Mérida and the Cost of Living in Mexico
Jennifer and her husband always wanted to live overseas. They ended up deciding that Mérida would be the place to start their expat adventures.
This interview covers their cost of living in Mérida. Moving to Mexico has meant saving lots of money. Unfortunately they found out that Mexico just wasn’t the place they wanted to live long-term. All about that below.
Hi Jennifer! Always nice interviewing a fellow Canadian. So what’s your story, what led you to moving to Mexico?
In Early 2018 I left my job. It was very stressful, and I just could not see myself doing it any longer. My husband and I always knew that we would eventually leave Canada and live somewhere with a better cost of living and a much warmer climate. We are avid travellers and Scuba divers and still fairly young, currently both being 50. My father passed away in 2003 just a few weeks before his 60th birthday. He had plans for his retirement but he never got there. That was not going to happen to us. Right away we started to research where we should start our expat life.
You decided to live in Mérida on the Yucatan. Why Mérida?
We had simple criteria for our first place, ease of getting there was important as we had 3 dogs and a cat to get to the destination. It had to be close enough so that we could travel back to Canada if our families need us. We also considered the ability of travelling to other parts of the world as well as the ease of getting a residency visa for longer term stays. As fate had it, I happened to see an episode of House Hunters International where they were showing a couple buying a house in Mérida. So we booked flights and went in June of 2018 to check it out. We liked what we saw. In 2019 CEO World magazine had an article rating all the cities in the world based on safety and Mérida was listed at 21, 50 spots or so better than our hometown of Calgary. It placed it as the second safest city in North America. For us that was important. We also researched the housing prices and cost of living in Mérida and it was obvious that life would be much cheaper than in Canada. I was not going to work, my husband still works full time for a company in Canada and also contracts on the side for another, he is not ready to “do nothing all day “ as he likes to say. We made another visit and were in the early stages of selling our house when Covid hit, so we were stuck in Canada until November of 2021. That’s when we left for Mexico with our animals. On November 12th, my husband’s 50th birthday, we arrived in Mérida with Temporary Visas in hand.
Since we first started researching Mérida in 2018, the city has become rather popular among bloggers and travelers alike. It seems that every year this city is on someone’s list of must travel places. This year I have seen Forbes and Conde Nast list Mérida on their top ten lists. This has also meant that the amount of foreigners that call Mérida home has increased a lot and we see lots of people on Facebook with plans on moving here. The expat population has grown: in 2011 it was estimated at around 1000, now it is estimated that 11000 expats call Mérida home.
What’s Mérida like?
Now that we are here, what is Mérida really like???? The city has some wonderful colonial architecture, has some great Mexican eateries and loads of restaurants geared towards the Yucatan cultures. We are never far from Mayan ruins, cenotes or the beaches. As great as all that is, for us the biggest thing is the cost of living. It is amazing. Since my husband still works, we are able to save lots of money (we were saving money in Canada but not as much as we would have liked with me not working).
The Cost of Living
I’ll cover how much cheaper Mexico is compared to Canada. Note: take into consideration that we bought our house here in Mexico with cash and have no mortgage.
Buying a Home: Canada house was 2400 Sq ft (223 Sq mt) for comparison and our house here is about 1800 Sq ft (167 Sq mt). Our house here just north of Mérida in a private gated community was 180,000 CDN Dollars (about 132,000 USD). We have a pool, 2 bedrooms and a large backyard.
Renting: From what I have seen here rents vary and apartments can be as cheap as 400 USD and you can get great houses in Privadas starting at 650 USD.
Utilities: Housing costs, including property taxes, electricity, gas, water, internet and garbage collection – in Canada we were averaging 900 CAD (660 USD) per month. Here using the same costs we average 200 CAD (150 USD) per month. Also, we have 2 internet providers here due to my husband working online as we wanted a backup in case anything goes wrong. This does not include the 100 dollars that we pay HOA for the Security guards at the gate along with maintenance for the community grounds.
