We really enjoyed our time in Puerto Vallarta last year, and because the bulk of the world still isn’t open, we decided to make Mexico City our temporary home. Mexico City is a great hub (easy to fly into from the US) and makes a great place to launch a multi-month stay in Mexico (easy to bus or fly to your next destination), so I wanted to share the cost of living there.
Disclaimer on how I do budgets per month and not exactly on a per city basis. June included 25 nights in Mexico City and 5 nights in Puebla. I’ll try to highlight important caveats where necessary.
For those who would rather watch something than read, feel free to check out my video, How Much it Costs to Live in Mexico City in 2021:
Forecasted Cost of Living
Forecasted* total monthly costs (on a per couple basis): $2,500
Forecasted accommodation: $1,350
Forecasted food & alcohol: $750
Forecast transportation (including flights): $350
Forecasted “activities”: $0
Forecast miscellaneous: $50
If you read or recall my Puerto Vallarta Cost of Living post, you might notice a few differences in my forecast. The biggest change is an increase in forecasted accommodation from the previous $1,000/month to $1,350 (this is largely due to never coming close to $1,000 in either of our Airbnbs in PV). Another large change is reducing the activity budget from $175 to $0–the bulk of our activities were free or consisted of food and alcohol. Other minor changes include reducing the food budget from $800 to $750 and transportation from $450 to $350 both based on spending in Puerto Vallarta.
Actual Cost of Living
Total living costs (not including travel in and out of Mexico from California–more on that later): $2,341.31 (on a per couple basis)
or $1,170.66 per person per month
or $39.02 per person per day
Categorical breakdown of spend/expenses:
Accommodation: $1,391.61 per couple per month
Accommodation went up a decent amount from our time last year in PV. There are three main reasons for this IMO:
- Mexico continues to have an artificial/short term increase in demand due to it being one of the few countries that is accepting tourists (as Europe has begun reopening as of mid-May I expect this to go down)
- Airbnb implemented occupancy tax for accommodation in Mexico at the end of 2020. This typically adds ~$200 to a ~$1,000 listing and scales up
- I may have booked later than I typically do (though I think the first two are the main culprits)
As mentioned above, I account for expenses on a monthly basis (not a city basis). Because of that, the above $1,391.61 is actually based on 25 nights in Mexico City and five nights in Puebla. I booked an Airbnb in Mexico City for 28 nights (four weeks) and that was $1,419 in total or $50.68/night. Had we stayed in the same Airbnb for 30 nights at the same rate, it would have come out to $1,520 (so feel free to use that figure for one month’s accommodation in Mexico City if you’d prefer).
If you’d like to see a walkthrough of our accommodation, its amenities, and the surrounding area, here’s my Airbnb tour on YouTube:
Food & Alcohol: $883.06 per couple per month (or $14.72/person/day)
As many folks know, this is my favorite section and my favorite place to spend money. Our food and alcohol spend went up compared to our time in PV last year.
Groceries & Eating In: $145.38 for 2 per month
This was one of the only(?) places we saved. $145.38 per month for both of us at 16.46% of our food and alcohol budget. I think because we lacked a rooftop pool or larger common areas we drank at home less and went out more.
My at-home breakfasts, lunches, and dinners didn’t change much from PV at all (except maybe less seafood). Our Airbnb was ~10 minutes away from a Superama and a Bodega Aurrera (Mexican grocery store chains), and we usually shopped at Superama. While in Mexico City, we actually used Rappi (food and grocery delivery service) from Chedraui quite a bit.
If you’re interested what a Mexican grocery store looks like or curious what common grocery items cost, here’s my “Grocery Haul” video:
Restaurants & Eating Out: $583.59 for 2 per month
This went up by ~36% from our time in PV. Not only did we eat out more often because of space, Mexico City has an endless supply of new and classic restaurants to try. $583.59 per month for both of us at 66.09% of our food budget. We ate out for 30 meals (11 brunches, 10 lunches, and 9 dinners).
Brunch: $173.62 per month or 29.75% of restaurant spend; average brunch for two: $15.78
Lunch: $192.45 per month or 32.98% of restaurant spend; average lunch for two: $19.25
Din: $217.52 per month or 37.27% of restaurant spend; average dinner for two: $24.17
Unlike in Puerto Vallarta, our spend across meal types was pretty similar, whereas in PV we were heavily weighted toward dinner (50% of our restaurant spend). I’m most surprised about the low average cost per meal (especially dinner). I can only assume more expensive meals are offset by grabbing tacos (~$5-6) for dinner.
