Hi All,

I am planning to take a career break and would like to get an idea from the experts on what it would cost to live in Thailand for 1 year. The plan is to live modestly. I am thinking about thai-style accommodation, eating street food (hopefully the more healthy varieties), and not having a car. I do plan to travel a bit in SE Asia but I don't want to count those espenses in the annual estimate. Please let me know if you need any more questions and I appreciate all comments!

Thanks in advance,

J.

It very much depends on where you're going to live. As a extremely rough guesstimate this is a kind of guide:
A room without cooking facilities: 3,000 baht/mth = 36,000 baht/yr
Eating on the streets: 2,000 baht/mth = 24,000 baht/yr

Having a very basic room, and not socialising in the evening, could be a bit lonely and boring so you'd have to factor in some costs for 'living' in Thailand as opposed to just existing.

Hope this helps.

VS.

I spend arround 1 million per year in expenses (food, electricity, maid, fees, etc).

I know people who can live with 500 000 a year but it's hard.

Don't forget, you are a farang even if you want to live like thai people, you will have a lot of expenses.

The less you can spend is : rent 5000/month for something ok, 9000/month in food for normal food 3 or 4 times a day, internet, electricity, etc. Arround 2000/month, 5000/month for expenses (everything you need for live), in hua hin taxis are very expensive, you will need a motorbike, count 4000/month (48 000 for a year for buy one, and dont forget the gasoline).

This is already 25 000 a month (300 000 a year) and you have really nothing. You are just living at this price, if you go out drinking it will be very more expensive. You will need to extend your visa and go out too, this is expensive and you will loose a lot of time.

The government wants you to have 800K baht in the bank so you do not become a burden to them. Take that as a rough estimate of what it would take to look after yourself for a year.
I know someone who lived a year in Pattaya on 250K after buying a small condo for 300K but he doesn't smoke and drink so did not run up bar bills. He went out about 3x a week and had a permanent GF after a couple of months.

Normally just the girl friend is more expensive than that already lol. My wife spend's a lot just in flowers...

This same topic was discussed ages ago - well, 2 or 3 years ago anyway. I do agree with VS that a basic room for 3000 a month could be possible. Maybe not in HH these days though - and it would certainly be very basic. Along with no cooking facilities factor in no shower/toilet, no TV of course. Maybe not even a fan - but they are cheap to buy, and fetch a portable radio with you.
As for food, despite being used to Thai street food, I would find it almost impossible to eat on 2000 a month. Make that definitely impossible! 3 meals a day at an absolute minimum of 40 baht a time - plus nibbles. But it is pretty healthy, though often heavy on sugar and salt. Fruit is very cheap when in season. Rice/noodle/barbecue dishes also very cheap on the stalls. But most people will crave a treat sometimes which can totally blow your budget.
Then there's bottled water to buy of course. All day - every day - at minimum 10 baht for a litre bottle, although it works out much cheaper if you buy the large containers, which some people doubt the quality of.
Vitamins are advisable IMO at about 600 baht for a months' supply. Mouth wash is also advisable if you clean your teeth with tap water.
Overall I think 5/6 thousand a month for basic accommodation would be more realistic, unless you plan to live well out of town, in which case some form of transport would be essential.
6000 a month for food and non alcoholic drinks should be a comfortable compromise, plus extra for treats.
Total? Around 15,000. Plus travel, visa costs, any medication needed, internet access (for banking maybe?) and of course beers.
I have seen it done. It isn't easy. One thing people often overlook is the alienation from other farang company which can result when a budget traveller can't afford to join in - and the days when similar minded farang could gather outside a corner shop with a bottle of Macon have sadly all but disappeared in HH.

Hi mabubba

As has already been said, it really depends on where you want to live in Thailand and what sort of lifestyle you pursue.

In Paknampran, for example, you can rent a brand-new Thai-type apartment with separate bedroom, living room and kitchen area (less than 5 minutes from the beach) unfurnished for 1,500 baht/month.
One of our (farang) staff does this and is quite happy with the situation.
His combined water & electricity bill (no-aircon, just fans) comes to about 100 baht/month.
Internet access via mobile phone, e.g. 200 baht/month for 50 hours

In Paknampran, it's still normal to sit outside a shop with friends and drink beer in the sala provided by the shop.
Acha beer 30 baht, Chang 35baht/large bottle.
In fact, a couple of the shops are owned by Thais married to farang.

Food starts at 30 baht for a plate of chicken/pork fried rice and there are lots of cheap eateries right on the beach.
Or you hop over to the market, buy your bbq chicken from a stall and take it back to outside the shop to eat with your beer!

As for transport, I would suggest buying a reasonable 2nd hand motorbike (e.g. Honda wave) for around 20,000 baht.

Just a few ideas for outside of Hua Hin ........

Thanks for the response!

This seems very high to me. At the current exchange rates, 1 million baht equates to roughly £20k. I have been living in the UK for the past couple of years on £20k/year (renting a room out, and running a 3.0 litre petrol car) and I haven't had to be too frugal on eating out or drinking with the lads. I would have imagined that 1 million baht in Thailand would go further.

It will, but you are not talking about Thailand in general, you're talking about Hua Hin; a resort town with tourist pricing. It is probably among the four or five most expensive places to live or visit in the country.

I have a wife and a baby, i'm living in high standard, huge home, full time maid, taxi 3 to 4 times a week, restaurant anytime i want, stupid expenses are also included. In phone bills i spend arround 5000 Bahts a month...

With 1 million a year you are very happy here, the less you can spend is 300 000 a year without going out as demostrated. Some people will tell you that you can live with 100 000 a year like very poor people, but are you sure you can do this for a year ? Do you come to Thailand to live in poor conditions ? If you live in a 20 m² room without anything and eat rice and chicken everyday for a year, ok you can stay here with 100 000. I also eat in the street, in the night market, i spend arround 80 baht for a meal and i eat 3 to 4 times everyday, Hua Hin is more expensive than other parts in Thailand and the same KHAO PAT MU here than in Bangkok is double priced.

300 000 bahts should be the minimum for a year, i recommend at least 500 000 Bahts to enjoy your time.

Johan - very realistic. Living on the smell of an oily rag not recommended at all!

My rent - 4500 (Non-Thai. Incl Bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, balcony, washroom, furnishings, Incl cable TV, Internet access, (new) bed and bedding)
Utilities - 1700 (mostly aircon, but also washing machine usage & large fridge freezer)
Motocycle rent - 3500 (varies 3-4k, depending on season) plus fuel 300-400 pcm

So before I eat or take a drink 10,000 is spoken for monthly. That is 120k a year.
Eating, mostly on the street or at home, but occasional resauranting probably takes it closer to 3000pcm than 2000, so another 40k a year
Drinking and entertainment is of course up to the individual. But they are *not* cheap by Western standards, even if you don't count them to be particularly expensive. I don't smoke.

Personally, I find it quite difficult to live on anything seriously under about 40k a month and while comfortable, that is by no means a flash lifestyle. That does, fairly obviously, involve a certain amount of propping up bars. But that brings the total to roughly ½million, before visa runs and other flights. Probably close to another 100k there.

THB 600,000 as a farang. Much less is tough unless you either drink out of 7/11 or not at all. As a non-drinker and 'married man' , you could conceivably halve that.

THB 1,000,000 is fairly comfortable, even luxurious!

That's why I always say take the government requirement of 800K as a good guide.

Yes. It's not an unreasonable figure, unless you want to join the Monkhood, or live out in the sticks, IMHO.

Isn't that for a retiree? if your married you can live for much less 400K a year so the government say