Every new arrival wants to know if they can survive or live well in Thailand on X thousand baht a month?
It's a difficult question because each person has different needs. However, the following surveys and figures are from teachers actually working here! How much do they earn and what do they spend their money on?. And after each case study, I've added comments of my own.
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Justin
Working in Rural Chaiyaphum (in Isaan)
Monthly Earnings About 85,000 - 90,000 baht (my wife makes another 15,000 baht)
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
Me: I work as an independent, online tutor, teaching 17 hours a week to Chinese and Russian students. I charge between 1,000-1,500 baht per hour and make 85,000-90,000 baht per month.
My wife: She's a Thai government teacher. Her net salary is about 15,000 baht. (this is important since we share expenses)
I live with my wife and son, so the expenses are based on a family of three who live in Isaan long term.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
Monthly savings for a family of 3: 50,000-60,000 baht per month.
Me: My bank statements over the last year reveal I have spent 27,000 baht per month. Meaning I'm saving about 50,000-60,000 baht per month.
My wife: She earns 15,000 baht per month and spends all of it. However, as a local teacher she gets yearly pay rises and a great pension when she retires so she's fairly secure.
I think many new teachers in Thailand fall into the trap where they look at how much they saved last month and think they can do the same every month for year. It's often the once a year, adhoc costs which can eat into your savings.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
9,000 baht per month. A year ago I bought a 3-bedroom house in a small town in Isaan. I put down a 20% deposit using past savings from teaching at schools and online here. I pay the mortgage and it comes to about 9,000 baht per month.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Total: 6300 baht per month.
- Fuel - 4,800 baht
- Car insurance - just 1,000 baht on average
- Car and scooter maintenance - about 500 baht on average.
I own a car which I finished paying of a couple of years ago, and a scooter here. My wife's school is a 60 km round trip and she pays the fuel for the car. The fuel prices have obviously skyrocketed. If you have a kid and want to live here long term, then you're going to need to get a car at some point.
Utility bills
Total for 3 people - up to 4,000 baht per month.
My wife pays most of the utility bills:
Electric - about 1,000-1,500 baht per month.
Water - about 200-300 baht per month.
Internet - 750 baht per month.
Wife's phone - 400 baht per month.
My phone - 1,000 baht per month (I have super fast, unlimited internet so I can teach away from my home)
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
Total food and household expenses for 3 people: 17,000 per month. For regular food and household expenses for the 3 of us, we're spending about 15,000 baht per month. Once a week, we'll go out for a nice hot pot, mookata, or some nice Western food at an awesome Western resort 20 km away from my home. This is another 2,000 baht or so.
Nightlife and drinking
Total - 2,000 baht
I buy a 24 bottle box of really nice Thai cider (called Moose if anyone's interested). This lasts me about a month, and costs 1,500 baht. I sometimes have a beer if we go to a nice restaurant. So that adds another 500 baht per month.
Books, computers
Hardly anything, so I'll include miscellaneous and adhoc expenses here:
Total - 3,000 baht per month
1. School fees - 2000 baht per month.
He goes to a good private school in the town we live in. The fees include tuition, extra class at the end of the day, transport etc.
2. Gym - 750 baht per month.
I pay a monthly subscription to use a gym and pool at a hotel.
3. Laptop - Averages at 300-400 baht per month
An adhoc expense which I only need to pay every 5 years or so. But, it's essential for me to have a good computer.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
We're certainly comfortable and I can save well. I'm 31 years old and have lived in Thailand for nearly 10 years, so my priority is to build a decent nest egg for retirement and pay off the mortgage.
Thailand is a great place to forget about your worries....until it's too late to fix your problems.
Living in Isaan, I've seen so many retirees get into financial problems here with stricter visa regulations, not having a retirement fund, as well as many teachers having issues getting a permanent teacher's license. That's why I studied for an iPGCE, switched to a marriage visa and started building a student base to tutor independently online.
However, I have friends in China encouraging me to go back there where I could more than double my current salary. Meaning after a few years, I wouldn't need to save any more money.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
The basics that you need to survive by yourself are cheap. What you want to be happy and what you need in order to build a family and live here the rest of your life is expensive.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
It depends on how long you want to live here for.
I once only spent 3,500 baht in a whole month (not including rent or utilities) It was horrible. If a teacher is in dire straights then you could do that for a month...but not every month.
I've worked and lived here as a single person before getting married here in Isaan, so these are my thoughts:
For a single person in Isaan living 6 months - about 15,000-20,000 baht per month
For a single person in Isaan living 3 years plus - about 25-30,000 baht per month.