Additionally, I pay about 300 CDN (220 USD) dollars for monthly house cleaning, pool maintenance and bi-weekly yard maintenance. And for our cell phones here we are paying 25 CAD per month for 2 phones…in Canada that was 150 CAD (110 USD) for both of our phones.
Food: Food costs here can be expensive for some items, sometimes I miss my salt and vinegar chips and I can get them here from an import store for 6 dollars CAD a bag. But things like vegetables are so cheap. I was just visiting Canada and a cucumber was over 3 dollars there, here we probably pay .30 cents for one and about 50 cents for six tomatoes. I go to the local fruteria a couple of times a week and come home with lots of good food for about 3 dollars each visit.
Veterinarian: An important thing for us is Vet expenses. In Calgary our dog needed an ultrasound and they started at 800 dollars (590 USD). Here our Bassett hound needed one and it was 50 CAD (37 USD). Her meds here are costing us about 10 dollars a month which is about ¼ what we paid in Canada. Check ups for the animals are about 20 CAD (15 USD) when needed and monthly grooming is about 20 each one and we were paying over 100 CAD just for our big dog in Canada.
Health care expenses: we had independent insurance that was a tad expensive. I rushed to buy that when the government announced the border was finally opening after Covid. So I am now sourcing that locally. We did some tests when we met out new GP and to see him for the initial expense was about 35 CAD (25 USD) for both of us and then specialists came to the house and drew blood, did x-rays and even an ultrasound all for about 200 CAD (145 USD). Dental is cheap as well, the two of us had cleaning for less than 80 CAD (60 USD).
Eating out: Restaurants here in our area are cheap as well, we can go for tacos for less than 10 CAD (7 USD) for both of us to eat and drink and spend about 15 CAD (11 USD) to do the same at the local burger joint. If we go for a US style eatery we are looking at about 60% less than what we were paying in Canada.
All and all, because we bought a house here using the sale proceeds from our Canadian house, we live here on less than 1200 CAD dollars a month (900 USD). If I was into cooking, cleaning and yard maintenance we could easily do it for less than 1000 dollars each month (730 USD).
But we don’t love Mexico…
You always hear people saying that the locals here are so nice and friendly, it is true, no matter what time of day you see someone you always get a Buenos dias, Buenas Tardes or Buenas Noches and a smile. The fact that I am still learning Spanish and make mistakes makes them smile and they try to help. I have made some friends with some locals and also just love the relationship I have with the man that runs our local burger stand, the little old man that runs the tienda at the end of the street and even the men that run the gate at our privada. All just such lovely happy people. Even every contractor we have had to work for us has been great.
Mexican people are very friendly but not without fault. No one seems to understand customer service, it is non-existent here. You go to a store and 4 employees are behind the counter, 3 of which do nothing and seemingly don’t care that that there are 10 people in line. The 10 people in line don’t seem to mind waiting a long time for anything, I guess they’re used to it. When I was recently back in Canada, I seemed more relaxed in longer lines but still I have limits. With customer service being non-existent I find I use delivery services more here than I did in Canada, I can get anything I really need delivered to my house, from the local grocery store, pharmacy and even Costco. It makes up for having to deal with the poor customer service in a lot of places.
Also, Mexicans may be nice but behind the wheel of a car they are awful, they only think of themselves and no one follows any sort of traffic laws. Believe me as I have the dashcam footage to prove it. Sometimes it can be scary, and we know it will wear thin for us soon. Another thing is the litter. It is just awful. I am not sure why and seems to be a problem in most places I have been. The oppressive heat here in the summer is not fun some days. Having a pool helps, but from May to Oct during the day can be bad but ok in the evening, unlike Canada where winter was awful day and night. One thing that has proven true here and is not a reason for our leaving is security, we have never felt unsafe here.
I guess we’re just not excited about Mexico.
Our European plans
We already know that in 2 or so years we will move over to Europe. I have always loved Europe for its architecture, connectivity between countries, public transport systems, culture, historical sites. I want to live somewhere also where I am not so car dependent.