If you’re curious about my favorite restaurants in Mexico City, you can read more in my Guide to Mexico City OR check out my Eating & Drinking playlist here:
Bars: $154.09 for 2 per month
This category almost tripled from our PV spend at $154.09 for both of us or 17.45% of our food and alcohol budget. Because drinking at home in a studio while it’s raining is less glamorous than drinking in a pool on a rooftop with a view of the ocean while it’s sunny, we went out to bars more frequently. Add to that Mexico City has three of the top 100 bars in the world (we went to two of them!–Hanky Panky & Baltra Bar), and we were bound to increase our bar spend.
Alcohol: $318.06 for 2 per month
$318.06 per month for both of us or 36.02% of our food and alcohol budget. 50% higher than our Puerto Vallarta spend and highly likely due to drinking more at bars than buying tequila at the grocery store and enjoying at home. Did you know: alcohol at bars costs more than the grocery store.
Transportation: $33.28 for 2 per month
Unlike Puerto Vallarta, we aren’t including flights to Mexico/from California. The main reason being: we actually flew to Mexico in May. Clever, non-GAAP accounting I know (bad accounting joke that is probably incorrect :shrug:). I will always be transparent about things like this, and I also plan to include said May flights in my end of year financial/cost of living wrap-up.
Short of flights, our only transportation costs in June included Ubers ($18.62 for 5! Ubers) and first class bus tickets (ADO) to Puebla ($14.66 for two).
In May, we ended up paying for business class tickets on Aeromexico’s 787-9 Dreamliner ($513.48 for two) from LAX to MEX, and Ubers to LAX and from MEX to our Airbnb ($48.24). For reference, basic economy tickets were ~$120 and main cabin tickets (or whatever class lets you choose your seats) were ~$150, so ~$256 for business class (we got to choose our seats lol) seemed like a steal. YouTube video of said flight to come as soon as I stop procrastinating.
Miscellaneous: $33.36 for 2 per month
Just now realising how similar our transportation and miscellaneous spend and now realising no one else probably cares. Our miscellaneous spend was mostly water, fruit from vendors, pan dulce/stuff from bakeries, an agua fresca from a market we walked through, and a cash tip from a place that let you pay via card but not tip (side note: weird).
Activities: $0
Standing firm on the fact that eating and drinking are the best activities. However, we did do some DIY neighborhood tours (Polanco, Condesa/Roma, and Centro neighborhood tours will eventually make their way to YouTube). We also visited the Soumaya Museum (free!), Parque Mexico’s Audiorama (also free!), and the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral–you guessed it–also free! Also throw in (free) Spanish lessons (read: conversing with people who don’t speak English), and we had a pretty well-rounded month of activities.
How we reduced our cost of living in Mexico City
Nothing new here: groceries/eating in, walking a LOT (averaged 5.3mi/day with a peak day of 9.5 miles), and just being in Mexico vs SF/LA. Outside of accommodation, Mexico can be very inexpensive–especially if you don’t need to eat at fancy restaurants everyday.
Places we could further reduce our cost of living
Same as last time, too: booze, eating out (frequency or niceness), and cheaper Airbnb. As we were under budget, unlikely to opt in to any of these saving mechanisms. However, cutting or reducing alcohol continues to be the easiest way to tighten the belt. Additionally, looking for better deals on Airbnbs earlier is always a way to cut costs without sacrificing quality.
Final thoughts on cost of living in Mexico City
Already talked about it above, but I provided two figures for accommodation (Mexico City for 30 nights vs our actual June spend).
We did not include international flights in our transportation or total figures, but I will bring that spend back when I do my end of year wrapup.
Traveling as a couple does save on accommodation (and Ubers), but it does not save (much?) on food and alcohol, most transportation expenses, activities, and miscellaneous spend.
Lastly, having a friend living in Mexico City probably increased our spending as we were more willing/likely to go out as opposed to being (for the bulk of the trip) alone. The fine dining scene and amount of cool bars highly likely increased food and alcohol spend, too.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need clarification in the comments below!
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