For a family of three like my family - about 40,000 baht per month.
The important thing though, is if you want to live here for the rest of your life and don't own your house or have any other assets or income, then you probably need to save another 30-40% on top of your monthly expenses, and place them into long term investments.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Justin for the detailed breakdown of the income and spending for both you and your wife. Very interesting. You sound like you have a very good handle on all things financial.
"It's often the once a year, adhoc costs which can eat into your savings". Very true. And that's coming from someone who had to just spend 45,000 baht on a new air-conditioner.
Tiago
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 64,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
64K is my full-time salary in a large private school. Before Covid I was able to make an extra 8-15k a month by teaching after-school lessons. I'm hoping to have those again next term but now I can really only just count on my full-time salary.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
10K every month plus my end-of contract bonus (about 90K every year). I also support my wife back home (she's finishing her teaching degree so she can also move here and work) and have to pay some monthly bills from there as well (student loan, health insurance, pension and social security), which means I have to send about 20K back home each month.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 7,000 Baht a month for a studio apartment. It's quite small but enough for one person. The condo is new, has got good facilities (gym, pool) and only a 10-minute taxi ride from the school where I work.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
3,500 baht on commuting (mostly taxis) plus the occasional MRT or BTS trip to the city center on weekends.
Utility bills
Electricity is 700-900 baht and water another 90 baht. Internet costs 900 baht.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
10K a month. I'm not a big fan of Thai food, so on the weekends I like to treat myself to some Western food.
Nightlife and drinking
Very little. 1-2K a month.
Books, computers
Kindle e-books: 500, streaming services: 1,000 and cinema: 500-1,000
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable. I eat Thai food or cook during the week but on weekends I eat whatever Western food I'm craving. I go to the movies two-three times a month. I travel inside the country when I'm on holiday (half term and summer break), send a considerable chunk of my pay check back home and still manage to save 10K every month. I rarely drink, so I guess that helps.
I was also able to save and pay for my Cambridge Delta course (£3,000) which is something I could never have afforded back home. So, yeah, living here has been good for me, financially.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Rent. Here it's about 11% of my income whereas back home it's usually 40-50%. Transportation here is also a bargain: even taxis are affordable. I also like the range of options (taxis, buses, MRT/BTS, songthaew).
And also food. If you don't have a problem living on Thai street food and/or cook, you can save a lot of money and still enjoy Western food on the weekends.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
This is obviously quite subjective but if you're single and not into partying and drinking and don't need to eat Western food every day, you can survive on 30-35K but I'd be surprised if you could save some money and travel. For that I think you'd need to make 40-45K at the very least. To play it safe, I wouldn't recommend moving to Bangkok if the pay is less than 50K a month.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Tiago. 20K is a fair chunk of your salary to have to send home every month so I can understand how much you miss the extra classes that you've lost due to Covid. So basically you are living on around 44K a month and saving 10K of that. I agree that in Bangkok, at least 50K would make life more comfortable. Good call on the rent as well. As you say, it's just 11% of your income here, whereas back in your home country, it would be around four time that percentage.
Winston
Working in Nonthaburi
Monthly Earnings 40,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
40K is my full-time salary only. I don't take on private students or extra work.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
Around 7,000 baht, sometimes less, sometimes a couple of thousand more.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My one-bedroom condo costs 10k a month, with electricity and water included.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
1,500 baht
Utility bills
Electricity, water circa 3,000 baht, insurance another 3,000, mobile phone, fibre, monthly subscriptions etc. 1,000 baht.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
10-15,000.
Nightlife and drinking
I don't go to nightclubs or pubs. I only drink at home and this expense comes to around 3,000.
Books, computers
Nothing.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's comfortable but I can't really save a lot. The salary is not that great to begin with, and living in Thailand is not as cheap as it was. You need to cook rice and chicken, and stop drinking, buying snacks, or going out if you want to save another 10K. Don't take taxis, don't turn on the air-con, okay, that's another 3-4K saved. But why would you do that? I'd rather go home than live like this, only to save 300-400 USD a month.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
I don't really know. You are not living in Bangkok nor in the peaceful countryside or near a beach. And feeling like "a fly in the milk" lol.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
60K to live a safe, healthy, and comfortable life, and be able to travel locally, while also saving a bit. But not going out drinking.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you Winston. I don't think we've heard from a teacher in Nonthaburi for some time but it was quite a popular destination for teachers in the past (and probably still is) because you are very near to Bangkok but don't quite have the temptations that you would have if you were living in the city itself, so your 40K a month probably goes that bit further. I wouldn't argue with your 60K a month for a comfortable lifestyle though - even in Nonthaburi!