Spain is at the top of our list, we are looking for a place with public transport and walkability to all amenities. I can see us spending weekends traveling to other parts of Europe so would love to find a location that has either an airport with flights to major cities or with a great train system for getting around Europe. We don’t have to be in a big city, a place within a couple of hours to the airport is fine with us. Of course – like a lot of people – we like the Malaga area. But I am also drawn to cites like Barcelona and Valencia. I have a couple of years for research and believe me I will know a lot about these areas for sure. We plan to come for a stay on 2023 and checkout some of the places on our short list.
We are still looking at which Visa is best for us, the world is changing and for my husband a digital nomad visa is probably the best but I have been learning about all the different types and hopefully will find which one suits our needs best.
Would Spain be permanent? Probably not, we love to travel and are still young.
Despite not falling in love with Mexico as a place to live, it has been good to us and we will be forever grateful for the low cost of living and the money we are saving towards our future.
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Related: What’s it like living in Mexico?
Related: What’s it like living in Mazatlán? (plus misconceptions, safety, and Pueblo Magicos)
Related: “Retirement Secrets of Mexico”
I’ve spent the last two years as a digital nomad, spent 1 year in Puerto Rico, 6 months in Antigua, Guatemala, and 3 months in South Africa (with US stays in between)… what I discovered is that it seems international locations (PR is US but it has a lot of the same issues as international travel being an island) but coming from the states, we have everything logistically so easy… when you’re abroad, the logistics are hard — just going to get groceries can be an exhausting experience and for some reason grocery stores all seem so chaotic and loud — and then add on cultural differences, language barriers, noise, pests/insects, the stress of living in undeveloped areas, traffic and bad drivers, etc… Without connection and community, I believe it takes a unique person to acclimate or want to stay and not go back to the comfort of the US. We don’t realize how easy it is for us until we experience living abroad.
The tone in this blog went from grateful to listing the annoyances in a way that felt negative — it’s likely that attitude will follow you everywhere international because each place will all have its own issues -this was my attitude after I left PR too and I found every place had its own problems.
It’s true that maybe you’ll find another place that feels more like home… but I think you’ll find home when you accept the challenges, annoyances, and extra difficulties of living abroad, decide to commit and then get rooted there in community. Without having roots with others, I think most ppl will be hard-pressed to not return home where it’s easier.
Good for you for visiting other countries , As a digital nomad will you ever get rooted into a different community? I think reading a blog that is over a year old maybe you should ask things like I wonder how she feels a year later? Or even ask her what maybe has she learned from this experience with having been there for yet another year? Maybe see what she feels will be things she now feels she learned as to what to look for and expect when looking for new places to move to in the future.
Another question is, your attitude that you left Puerto Rico with, did it follow you everywhere after??
The tone of this comment turns judgmental, as if one returning to there home for ease is a bad thing, I have no plans at the moment to do as this world is a giant place for me to explore. I see so many expats, immigrants , and digital nomads in groups talk negatively about people “failing” at living abroad. Hey at least they tried and maybe circumstances changed in their life making it so they need the “ease” of their homeland. Maybe the annoyances will get to me one day and I will proudly return to Canada for its ease, safety and beauty and most likely cause I will want my free healthcare and be happy that I will have had these experiences abroad both negative and positive.
If moving to Europe next really is on her list, she best be planning for spending more than the 1200 Canadian per month she’s currently spending in Mexico. Or a much more modest lifestyle, including no cleaner, no yard help, no eating out. etc.
No denying that!
Thanks for the tip. I am living off of 1200 cause I that is all I need here in The Yucatan in fact I have managed to get cost down just cause we can. I do not need a cleaner or my gardeners but hey why not. I have done extensive research and know that I will need a hefty increase to my budget, especially as we plan to travel a lot when when are living there.
ok wow. so my interest is definitely piqued! Prices of houses seem very affordable there and the city looks lovely. The roads sound terrifying and I also really love Salt and Vinegar chips, but aside from that I would hope as and Australia the heat wouldnt be impossible to live with. It’s food for thought at least whilst we are looking to buy here at the moment, who knows what the future might hold…
Thank you to Frank, Jennifer and her husband for giving this interview.
