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 6th April 2025
฿34 to one US Dollar฿44 to one Pound Sterling
฿38 to one Euro
฿21 to one Australian Dollar
฿0.60 THB to one Philippine Peso
Eddy
Working in Chonburi
Monthly Earnings 100.000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
about 100,000bt give or take - when school's out from March to June I hope to be working my knackers off!
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
Now that I have all my toys (about 6 guitars, 4 amps, effects etc, mountain bike and weight training machine and the love of a good woman) about 60 - 70,000bt
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
We live right on the ocean with just a stretch of two lane road and restaurants between my balconies and the oggin. It's a three story house with four bedrooms and a roof garden going at a steal - 6000bt per month (including sunrises from my bedroom window and sunsets over the sea from my balcony
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
3000bt - cost of diesel for my pick-up
Utility bills
Arrrrhh - 800bt for my house and 23,000bt for the rent, telephones, internet, accountant, electricity/air-con for my school.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
8,000bt - woman like to eat while we like to get our lips around a brace or two of Britneys a night
Nightlife and drinking
5000bt - I think a couple of hundred baht on beer a night at home is actually self-vindication of my life choices - I couldn't fund that kind of habit back in England - so I owe it to the boys stuck back there!
Books, computers
about 700bt - just bought a new one for 10,000bt after using my last desk top for 8 years. Got boxes of good books - anyone like to swop?
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
This is the life!!
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Gotta be my ocean view from my massive house - where else can you live like this in the world? Damm lucky I ran into a young lady who was given it by her Mum and needed quick rent money!
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Well, I arrived here from Cambodia in 1997 with 500bt - after a year of traveling around India. It's all in your head and where its at! I lived like a king compared to my backpacking times on 20,000bt a month - I walked everywhere (Samsen Rd to Victory monument/ Taksin bridge to teach in Lumpini tower/Asoke to Samsen soi 1 - where I lived). It took me three weeks to justify plunging my hand in my wallet for a bacon (50bt) baguette
Phil's analysis and comment
Interesting stuff. What you have to infer from the above - and what Eddy doesn't state directly - is that he obviously has some sort of private school / freelance teaching sideline going on as well as his regular teaching gig. I'm looking at the reference to the utility bills of course. All in all, I'm not sure how the 100,000 baht income is broken down exactly but it's probably none of my business anyway.
So what have we got? 100,000 baht a month coming in. 70,000 baht of that getting stashed away for a rainy day. He's got a four-bedroom mickey overlooking the ocean with spectacular views of the sunset from his balcony. All this he rents for a steal. He runs a motor. He's walking distance from beachside restaurants. Folks, I think we've met Thailand's happiest foreign teacher!
Showing 1 Cost of Living surveys out of 441 total
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