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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Approximate Thai Baht (฿) conversion rates as of 24th December 2024
฿34 to one US Dollar฿43 to one Pound Sterling
฿36 to one Euro
฿21 to one Australian Dollar
฿0.59 THB to one Philippine Peso
John
Working in Songkhla
Monthly Earnings 22,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work for a government school in Songkhla and my basic salary is 20,000 baht a month. I make an extra 2,000 with a little additional overtime teaching the kids.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
Approximately 10,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
2,500 baht a month for a studio apartment.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I ride a bike that my landlady's son generously allowed me to use. However, I usually go to Hat Yai every weekend and transport costs me around 150 baht /week
Utility bills
500 baht a month for electric bill. Air-conditioning is my luxury every time I'm in my apartment.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I usually spend around 4,000 to 6,000 baht a month for my food allowance. The owner of the school canteen provides me lunch (she's very kind). I usually spend around 20-30 baht for breakfast and 50 baht for dinner, then I go all the way during the weekends
Nightlife and drinking
Zero. I'm not really a nightlife person (but I'm thinking of going out so I could "meet" other people *wink*)
Books, computers
I bought myself a new phone but that's really it.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I'd say much better compared to back in the Philippines. My cost of living is less expensive. The community I am with, my local co-teachers, my neighbors, landlady, parents, are all very kind, supportive and caring. Some mornings, I will wake up with breakfast hanging on my doorknob. Colleagues always asking if I am okay and happy. Its awesome and I love it.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food. It's ridiculously cheap.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
In my area, 20-25,000 would be comfortable and still have enough to save (for a single domesticated guy like me).
Phil's analysis and comment
Hold on there John. 22,000 baht a month for salary. Let's take away 600 baht a month for transportation, 5,000 baht for food and 3,000 for your rent and utility bills. And you still manage to save 10,000 baht of what's left! That's pretty amazing but if my figures are correct, you've got little over 100 baht a day left in your pocket to pay your phone bill, buy clothes, do laundry, etc, etc. That sounds tough to me.
John, if you have the qualifications and experience, I wonder if you could find a teaching position that pays more than this? It's a teachers'market out there at the moment and although in most cases Filipino teachers are paid less than native speakers, the salaries are creeping up a bit for 'non-natives'. I'm sure your school wouldn't want to lose you but sometimes you have to look after number one.
Trebek
Working in Sakon Nakhon
Monthly Earnings 30,000 baht a month
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
My salary from the university is 20,000 but I get a housing allowance of 8,000 and I make another 2,000 from extra work.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
4,000 baht
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 4,500 baht a month for a hotel room with air-conditioning.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I have my own motorcycle and gas, repairs etc probably average out at about 2,500 baht a month.
Utility bills
Bills are included in the 4,500 baht hotel room rental.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
Don't really know but not that much.
Nightlife and drinking
I mainly drink with the locals. 4,000 baht a month.
Books, computers
1,000 baht
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I love the countryside. I don't require falang company all that much so I avoid the expat bars. I enjoy hanging out with Thais - and no I cannot speak much of the language.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Small street restaurants, bike rental, accommodation and bus fares to other nearby cities.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I could do it on 15,000 baht a month if I got rid of the bike, lived in a cheaper place, partied less, stopped spending 200 baht per week on pizza, no more coffee shops. I could easily live on 15,000 in fact. Issan is a bargain.
Phil's analysis and comment
I think this is one of the best examples we've had in our cost of living section of 'going native'. A 30,000 baht salary, nights out with the locals, a small hotel room, a motorcycle and probably a relatively low food budget.
Trebek could survive on 15,000 baht a month but the question is would you want to? That sort of lifestyle is just not sustainable over a long period of time. Even 30,000 baht a month - double his 'survival wage' - only affords him a modest living.
However, Trebek clearly enjoys being out in the countryside and mixing with the locals over a few beers. I guess you enjoy it while it lasts.
James
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 70,000 - 80,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a private school in Bangkok and my salary after tax is 43,000. I can add another 27 - 38,000 baht a month from teaching private students about 7 hours a week.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
20,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 14,000 baht a month for a one-bedroom condo.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
3,000 baht
Utility bills
Because I have a wife and baby at home all day, the air-con is constantly running so the bill is about 3,000 a month.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
At least 18,000 Baht. I have to add I've never believed the food bills people put up on these surveys. Are they really keeping track? By my logic even if you only eat street food you would spend 200 Baht per day (6k month at least and that's not even including a Cornetto from 7-11) and then I see people putting 3,000 a month. What are (or aren't) they eating?? Anyway, Saturday I buy 600 baht sushi and 2 bottles of "wine" from Tops (my weekly "treat") so that's my big dining expense.
Nightlife and drinking
At 7pm the baby has a bath, I do the dishes then go for a swim. After this I'll watch a few YouTube videos then bed.
Books, computers
Nothing
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's a good life but I don't feel fully relaxed yet. That's why I used a lot of savings to study for a Master's degree. Looking to the future and all.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Chinese made badminton rackets: 94 Baht for two and made from metal. I couldn't believe it. Was the best 37 minutes spent playing badminton ever.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I'd say 50,000 a month. And can we put a ban on "living like a Thai" being the lowest bar. What does that even mean? The Thais around where I live drive Mercs. I bet they look at me and think, "I'm glad I don't have to live like a farang"
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you James, you made me laugh there.