I visited Merida in June 2021. We really liked the city. But our plans are different than most. We originally wanted to buy a retirement home in the Southwest and move permanently. Prices doubled in the last 5 years. So our Plan B is to live somewhere warm for 10-12 weeks each winter. We will rent. Merida is a definite on our list, as is Puerto Vallarta. Southern Spain and France are also on our list. Along with Chiang Mai and Bali. We are not moving permanently. Doing this, will not save us in retirement costs. But it will make our winters easier.
As far as expats moving to save money. Moot point. I can think the extra money in the local economy is more of a benefit than a detriment. People have been buying/living in warmer places for over a century, all the the world. It’s when the foreigners push the locals out of buying homes, is when it becomes a problem. Using Vancouver, Canada and most of New Zealand as examples where foreigners pushed out the locals. But this isn’t the problem with cities being discussed in this post.
Again this article reinforces our plans. We understand Merida’s shortcomings. But we also love Merida’s benefits. Merida is a unique place in Mexico. We really enjoyed our visit. It won’t be permanent for us. We may do it for one winter and never go back. But at least we understand what we are getting into.
Thank you for this comment, you sound like all the places you want to go are the same as us, that is what we have found as well, once we hit our time to leave here moving from place to place will not really benefit our retirement saving but for us it will be all about the experiences. Although we do plan to settle at some point permanently in Europe. We are just 50 so we still have loads of time for that. I hope you have a fantastical retirement 😊
I love the fact that you were honest about Merida too. I miss my dairy milk chocolate bars….lol! We arrived her in June of this year from Edmonton. We drove with our 100 pound German Shepherd. We looked for 4 months online trying to find a house that accepts a dog over 10 pounds. We ended up renting from locals! We have been coming to Merida for vacations since 2010 – nobody knew this place existed for the most part back then. We have noticed quite the change in the city and agree with you Jen on the garbage, traffic etc. issues. Merida has grown so much in the past few years. Houses that were once super affordable are now more expensive than those in some areas in Canada. Many of the FB Expat groups have people on there that love to make smart ass comments when newbies ask a question and are quick to criticize and act like they were born here. That being said we have met some really nice expats and we do have 2 very close local friends that we met the first time we visited Merida. We will be exploring new areas though to live in as Merida is not for us and our dog Max at the moment. We do love the sense of community, the love of culture and how kind so many of the locals are, hence the reason why we chose Mexico in the first place.
Thank you for this comment. I agree on the comments in expat groups. I am in rather a lot of them for all over the world for research and it is way to common all over. We have recently renewed our residency and will let it go to permanent as well. I can see us, after we spend many years seeing the rest of the world, coming back just for the proximity to Canada alone. Have a lovely day.
I live in Merida, and we always recommend people rent for at least a year before buying. I love it here, but the expat community is like a revolving door, and it can be a lot harder to sell a house than to buy one. (Key reasons people leave; the heat, it´s harder to learn Spanish than they expected, family including birth of grandchildren, can´t get used to the pace of life including workmen turning up days late).
Great points.
I visit Mexico every year. Love it…but I personally couldn’t live in Merida because of the heat. Can’t take it. My favorite part of Mexico is away from the coasts in the interior. I think everyone has to find their happy place. But the good thing is it’s a huge country.
Thank you for the helpful comment.
Mexico is a big country and There are so many other places in Mexico don’t have what you referred flaws. I think it may be worthwhile to travel in Mexico a bit more to find out if it’s truly not the country you want to live in. We came from Ontario and have lived in a small town outside PV for six years. We found out we didn’t like the town but prefer PV so we sold our house and moved. As the years go by we love the beauty here that is not superficial. Getting to know the locals is a big part of it. Don’t give up on Mexico so quickly.
