Colombia: A Surprisingly High Quality of Life at a Low Cost of Living

The cost of living is on everyone´s mind these days especially for senior citizens struggling to get by on just their Social Security.

numbeo.com ranks Colombia as one of the lowest cost of living countries in the world. With the dollar at 4.100 pesos, you won´t be just be  ¨getting by ¨, you can live BIG on just your Social Security.

Let´s say you make between $2,000 and $3,500 a month from SS. That´s $8 to $14 million Colombian pesos. That´s A LOT of money down here..puts you in the middle class and even upper middle class.

Let´s do a quick budget:

Rents for a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment or townhouse range from say $2,500,000 to $4,500,000 including HOA (Admin).  That´s about $600 to $1,050 per month...again depending on your needs and lifestyle. Rents have increased like everywhere in the world partly due to Airbnb. 

A great strategy is to rent your home in the US and have that as extra income to rent in Colombia. Like we rent our house in Manizales for $3,200 per month and are renting a lovely country home for $1,500 per month. 

The cost of living in bigger cities (Medellin, Bogota) and on the coast (Cartagena) will be higher. Of course, there are much lower rents. I have friends here who pay $500 a month. 

Utilities, cable and cell phone are very inexpensive in Colombia. Figure $120 to $170 per month. With WhatsApp (free) you can make a video call to your family members and talk all day if you want to.

Food is one of your biggest expenses- Figure $500 to $650 a month;  a very generous allowance for food for 2 and restaurants. You will be eating much better and much healthier in Colombia.

Health insurance is a bit uncertain now to be honest. You can get the government program once you have your Colombian ID (Cedula) which is automatic with your VISA (retirement, investor, marriage, etc.). So you have to pay that and I recommend SURA or other trusted insurance company for a supplemental policy. I pay $100 a month for the government program plus  $900 a year for SURA supplemetal. 

Colombia has the best hospitals and clinics in all of Latin America. America Economia annually ranks 20+ Colombian hospitals in the top 60 with 5 in the top 10. We have 30+ hospitals located all over Colombia which are internationally accredited by ICONTEC thru ISQua. Plus we have wonderful dental, eye, orthopedic, dermatologists, women´s and men´s specialists, cancer and almost any specialization you can think of at very low cost.

Transportation - You really do not need a car. A hurge savings ! There are taxis, buses and even Uber. Many places you might live, almost everything you need will be within a few blocks.

Miscellaneous is a catch all for shopping, movies, travel and entertainment and any extra you might spend on health insurance, transportation, etc.  Figure $200 to $350 a month. 

So you should be able to live very comfortably on $2,000 to $3,500 per month and have money left over for fun and travel.

If you buy and own your home home, then you won´t be paying rent but you will have typical homeowners expenses (HOA, taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc).

I strongly recommend you do not buy right away. Rent or use Airbnb for a while and make sure you like living in Colombia and what city. 

There are soooo many choices of places to live and lifestyles. Unlike Costa Rica or Panama, there many BIG cities (Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Cartagena, Baranquilla) and lots of mid size cities (Bucaramanga, Pereira, Armenia, Manizales) and all the surrounding areas (suburbs) and country homes within 30 to 60 minutes.

New housing (single family, townhouses or apartmets) are very nice and well built with  American style amenities including 24/7 professional guards for gated communities. Of course, there are zillions of older homes and apartments at generally lower costs. It all depends on the life style you are seeking. 

For retirees on a budget, we have many housing options ranging from say $150,000 to $300,000. A newer townhouse for $150,000 ($615,000,000 COP) will likely be about 1,000 to 1,200 SF. 

You can figure that just about everything in Colombia will be about 1/3rd the cost in the US.

Please feel free to contact me at colombialivingrealty@gmail.com or visit my website https://micasaencolombia.co/