Cost of living in Colombia in 2022

I live in Roldanillo, Valle del Cauca. For anyone who isn't familiar with this town, it has a population of somewhere around 35000 - 37000 (depends on your source, of course). It is located at the base of the Andes Western range where it gets a nice cool breeze from the mountains. It's the paragliding base in Colombia and holds the national and international championships here. Of all of the northern half of the Valle, it is probably the safest of all the pueblos.

I live in a secure conjunto (stratus 3) about 2 kilometers from the central plaza, outside of town surrounded by farms. My house is a 2-story townhouse, 2 bedrooms, study, 1 1/2 bathrooms, kitchen, laundry area, living/dining room. Parking space for one car. It is less than 3 years old. There's a swimming pool and playground, security guards, and grounds maintenance crew. The rent is 500,000 per month + 30,000 for administration.

The water bill is usually around 50,000, electricity around 50,000, and gas around 15,000. My internet is with Fibernet and is 65,000 for 80mega pipe.

I don't use public transport (there is no bus service), the town is small enough to walk everywhere.

I have no kids so I can't comment on anything related to kids.

I'm still confused about the exchange rate.  I wish prices were also listed in American dollars..

lwall49 wrote:

I'm still confused about the exchange rate.  I wish prices were also listed in American dollars..

There's an easy fix for that.  You should be able to type into your browser, or do a search for
usd to cop
...and that should bring up a conversion window where you can type in the amount in COP and get USD, and vice-versa.  This will also initially show the conversion rate.

Thanks.  I've done that but haven't gotten my head around it yet

Install a converter app. Very easy.

lwall49 wrote:

I'm still confused about the exchange rate.  I wish prices were also listed in American dollars..

A good site for the exchange rate, including charts for recent weeks and years, is www.xe.com ...

Enter $1.00 .. USD .. COP in the three windows, click on Convert .. and you easily get the rate.

A few months ago the value of the Dollar rose to more than 4,000 Colombian pesos and has been relatively close to that amount ever since.  The current rate is 3793 pesos to the dollar.

When presented with a large number of Pesos when 4,000 is the approximate rate, lop off the last three zeros and divide by four.

Example...

12,000,000 pesos

Lop off the 000's .. to get 12,000 .. divide by four to get 3,000 USD.

cccmedia

lwall49 wrote:

I'm still confused about the exchange rate.  I wish prices were also listed in American dollars..

Right now, pretty much divide everything by 4 (it's close enough to gauge)

10k pesos = $2.50US
20k pesos = $5US
75k pesos = $18US  (to do it quicker...just round up to 80k pesos, then divide by 4 = $20US)
200kpesos = $50US

I know, I know...it's not accurate, but it's a quick gauge for judging the cost of things, and you don't have to pull out your phone each time...


EDIT:  Sorry...just saw the previous post say this exact same thing....

I rent a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment with security and gym in Funza for 250 usd. That is just outside of Bogota. My wife and I just got back from a trip to Barranquilla, stayed at the H*** hotel for around 50 usd a night with breakfast included. Had 3 issues with the hotel, they made me pay the entire reservation upon checking in even though it was secured with my visa, the next morning was not happy with the nice greasy hot dogs for breakfast, tried to check out and get a partial refund for 5 days with management putting me on ignore. The food prices around the hotel for 1 meal and a few beers ran around 30-40 usd, basically US prices. Here in Funza we can have that same meal for less than half that price. We just started going to the Malls there and eating in the cafeteria, could buy a 6 pack of beer for 16,000 COP. 1 beer at the Hilton was 12,000 COP. Just had an extra large combination pizza delivered last night here in Funza, was 38,000 COP. A large pizza delivered to my house in Weiser Idaho USA would have cost me 30 usd. To rent an apartment in Weiser now would be around 700-1000 usd a month if you could find one. Seems that everyone is moving to Idaho.

@loaferln Good deal, I love that you're enjoying Funza. When I was in Barranquilla found it very convenient and inexpensive to eat at the mall, or order out (though I still cook a lot). BTW... who's moving to Idaho? I think people only move to Idaho for 3 reasons: to farm potatoes, to eat potatoes, or to die quietly 😂

Actually Idaho has a great climate and lots of outdoor activities. Appreciate your email.

@loaferln I'm sure it's a lovely place... I was just poking a bit of fun. Anything to combat the pervasive darkness and constant negativity in the USA. Anyway... Cheers! 🍻