Tim
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 67,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
50,000 from a full-time job at a private school and 17,000 from private gigs (approx 500 baht per hour)
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I can save approximately 37,000 baht each month. Once the cost of trips home and 3/4 trips throughout the country are taken into account, it amounts to approx 25,000 per month.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 9,000 baht for a studio apartment which has fantastic facilities right on the MRT line. I can find the living space cramped at times but I prefer to spend my free time around the facilities on offer (gym, pool, study areas, lounge etc)
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Approx 2,000 a month including monthly MRT commutes to work and various buses on the weekends and minivan trips
Utility bills
Utility bills are really low - approx 90 baht for water and 800 baht for electric for the month. I will forego the air-con during the day but cannot sleep without it on during the night
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I have just started cooking at home so I am hoping this expense drops. However, I spend approx 13-15k on food a month. I generally eat out but have no real craving for Western food (the odd time a craving for a beefburger arises but that is about it)
Nightlife and drinking
Almost nothing. If I go out drinking it would be for a beer or two and no more. I would say I go out drinking maybe once a month and it amounts to maybe 250 baht a month
Books, computers
None
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable without being excellent. Even if I was earning a gigantic salary, I would live the same way each month anyway. The only difference would be in the frequency of trips home or the type of places I can stay when I do splash out on holidays
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Taxis are the ones I see most frequently mentioned here and I would have to say that I would agree. I also think that accommodation is a real bargain here, despite living in a "box" that same "box" would cost 40K baht upwards at a minimum where I am from
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
50K to survive and 80K to be comfortable (both after tax)
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you Tim. So when the figures are totted up, you manage to live in Bangkok on just over 40K a month while still managing to save 25K, which is decent. As you say it's a lifestyle that's 'comfortable without being excellent'. I think 40K is definitely at the very bottom end now for Bangkok.
Eva
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 33,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
33K is my full-time salary at a language school located in central Bangkok.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
14,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I spend 5,000 per month on a newly-built condo, with a swimming pool, the usual fitness facilities but most importantly I share the cost with my significant other. Total cost is 10,000 baht per month.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I go the the language school three times a week, but at inconvenient times such as weekends or late in the afternoon. I’m a slicker for managing my money so I spend exactly 450 baht a week or 1,800 baht a month on this. The other 3 days a week, I’m teaching online using my own computer.
Utility bills
About 800-1,000 baht a month, which includes air-con every night. Water is about 100 baht a month.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
90% of the time it’s street food, which I take back to my apartment. This comes to about 200-250 baht per day. Supermarket shopping I budget and spend about 1,000 baht a month for.
Nightlife and drinking
None.
Books, computers
I have an English TV subscription that sets me back about 500 baht per month. Books are free online if you know where to look.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I'm a Brit living on a pittance, being paid illegally, having to scrape by each month just to have a savings pot that is slowly being wiped out by inflation.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
If I had a better salary, many things are bargains here. I can buy a bottle of coke for around 15 baht, which is about 40p, or fresh food from the market for about 50-70 baht.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
At least 50,000 with the potential to earn more.
Thailand, especially Bangkok's cost of living, has gone up tremendously over the last few years. Sure, I might be saving some cash but in the grand scheme of things it’s a small amount of money. In the future, another 5-10 years from now, your standard 33-35k job isn’t going to be enough to live on and I pity anyone who wants to do it.
You really need to have a long term plan for Thailand and especially have a back up plan. Forget TEFL. Long term that’s going to the pan. Wages are stagnant and like I said, in another 5-10 years people will still be fighting over 33-35k jobs.
Once you have to return to reality, you’ll wish you'd planned ahead and took the time to properly acquire the right qualifications needed if you want to teach long term, otherwise you’ll be left with no real skills and back stacking selves.
My circumstances are different but I have stuck around for three years doing an education degree, but ultimately I’ll be back in the UK soon acquiring these qualifications as I’m still in my twenties and don’t want to end up with a decade of tefl experience and still scraping the bottom of the barrel with these low paid TEFL jobs.
Phil's analysis and comment
You certainly got it all off your chest in that last few paragraphs, Eva and I wouldn't disagree with a word of what you said. Those of us in Bangkok are all noticing how the cost of living has crept up and up. You say those 35K jobs won't cut it in five years time but I'm not sure they even do now. Your '50K with the potential to earn more' is far nearer the mark for Bangkok. It's becoming one expensive city, especially if you have Western tastes.
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