The cost of living in Medellin is cheap. It is affordable compared to many other countries, my good friend Jim sent me this link on the subject precisely, and it shows how Medellin is, and I am not saying this is what Numbeo says about Colombia. Colombia is cheap. And for your retirement, that is gold dust.
Maid service in MedellinI was very anxious to write this article for many reasons. First, I love that the cost of living in Medellin is so economical. Medellin is a city that is amazing and cheap for many reasons; everything from housing, food, clothing, and services is more cost-effective than in many cities.
We all know that our income will go down when we retire. It is an elementary assumption that the vast majority of pensioners will retire with very little money, and the average pension per retiree in North America is USD 1.200, which in North America will make things very hard. That is not the case in Colombia, that is not the case in Medellin, here that money will go very far.
The cost of living in Medellin is very economical. The best thing is that it is very economical in high-end places, making your lifelong dream of wealthy life easy and with practically no money. (sorry, I know it is blunt)
In Medellin, you can find a suitable apartment for about 700 USD. My friends are not a lie. Mind you; people will try to rip you off. Yes, that is true. There is a term among ex-pats, “gringo pricing,” when you get charged more than what you should be paying. That happens, it is true, but is that something we will guide you through on our website.
In general, the cost of living in Medellin is about 70% cheaper all the way around.
Real Estate in Medellin
Let’s talk about real estate, for example, a good apartment here. I will be over the top with real estate because it’s an excellent example. A 3200 square foot apartment, with a fantastic view of the city and all the amenities in the poshest posh area of the city, can cost you somewhere around today’s currency exchange (Dic 2023); it’s just over 4.5k pesos per dollar. So let’s be safe and calculate the price per dollar at 4.000. to be safe.
The exercise is simply a very hush-hush property that should be somewhere between 900 million and 1500 million COP, that is..somewhere 236K USD to 394K USD, but we are talking…super high-end. So yes, you will be amazed at the real estate prices here.
Let’s talk about food.
Basic supermarket stuff like eggs, milk, cheese, pasta, and everything we like so much, like bread and coffee, are excellent price-wise. You can easily spend just over 150 dollars per month for two people, with everything fresh and way more organic than all that wonderful industrially grown vegetables from up north. I am not saying that they are not good. Just saying you better wash the living petunias out them before you cook them 😳
One remarkable thing in Medellin is the food, is very economical I read many posts complaining about how the food here can be too fried or not have flavor. I will not debate with anyone over food because that is why we have taste buds, and not everyone has to like everything. You get the point. Is cheap (sorry this paragraph was about economical flavor)
Here you can go to any farmers market in any neighborhood and get fresh whatever.
I like to take a pause here and show you.
Yes, they are all fresh.
Do you want to know anything specific? Let me know. We can get all the answers you need so you can make the most informed decision about your retirement—the easy retirement way.
Suppose you were to move here, not even retire. Just moving here, you were to have small kids, the same deal. Everything for them is much cheaper.
The cost of transportation
Here is another big winner in Medellin, this city has one of the best public transportation systems in the world. The metro, which runs from north to south in the city along the Rio Medellin, is just fantastic. It’s one of the cleanest metro systems in the world and is very economical—less than a dollar.
Taxis are also very economical, and now with the digital competition of Uber, DIDI, and many other transportation apps, it takes effort to move around.
Medellin also has Metro Plus and Metro Cable, which run along the same service as the metro. It’s amazing. Medellin also has a typical city bus circuit run by privates. A few years back, when there was no metro system, the buses were kings on the road, and getting on a bus was sometimes. Uhm. Wild to do. It was hanging for dear life outside the doors or squishing to hell inside.
Schools
If you are going to retire here, you don’t have any kids, so I will not go deep into this subject, but I can tell you this much. Private schools are very affordable.
Renting cost
Renting a place in Medellin is cheap, I mean dirt cheap, you can get an excellent place for less than 1k per month very easily, the cost of living in Medellin is so low that renting a lovely home is not a problem because it won’t pass 1.5k per month, (that is a super mansion type property). The problem is all the stupid requirements renters have for anyone here, but we can help you with that., not just you for being an overseas renter. It’s with everyone. We can help you make your life easy, we have been trying to change the model here, but its roots run deep.
There are two different models of renting, furnish and not furnish, it have its advantage, and I recommend you stay in a couple of furnished places at the beginning to find out what you will like best.
After deciding in what area you want to live and if you’re going to rent before buying. We can help you; we explain the process to rent here, the requirements that locals ask foreigners, and very importantly, we tell you when a renter is simply trying to rip you off
The cost of living in Medellin makes Maid services super affordable.
Because the cost of living in Medellin is economical, you can hire help, but my suggestion about it is straightforward.
Do it through a job agency, so you don’t get ripped off. It’s effortless. The agency is in charge of paying an employee all the technical stuff you must pay. It’s worth every penny (because it is also very cheap to do)
Do you want to know anything else about the cost of living here in Medellin? Let me know in the comments below; we will be happy to answer any questions.
You will be surprised by the cost of living in Medellin; This place is so economical that you will quickly feel that you are in the 1% of the population.
Medellin has the fortune of being very cheap to live in, making this city the place to retire, besides the fantastic weather.
Suppose you are going to rent a place, a good place. Depending on where you want to live, you can expect anywhere from 500 USD to 1.5k USD per month. Here rent does not include utilities, but they are economical even for wealthy neighborhoods.
