Cost of Living in Bangkok

This information is fairly accurate as of 20/8/2024

To me, Thailand is the worst country on the planet. A Mecca for all hipsters worldwide. If you appreciate things like prostitution, same-gender relationships, and crazy festivals like Songkran, where random people on the streets try to smear some bad stuff (I don't know what it is) on your face, then this country is definitely for you. However, for normal people like myself, it's the opposite. Oh, and during my stay in Thailand, I didn't see a single male photo in advertisements without full-face heavy makeup...

The entire real estate market for tourists or expats is always overpriced, there are resources that collect offers for renting apartments and houses at local prices, such as this one https://rentoplan.com

I thought this was a common knowledge that cash withdrawals from non-local cards often come to some additional fees just everywhere in the world. And, of course, it would be the matter for only short-term visitors. Do we really talk about them here?
Anyway, for Mastercard holders, there's a workaround: bring yourself along with the passport and the card (the credentials must match) to a Krungsri branch and ask them politely if you can have an over the counter withdrawal for 30,000 baht or more, there won 't be any fees on the Thai side. Staff in some branches may not let you have it, then try another one.

Many of these prices are too high. A Thai meal in an inexpensive restaurant is 40 to 70 baht. A basic apartment (no pool or gym) can be found at 3000 for a studio and 4000 for a one bedroomed place outside the city centre.

numbers are cool, usually I'm paying 50 baht for a coffee (dunkin, mcdonald) up to 100 baht (xxxyyy cool coffee spot in BKK)

the thing is nobody is mentioning that every ATH withdraval costs 220 baht - around 6,5 USD, each time you want to get cash, and usually you can't pay in local convenience store 7-11 with card if it's less than 200 baht (so eg. coffe and a snack is not enough). Some places don't want to even take my Revolut VISA Debit card ;]

Anonymous on Mar 27, 2023:
I have an offer of 240k THB per month before tax. Moving in Bangkok with spouse and kid going in 3rd standard. He need to enroll in international school.

240k thb would be enough to live in the ghetto per month not recommended.Together my wife and I made 635k thb per month barely scraping by.

I have the option to work remotely as Senior Java Developer from Thailand (as employee on contract with the local company of my employer based in Bangkok). Net Salary after Tax: 146100 THB monthly (something around 2.0-2.2 mio gross per year).

Can I afford a good standard of living with this salary? Is this a competitive salary for a Senior Deveoper?
Thanks!

Family with one child 6 month old ( wife doesn’t work)
Rent 27-30k baht for 50 sqm
Eletricity bill 5-6k
Take out food around 700-1000 baht
In restaurants 1000-1200
Cleaner for 3 hrs 600-700
Grocery for a week just a basic not fancy one 4000 baht
Mostly working from home , dont have big spending on transportation its around 1000 1500 baht per months
Hard to find good tomato

Lived in Bangkok for 20 years.. can't imagine living anywhere else..
Dont listen to all the cry babies below...

Whatever you see on a restaurant menu, add 17% service charge plus VAT. How they get away with such a mis-leading pricing system is beyond me. I used to eat out 2-3x each week. Now i will either cook or buy from very local restaurants. The foreign brands, tourist ones i will stay well away from. Absolute rip off prices then some have the cheek to add 17% whilst paying their workers 500thb a day.

Hi everyone. Me and my wife are thinking about to spend some time (probably 6 months) in Bangkok. I work remotely for a israeli company and i receive my money in dollars. My current salary is around 1600 dollars per month (around 52,000 baht). Is it enough to live in Bangkok including eating out (non expensive food), traveling to visit other countries (low cost trips), etc?

I want to know me and my wife and our 2 year kid. What will be the monthly expense of living . We don't need to bear rent ,utilities. If we cook food in home and send our child to normal school. What will be the monthly expense.

Dear Henrique,

If you cook yourself and did not eat out at all. I think 15,000 THB is a plenty room for really great ingredients.
If it was include transportations+bills(because you said your rent only 10,000 THB I guess it is not include water and electricity), you have budget only 500THB per day for food,transportation,bills. I don’t think it was enough.

You should not pay your rent above 30% of your income. It will be shortage cashflow later and you are going into debt. I think you should looking for a cheaper apartment and using park for running instead. I heard that in soi Rangnam(near Ratchathewi) there are dorms for first jobber around 6,000-8,000 BAHT per month. and it is very close to Victory Monument BTS station. In case you might want to find others job have a nicer pay and require you to travel to work.

About your plan to do your work at co-working space, I think you should not go it will cause you too much money to stay there. I don’t know others will be like me or not but I feel I should buy food to stay there every 2 hours, if I stay there all day, sometime it cost me almost 700 THB for only 6 hours.

You should stay and do your work at your dorm and brew your coffee yourself. You get a nicer coffee, cheaper price per cup and more private place. If you want some noisy surrounding just open youtube and search coffee playlist.

Please keep in mind stay at your home to save money because 25,000 THB included all basic needs is very tight in my opinion(eat regular cook food not instant noodle everyday).

Tips: you go to supermarket looking for clearance staple products e.g. eegs. It was discount 50% if you not mind not fresh eggs(I do so). I don’t know where you going to live just check where you live nearby but now, I see Tops market in silom complex and Tops central world regular have clearance eggs. You can get 10 eggs with half price. It can keep in refrigerator for 1-2 week after the expire label. Nice source of protein for a cheap price.

Do not for get your visa fee and ticket to flight back your home. Too many expense to think of. Please carefully list what you need for basic needs and calculate.

