 dls. per mth. I like to cook at home. Smokes, pack per day 50.00 dls per mth. Tourist visa renewal average  30.00 per mth. Cinema ticket only 4.00 dls. Doc. visit only 10.00 dls. Dentist visit for teeth cleaning only 20.00 dls. Taxi round trip to Divisoria or other areas  in the city of appr. 8-10 miles appr. 6.00 dls. Cost to purchase the condo i live in is about 30,000 USD's. I would not purchase because a condo is not a good investment. Helps that the Dollar is strong against the Peso most of the past year. Now running 52 to the Peso. Out side of my fixed expenses of about 700.00 dls. per month, i use the other appr. 300 dls. on entertainment . My monthly costs are for myself and my gf. I also put aside 5% mthly. for charity. Inflation here for 2018 was high towards the end of the year of about 5-6 % but it is offset the past 2 years cause i get a 3% yearly increase in my pension per year  the past 2 years. I don't know where else in the world i could live so comfortably and enjoy myself as much as i do here.

I just got my teeth cleaned for 600 pesos, less than $12.  That was the gringo price, as the day before my wife had her teeth cleaned for 500 pesos, less than $10

Thanks for the info Scott.

mugtech wrote:

I just got my teeth cleaned for 600 pesos, less than $12.  That was the gringo price, as the day before my wife had her teeth cleaned for 500 pesos, less than $10

Haha funny mugtech.. still a good deal even at the gringo price.. I paid 800p for my cleaning here at a mall in Cebu last year ($15), need to get back there. In the US it always seemed to be $150. Crazy. I also had a gold crown done last year in Chiang Mai, Thailand.. for around $500 - it was a superb job, at 1/3 the price my US dentist wanted. Lol, I'm done with US dentists.

Budget for one person leading a comfortable lifestyle.
All prices show in PHP and based on monthly spend.


How much does it cost to rent an apartment or a house in the Philippines? 25,000 per month for a two bedroom condo in down town part of the 3rd largest city in the Philippines.

How much do you pay on average for public transportation (bus, subway, train, tram, taxi)? 1,500 I am retired and can walk to most places I want to go.

What is your monthly budget for groceries?  9,500php (All things I consume at home – food, cleaning products, and drinks)

How much does it cost to see a doctor or health specialist in the Philippines? – 300 to 500php

How much do you pay for health insurance per month? – I am not eligible for this, so I self insure.

How much does childcare cost on average per month? - NA

What is your child's schooling budget per month? - NA

How much does it cost to fill up your car's fuel tank? NA

How much do you pay for electricity/gas/water etc., per month? 4,000 to 5,000

How much do you pay for your internet and phone subscription? 1,000 for pocket wifi

How much do you pay for your lunch pack on weekdays?  - NA

How much do you pay for an espresso coffee? – don't drink coffee

How much do you pay for a cinema ticket? 120 for normal cinema 400 for cinmex 3 D cinema

How much does a gym membership cost in the Philippines?  - I run and walk and exercise outdoors.

pnwcyclist wrote:

Thanks for the info Scott.

You're welcome Pnwcyclist. Your post was informative and helpful as well.

My information is incomplete because I was living part-time in Davao, mostly in Los Angeles CA.

In Davao we had a furnished two-bedroom, one bath condo in a 4-5 building development with a pool right across from SM Davao, a good area. Rent was 25,000/month, electricity was (I think) 6,000-10,000--we overused the AC. Internet sucked and I often used cellular data. International school was about 55,000/yr.

Taxis were cheap, starting at 40 pesos.  The long ride to the airport was under 300 pesos.

I'm moving to Angeles (alone and permanently) and have been checking prices. I'll have a luxury 1-br apartment, furnished with a large kitchen area and a large (western) shower and a balcony, rooftop deck with a pool + bar and great views, large pool/spa + restaurant on ground floor, 33,360/mo. Weekly maid service is 1,320/mo, TV + 50 Mbps internet is 3,900/mo (15 Mbps + TV is included), electricity 3,000-4,000/mo. or more. It's really nice.

A good breakfast is 130-300 pesos, other meals are 250-350 pesos at decent restaurants.

A nice, well-equipped gym at a luxury apartment is 2,500/month including use of a large pool. A less attractive gym is 1,000/month.

