Another month, another city! After 4 weeks in Mexico City and 4 more weeks in Puebla, it was time for Queretaro. Our cost of living in Queretaro was more than Puebla but less than Mexico City.
Read related: Big City, Little Prices: How Much It Costs To Live In Mexico City In 2021 and Paradise in Mexico: Cost of Living in Puerto Vallarta
Forecasted Cost of Living
Forecasted* total monthly costs (on a per couple basis): $2,500
Forecasted accommodation: $1,250*
Forecasted food & alcohol: $1,000*
Forecast transportation: $200
Forecasted “activities”: $0
Forecast miscellaneous: $50
If you read or recall my Puebla Cost of Living post, you might notice two changes to my above forecast. I have reduced forecasted accommodation (by $100) and reallocated it to food & alcohol.
The reason for this is I finished reserving/booking all of our accommodation for the rest of our stay in Mexico. Our average accommodation spend across the ~6 months we will be in Mexico comes out to ~$1,208/month. $1,250 gives us wiggle room for any unforeseen fees/charges.
Reallocating the transportation budget to food & alcohol was simple: we want to eat and drink out more frequently and/or at nicer places.
Actual Cost of Living (4 weeks in Queretaro)
We spent more than we did in Puebla but less than in Mexico City.
Total living costs: $1,815.27 (for two for 28 days & nights)
Extrapolated for a full 30-day month = $1,944.93/month*
or $972.47 per person/month*
or $32.42 per person per day
*extrapolated from 28 nights; multiplied by 1.07 (x/28)*30
Categorical breakdown of spend/expenses:
Accommodation: $1,017.59 for two (28 nights) or $1,090.28 per month
Rent came back to reality in Queretaro. We spent ~40% more on accommodation in Puebla and ~40% less than in Mexico City.
We opted to stay in a more modern Airbnb in a further/outside centro location. There were cheaper, more central options, but they were a bit more dated.
This was our first Airbnb with a door (read: one bedroom instead of a studio).
Food & Alcohol: $698.14 for two (or $12.47/person/day)
We spent less on food here than both in Puebla and in Mexico City. Didn’t eat out as often as previous months.
I had wanted to come to Queretaro in the first place because I heard it was an emerging digital nomad city. Because of this I thought and assumed food would be quite cheap. I’m not sure if it’s just the place we chose or not, but it seemed quite a bit more expensive than restaurants in Puebla (besides the higher end places).
Groceries & Eating In: $140.84 for two
We spent more on groceries here than in Puebla but about bang on with Mexico City.
We had a larger, more comfortable space (and it rained a bit), so we stayed in more. This led to more tequila/beer here and hanging out at home than Puebla.
3 months in, and my daily choice of breakfast tacos has not wavered (really just scrambled eggs in a warm, flour tortilla and habanero hot sauce).
Restaurants & Eating Out: $500.55 for two
This was our lowest eating out total thus far. We stayed in a lot and didn’t eat at many high end restaurants.
Our most expensive meal out was actually under $40 (for two). Didn’t have as cocktails/glasses of wine when we did go out.
Coffee & Brunch: $152.73 for 10 brunches
Cheapest: $2.20 (2 gorditas) + most expensive: $24.56
Lunch: $146.37 for for 9 lunches
Cheapest: $2.95 (gordita & 2 tacos) + most expensive: $33.55 (Hercules!)
Dinner: $201.45 for 12 dinners
Cheapest: $3.55 (tacos) + most expensive: $39.59
Pretty even breakdown of spend per meal with dinner at 40% and both brunch and lunch each at 30% (similar to Mexico City but different than Puebla).
Bars: $56.75 for two
Like our restaurant spend, this was our lowest bar spend during our time in Mexico. Seldom went to bars and when we did they were cheaper than the bars we went to in Puebla and Mexico City.
Alcohol: $241.96 for two
Represents any time we had alcohol (groceries, bar, drinks at restaurants).
Lowest alcohol spend during our time in Mexico. 20% lower than both Puebla and Mexico City. Mostly attribute this to going to bars less often and ordering less alcoholic beverage during meals.
Transportation: $71.80 for two
Higher than Puebla because it cost quite a bit more to get to Queretaro from Puebla ($49.90 for two) than it did to get to Puebla from Mexico City (~$15 for two).
Second largest transportation expense was our day trip to Bernal (~$12 roundtrip for two). Lastly, took three Ubers for ~$10.
Miscellaneous: $27.74 for two
Almost bang on with our miscellaneous spend in Puebla. Miscellaneous mostly comprised ad hoc trips to Oxxo (or other convenience stores) for things like water and beer.
Activities: $3!
We finally sort of paid for an activity! It cost 30 pesos ($1.50ea) to hike the monolith in Bernal (Peña de Bernal). Getting to Bernal (~$12 for two, roundtrip) was counted for under transportation.
Otherwise, our eating and drinking activities were accounted for under–you guessed it–food & alcohol.
Where and how we reduced our cost of living in Queretaro
Similar story to Puebla and Mexico City as we saved by eating in/buying groceries and walking. The big difference in Queretaro was going out less frequently and drinking less at bars/restaurants.
Places we could further reduce?
Looking for cheaper accommodation would reduce our cost of living in Queretaro the most and further reduce our spend by the widest margin. Next, booze/alcohol would be the second place, but it wouldn’t be as meaningful as reducing our rent/accommodation spend.
Final thoughts on cost of living in Queretaro
| Forecasted | 28 days | 30 days* | ||
| Total | $2,500 | $1,815.27 | $1,944.93 | |
| Accommodation | $1,250 | $1,017.59 | $1,090.28 | |
| F&B | $1,000 | $698.14 | $748.01 | |
| Groceries | $140.84 | |||
| Restaurant | $500.55 | |||
| Bars | $56.75 | |||
| Alcohol | $241.96 | |||
| Brunch | $152.73 | |||
| Lunch | $146.37 | |||
| Din | $201.45 | |||
| Misc. | $50 | $27.74 | $29.72 | |
| Transport | $200 | $71.80 | $76.93 |
Like Puebla, I cleaned the numbers up to purely reflect Queretaro costs (yay for you!). Already in Mexico so no fussing over whether to include flights or not.
If we found cheaper accommodation (which I’ve heard of rents as low as $100/month!), I think Queretaro could be the cheapest option in Mexico and even beat Puebla.
As we think about staying in Mexico in the future, using FB expat groups or not renting through Airbnb would be the ideal way to save hundreds of dollars per month.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need clarification in the comments below!
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