But seriously, with a wife and baby at home, James is an example of a teacher who really depends on the income from private students rather than seeing them as just a bit of extra pocket money. And 27,000 baht a month plus from out of hours tuition is not to be sniffed at. By my reckoning, James is probably charging in the region of 1,000 baht an hour for his services (possibly even more).
That brings me to a very common question from teachers looking to go down the private teaching route - 'how much should I charge?' Many teachers get uncomfortable with setting an hourly price but I believe your free time is the most precious commodity of all. When I first started teaching private students at home, I was charging 400-500 baht an hour for a one-to-one lesson but quickly realised that I could make at least double that for groups of two or three - and very often it's far easier to teach a small group than just one student. The overheads are the same save for maybe a bit of extra photocopying.
We would love to get your cost of living surveys and you can do so by filling in the on-line form. Tell us about your lifestyle!
Many teachers unfortunately fill in the form and just provide a list of figures and no back story. It's those glimpses into a teacher's lifestyle that make these surveys interesting and enjoyable. Many thanks for your contributions.
Jane
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 26,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a language clinic and I earn 26,000 baht a month with a 3% tax deduction on that full-time salary. I don't have any part time jobs yet.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I can save at least 8,000 baht a month excluding the money I send back to my family in the Philippines.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I rent a bachelor type studio for 3,500 baht a month (fridge/ air-con included) with electricity and water bills I pay at the most 4,500 baht including the rent.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I use the motorcycle for 10 baht, bus for 6.50 baht (use the red old buses if you don't mind it not having a/c. if you're lucky you might be riding the free red buses and songtaew 7 baht. One month total of 1,815 baht. Sometimes when I am in a hurry I use the air-conditioned bus for 13 baht.
Utility bills
I bundle it in with the rent as mentioned above.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
My groceries come to about 2,000-3,000 a month plus 1,500 baht for food allowance. I limit my spending to 50 baht a day for food at work
Nightlife and drinking
I just bike around the markets buying 20 baht drinks or snacks and it won't cost me more than a 100 baht
Books, computers
I use the computer at work for everything that I need including information for lectures. I can find almost everything in Google. We do have our own books at school. I sometimes download e-books on my ipad and that costs nothing.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It is better compared to the life I had in the Philippines. Life here is easy as long as you know where you spend your money.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food, without a doubt.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Survive? Even the highest paid teachers here can't survive if they don't budget their money. If you find yourself saying to yourself you can't afford to save money right now, you are lying to yourself. Most of us started with the basic salary and then moved to another company with higher salary. It still wasn't enough because we still keep on moving/changing jobs. I'd say you can either survive or live a nice life depending on how you spend your money.
Phil's analysis and comment
I think many Western teachers (me included) just don't know how Filipinos survive on the money they earn, especially if - as many do - they are sending money back to help families in The Philippines.
Limiting your daily food budget to 50 baht and riding the non-airconditioned bus to keep costs down certainly won't be many people's idea of a good time but if it still means that life here is better than life back in the homeland, who am I to argue?
On the topic of Filipino teachers working in Thailand, Benito Vacio wrote a couple of blogs for Ajarn dot com before he returned to The Philippines last year. He had noticed many Filipino teachers had made the decision to reurn home. Was the love affair with Thailand coming to an end?
Robert
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 80,000 - 90,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I typically earn between 80,000-90,000 baht a month from my job at an international school. My full-time salary is 80,000 and I sometimes make extra money teaching university classes, camps, or writing exams/course content.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I usually save about 30,000 baht a month, but sometimes more.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 12,000 for a new 36 square meter condo.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Unless I am going out for drinks I typically drive my 150cc motorcycle, which saves me a lot of money on transportation. I spend about 150 baht a week on gas. Overall, I'd say I end up spending about 1,500-2,000 a month on transportation depending if I have to fix an issue with the bike and how often I go out for drinks (which isn't all that often)
Utility bills
Since I live in a condo, my utility bills are typically pretty low. I spend about 3,000 for water, electricity and garbage (running the aircon whenever I am home) and then my phone bill is about 550 baht a month and then another 500 baht for wifi.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I spend about 10,000 baht a month on food. Most of my meals come from local food stalls and will be between 50-70 baht. Every now and then I will splurge on a hamburger, pizza, or take the missus out for a nice dinner.
Nightlife and drinking
The longer I stay in Thailand the lower my nightlife spending gets. A night out can run anywhere from 1,000-2,000 baht, but nowadays I typically prefer to avoid the club scenes and stick to local bars or chilling at a friends party, which is a lot better on the wallet. Overall, I'd say I spend about 5,000 baht a month on nightlife
Books, computers
I read at least one book a month, to keep the mind in shape, and so spend about 400-600 baht depending if I pick up a knock off on Khaosan or one at Kinokuniya.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I have a very comfortable standard of living. Money is never an issue, and I can go on awesome vacations anytime I want.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food, clothing, transportation, and rent. Also, if I were back home in Seattle I'd pay 3x as much for something the same size in an equivalent part of town.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
When I first moved here I made 32,000 month for 6 months through an agency at a Thai government school. I think it would be pretty hard to survive on much less than that, especially if you hope to finance a trip home every year or two.
Phil's analysis and comment
Not much I can add to a pretty solid set of figures from Robert. 80-90K is always going to get you a very comfortable lifestyle in Bangkok and here's the proof. Robert is a man with absolutely no money worries. Enough said!
Showing 5 Cost of Living surveys out of 437 total
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