I hope my comment help you.

Best regards,
Y

Thailand economy has never been stable and since few if any tourists are visiting anymore there isn't an ecomomy.The Thailand government built its economy primarily around tourism Pattaya is just one example of that. The Thailand government cannot absorb the fallout of giving money and food to many millions of citizens because they admitted it more than once. Then there's the king of Thailand who personally moved to Berlin almost one year ago taking 45 billion usd with him. His entire family is with him in Berlin. The king doesn't have any desire for returning to Thailand and he won't. People on here talk about things that make zero sense at all. The Thailand government has mismanaged the economy but what else is new? They've always done that from day one. Don't take my word for it though but instead drive around Bangkok and look at the mansions government officials live in. They're annual salaries don't match their dwellings or vehicles they drive. I wonder where all of that money came from? If you're asking yourselves that question you are totally lost. Thailand doesn't have an economy anymore but don't take my word for it though. Just drive around Thailand and look at all of the empty streets full of closed businesses permanently and there's your answer.

Hello Amee you're welcome for the honest information. Highlighting guaranteed monthly salary are things most people overlook, not saying you do though. A good friend of mine was working in London and accepted a salary amount with a prominent employer in Bangkok several years ago.Her salary was supposed to be 115k baht monthly for a two year contract to be an IT tech.However when she arrived two weeks later the employer said 73k monthly is the maximum monthly salary offered by the company.Just remember if your future employer refuses to send you a copy of a guaranteed salary proposal not signed then run away don't walk away.It must be signed by a ceo of the company with the date signed plus notarized in Bangkok.Your full name and title must accompany the legal document as well.As a result she refused the employers offer of 73k baht. But she found a different IT position that paid 115k baht per month when looking in Bangkok.

I got out of Bangkok just in time before mandatory lockdown in 2020 and I'm glad I did.Although unfortunate for many people corona has shown how mismanaged Thai government is concerning the welfare of its citizens and the lack thereof intentionally.The majority of people in Thailand are good people but even they question decisions Thai government makes.I read some things on here about people living in Bangkok and I truly wish them well with their endeavors but this is just the beginning of the end for Thailands attraction to many worldwide.Things are bad right now and even though eastern Thailand has returned to somewhat normalsy the businesses in Eastern Thailand small and large cannot bail out the rest of thailands economic problems for years to come.It was hard for me to get my wife and children out of Thailand especially since we are from Bangkok. Leaving relatives behind was and is especially hard too.But our families encouraged us to leave before things got out of hand so we did.

Dear Anonymous,

I think 60,000 is enough for cover rent, monthly expenses, utilities, travel, entertainment etc. for 4 people in family if you are the only source income and you will live paycheck by paycheck(maybe in debt later on when bills pile up).I don’t think it is enough to save money and send back home.

I live in Thailand. My husband (me as a stay at home wife without a kid) earn more than that but barely save money because we live next to silom(CBD area)(20,000 baht per month only for a studio 30s qr.meter) for living near my husband workplace(walk for only 2 blocks).We spend avg. on food per day only 600 baht(2 person cooking healthy food and including eat-out occasionally).I have to cook almost every meal (except for lunch) clean and try everything to reduce cost of living e.g. change light bulb to led and hanging clothes instead of using dryer.

If you are single. 60,000 baht is a great deal. You can hire someone to clean your room once a week or use laundry service. But for 2 people I am not sure about saving but you will have a moderate life for sure.if you are a family of 4 want to have a big place and try to spend less on rent which mean you live far from city and must have a car which is a lot of expense on transportation(you can live far but near BTS line as well this might be a good strategy).I think you must have a real plan on spending money, meal prep is a must.

Oh,I saw expats near Sukhumwit (mostly Japanese) their company pay for their tuition fee for the kids. Don’t forget to ask about that. I guess you are from India, eating vegetarian food is an option for reduce avg. spending on food.If you work near Sukhumwit you can live near Thonglor as well. A condominium with a deep entrance may help reduce the rent. Or place near the BTS line but more far from Sukhumwit 32 is more cheaper.

Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for your response. This is a job that is being offered by a company. I've cleared all the interview rounds, final salary discussion is due this week. If I don't get my kids here, what is the best salary that I should negotiate for, to live a decent life and save money to send back home.

As a Senior program Manager, HR, how much salary should I ask for? I'm moving from Bangalore to Bangkok. We are 2 adults and 2 kids studying in the 9th grade.

Second wave of covid19 plus the enhanced strain even more infectious found in Bangkok from the UK.There have been 33,000 new cases of covid19 and 287 deaths in just 4 days. It looks like Thailand won't be accepting tourists any time soon.

Just a quick tricks, all mobile carrier / ISP has so-called "Retention Plan"
It is literally 50% off the normal plan if you trying to switch to other provider.

Take mine mobile plan. I use prepaid. 0.5 THB/min voice.
My plan is 349 THB for 20GB(Unlimit with fup)/300Mins of Voice

My internet cable plan is ~450THB
- FTTH 500/500 Mbps (with dynamic Public IP)
- Unlimited Mobile Data (speed capped at 10Mbps)
- 24 channels of TV

If you really want to run on the budget, there is a sim call Sim Thep ("ซิมลูกเทพ") which is unlimited data prepaid sim with discounted price. There are several plans for that tho. The best one, IMO, is 200THB / a month of the unlimited data capped at 10Mbps.
With that speed, you can watch FHD YouTube/Netflix but please do not 12-months prepaid one unless you are 100% sure on your signal coverage.