We are not giving up that quickly at all. Even the first phrase in this article states that Merida was the place we picked to start our Expat journey. In fact we renewed our residency today for the full four years. We have never planned to make Mexico permanent but maybe after exploring the rest of the world, which we have done but plan to do more extensively, we will be back here. The world it is big beautiful place to miss it in this life would be sad 😊
Mexico is definetly not for everyone, but I feel in order to really fall in love with the place- you have to make friends with locals and expats AND integrate in society . I HATED Mexico the first 8 months I lived here, and kept dreaming of the day I could come back. Meanwhile, I learned the language and made friends, participated in the culture. Then I found when I went back to the states I missed Mexico. It got under my skin. All the negatives here are valid and true, but there is something about MExico you fall in love with that surpasses all the negatives. For me anyways 🙂 And ironically, Spain is OK but not really my favorite, I’d definitely pick Greece over Spain anyday and I’m fluent in Spanish and know hardly any Greek words – but I guess we’re all different. I love the moorish influence in southern Spain and I just kind of feel like I’m in California. Its clean and more regulated, but something is missing there that Greece and Mexico has for me. Guess everyone is different and that’s a good thing, we wouldn’t all want to live in the same place!
Great comment Heidi. Very encouraging.
I live in Spain but visit my mom every year in Mexico. I mentioned exactly the same to Jen – I think if all things were equal I would maybe choose Mexico over Spain. I find Mexico dynamic, it’s always lively and people work hard but always have a smile. I think what tilts it to Spain is that it’s Europe – and we love travelling through Europe.
My Mom’s been in Mexico now 10 years and loves most aspects. What you say in your first line is exactly true…and when she has her bad days it’s because she feels she doesn’t have any or enough connections. Integrating is the key.
Thank you for the comment.
I realize this article is focusing on cost of living…but continually referring to Mx as ‘cheap’ has been pointed out to me as cultural insensitivity. It might be more affordable for these folks but for most Mexicans it is not ‘cheap’. Referring to it as more affordable, supports our financial goals – something else…please.
I usually leave it to people who write these interviews to reply. But in this case I just can’t help it – really?? Give me a break. I understand being politically correct but really? Pretty soon we’ll all be carrying around synonym dictionaries so that we keep everyone happy lest they be offended by commonly used language. This is obviously an expat post and I think everyone reading this knows the intention here was to inform other people thinking of possibly moving to Mexico. Please save your righteousness for someone else.
Frank took the words right out of my mouth. Good grief the virtue signaling gets old.
Andrea and Frank,
You may dislike the comment, but she has a point. Expat retirees from wealthy countries are often attracted to places that they consider “cheap”, but mostly fail to understand what life is like for locals or the impact that an expat community with lots of money has on locals who are don’t have nearly as much.
I’ve lived in Mexico and when I read Andrea was primarily attracted to Mexico because the cost of living was lower, my initial reaction was to guess how many months it would take for them to leave. If the attraction to Mérida was its “cheap” cost of living and the fact that as a city in a tropical jungle it is warmer than Calgary, it’s not hard to see why things didn’t work out when you spent time on the ground in Mexico.
Rather than deriding DeLora’s comment as virtue signaling, wouldn’t it be better to engage the question of this specific form of economic tourism? I’m referring to the movement of wealthier people seeking to preserve their material wealth and enhance their quality of life by moving to places where where living expenses are lower and people have less money. This will be even more of an issue in Spain, where costs are higher and there are entire villages of retired expats grumbling that the cheap place in the sun they came for didn’t turn out to be as they expected.
There must be something to be learned from your experience, and the attraction to “cheap” is certainly a part of that.
Thank you for the comment Parick.
It’s 2 different things. DeLora just had problems with the word “cheap” and being “culturally insensitive”. Her comment wasn’t about the economic impact of “expatism”, it was about word being used. That’s what riled me because I’m a bit sick of political correctness and picking on one word in a 2000 word text.
The economic impact of expats though IS a real thing (as is the economic impact of tourism). I touched on it in this post. What to do about it? I don’t know. Expats with some money will always want to move somewhere where the weather is better and where their money goes further. And it can be beneficial to the local economy. It’s when there’s TOO much of it that it becomes an issue…
Hi Patrick, Thanks for the comment. I appreciate your perspective but do believe you have me confused as I never mentioned anything about Mexico being cheap & was not my primary reason (great climate was mine). I’m not the person the article is about. I live in SMA & while i think it could be “less expensive” for some, it’s definitely not cheap. I agree it is a problem for locals in areas where tourists/expats drive up the price but I’m not sure what the solution is. It happens all over the world. I’ve lived in an area with many tourists and understand it is less affordable for locals. But it’s not the subject of this post.