Not many (if any) taxis here. Grab is minimum 120 pesos (I think), 477 pesos for a 21-kilometer ride. Trikes are 100 pesos locally, not sure when the fare goes up.

Thanks for all the info. It helps to know some of the cost. I will be researching more info about the cost involved in building a home in Tagaytay Highlands. Thought I had a lot picked out, but the deal fell through. Not planning on retirement until 2025. But it will be here before you know it.
All info is helpful.
I love golf and excited to live in the Highlands.
I will check for more info frequently.

My wife just bought a 514 sqm block of land for 1,028,000 PHP (approx$27,00 Aust.) in Tagum city (2 hours out of Davao), 6 minutes from the centre of the city.

From Panglao, I can say that because my wife owns the lot (and quite a lot, at that) our groceries cost is around PHP4000 monthly. Annual property tax is equivalent to monthly single occupancy Council Tax in the UK. Been here now for almost nine years. Take care when considering relative costs!

We have close friends who recently built a large house in Tagatay. See what they might reveal about cost.

That would be great to get some actual cost to build. I was directed to a design company. Was going to cost way to much and not really get what I want, so strapped that.
Any info would be helpful.
Thanks

Gosh, that's PHP2000m2! Demand inflation, I suppose. We bought our first lot here on Panglao Island back in 2010 for PHP500m2, the second and third for 700. Now that the island is the next Boracay (as it were, hopefully without sewerage problems!), and with a brand new international airport - which is only 20 minutes away, but with the runway pointing well away from us - the going price is about the same here as there, apparently.

For retiree's you have to factor in your prescription costs, prescriptions are expensive in the Philippines. It could run you hundreds of dollars a month for you or for you & a wife.

I priced a couple of my prescriptions in Angeles City, and was shocked at the cost.

This is going to take some strategy--I have been getting some drugs from an internet site (including ED drugs), manufactured and shipped from India--very good prices. They get through US customs with no trouble.   I understand that might work if I have a prescription (which I do), although I'm not sure what to do with it for Philippine customs approval.

Hello Bizwizard,

I had a really bad experience with customs that cost me a lot of money and delay because of the baby aspirins, 81mg. The cost of the baby aspirins $8.

I use a re-mailer based  for all my mail, when I get a big bunch I have it Fedex to me. One morning I got the bright idea to buy vitamins & Krill Oil (from Sam's club) I can't find Krill over here,  1,000 coated baby aspirins & some other stuff. The vitamins & baby aspirins and other stuff were shipped to the re-mailer and they repackaged it into one package.

I filled out the customs forms online from my re-mailer being honest about the prices & contents. I made two mistakes, (1) if under 10,000 peso's no duties (2) Aspirins require a prescription that also includes quantity.

Not knowing the 10,000 peso limit it came to 10,200. I did not know aspirins required a prescription. 

The stuff arrived in customs in a couple days. Tracking the package through Fedex the message was always the same " in customs, no action necessary". This went on for days, after email Fedex many times. Finally Fedex replied saying I need a prescription for the baby aspirins, which I then got.

Fedex charged me $9 a day storage plus duty & other fees from Customs. Fedex cost & customs was over $200.

Now a question for you, what paperwork did you have to submit to customs and your experience from placing the order & receiving the prescriptions.

I notice most of my scripts are made in India from the packaging.

Thanks for sharing your nightmare, W9XR.

I have not actually ordered anything yet, so I don't know how to make the import process work smoothly.

Anyone?

We initially looked at Davao City and a lot of the land there was around 8,000 PHP per square metre that is why we chose Tagum. There was cheaper farm land around Tagum out of the town with no electricity for 800 PHP sqm. Please note i was not to be seen during any negotiations to avoid the foreigner price.

Yikes, if my math is correct 8000 Php/sqM is $160/sqM, or $640,000 US per acre.. I can buy land almost anywhere in the US for that, even on the Northern Calif coast. Of course cost of construction is completely different story, lol..

I heard it was 10,000 Php per sqM and up for nice land here in Cebu City. Just confirms that as SE Asia gets more crowded it is becoming very expensive. Of course those are mostly urban land prices, it is much cheaper in the province.