Hi Patrick. My primary reason, as you said for coming to Mexico, was in Fact not that it is cheap. If you look at the list I had it was well behind 6 other considerations. Also as for how long it takes me to leave. Well it was never my intentions to live here permanently, I have traveled all over the globe and have always said that I want to live everywhere and I plan to. There is no lesson for me to learn as far as “ cheap” goes. My future plans include all sorts of place some shall be expensive and some shall be economical ( not using the cheap word anymore). Stints in Luxembourg, Grand Cayman SE Asia are on the agenda before a possible settlement in Spain. So guessing how long It will take me to leave here, I just renewed my residency, so unless you said a few years you would have been wrong. Have a great day
We moved to Mexico at the same time as you. Lived near PV for 6 months. Knew almost immediately we didn’t like it. Now are in SMA. We love it here. The weather, it’s cleaner, we’ve met friends. Big improvement. But we are also considering going back to the states for the reasons you listed. We are staying at least until June 2023 & will make a decision then. Good luck on your future travels! And thanks for being honest. You will take a lot of heat for it.
Thanks Andrea. I have seen some of the comments in Facebook groups about this article, frank did warn me, but I also take a lot of that with a grain of salt as some of these groups people find fault with everything. We plan on staying until 2024 and will then make a decision as to what will be next for us. I am glad you like SMA. I hope to visit it soon.
Good for you Jen. Most of those people on FB are Monday morning quarterbacks and have nothing better to do than leave snarky comments. Can’t live life listening to 99% of them.
Completely agree and I love how triggering it was that I buy expensive potato chips for a feeling of home makes me laugh. What is important to me is my friends here, including Mexican friends loved how honest I was in the article.
Where is SMA ?
San Miguel de Allende. About 5 hrs north of Mexico City in Guanajuato.
Nice story but I don’t fully understand what you thought was wrong with Mexico? Litter, summer heat and bad drivers? You will never find a place to live without flaws.
I’d strongly recommend checking out Valencia, Sevilla and Palma de Mallorca while you’re in Spain. Those would be my three candidate cities (with more than 300k inhabitants) to live in if I ever decided to move there.
I agree, nowhere is perfect but everyone has their own comfort zone. My family is from a beautiful, safe, clean town in the upper Midwest. The only problem is basically 8-9 months of absolute horrible weather. You still miss the good parts & it’s important to find a place that feels like you belong. I’d say the biggest mistake they made was buying a home. It’s why I won’t buy one until I’m 100% sure of where I’m living.
It is true. Probably buying a home was a mistake but with 3 dogs and a cat we could not find a place that was suitable. We feel even if it takes a year or so to sell it will be worth it for us. In fact at this point even to sell for what we paid we would be far ahead as the exchange rate has changed so much. And in that case we will not have paid a lot of money in rent. Every place we looked at was 5 months rent upfront after all the contracts. That seems ridiculous to us 😊
I understand completely as we have our black Lab w/ U.S. and it seems people do not want big dogs. Plus it’s not fair to her to be cooped up without a yard. She was used to living on acreage in the woods in Wisconsin. 🙂 Our rent has been higher than we would like because of the dog situation.
Thanks for the honest and informative interview! I am an American currently living on the Costa del Sol of Spain. The three dislikes that you mention for Mexico are also experienced here…Litter, summer heat (this week we have had high 90’s and 100 degree F. temps with high humidity) and drivers who drive as though there are no traffic rules. I drove for a living back in the States, but driving here brings such high anxiety that I am unable to do so. I would like to also include LOTS of graffiti. Those things all shocked me as I just was not used to them. It is definitely true that “no place is perfect”…there always seem to be tradeoffs, and I agree that each has to decide what is most important for them in life. I do love so many things about Spain but have a tug in my heart for Greece. Hopefully, spending several weeks there next year will bring more clarity. Wishing you safe travels in your adventures!