I first went to Thailand in 1997 and immediately fell in love with the country. Thailand at that time to me was mysterious and exotic, full of potentials and pitfalls.
Fast forward to 2010 and here I am after 13 years and many trips to the LOS sharing, with the help of my 
Bangkok Cost of Living
Thailand is like anywhere else, it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. If you plan on eating western food, sending your laundry out, having a maid and a nice 2 bedroom condo, a car, and partying then you will easily spend as much in Bangkok as you would anywhere else. If however you can economize a bit and blend in with the culture you can indeed live very cheaply in Bangkok and even more so in the provinces of Thailand.
Golf lived pretty well on just 16,000 baht a month when she was working in Bangkok although I think a farang (foreigner) would need a bit more to be comfortable. Based on my experiences and what I’ve been reading lately I would say that anything over 40,000 baht a month would make you quite comfortable in Bangkok. If you can add a bit to that and reach 60,000 baht a month you’ll be doing very well, especially by Thai standards. Keep in mind the Thai’s won’t make nearly what you do in most cases. Golf is a nurse and made just 16,000 baht a month. Compared to Western standards that is very low indeed. And you should easily more than double that working as an English teacher for as few as 20-25 hours a week.
Here are some guidelines to current living expenses in Bangkok, mostly taken from forums about and for English teachers.
Housing: A studio or one bedroom condo can be had for as little as 8000 baht a month if you are willing to do some searching and live a bit away from the BTS. The closer to the BTS you get the higher the rents become. 15,000-20,000 baht a month will get you a very nice place indeed. If you’re one of the lucky one’s here in Thailand on an expat package then the sky’s the limit. Condo’s around the Silom/Sukhumvit area can go as high as 250,000 baht per month and include fitness centers, pools, daily maid service, on site restaurants and room service and amazing views of Bangkok.
Utilities: Water is a nominal charge and shouldn’t run you more than a couple hundred baht a month and may even be included in the rent. Electricity is a different matter. If you like it cool and plan on running the A/C non-stop then you’ll pay up to 3000 baht a month.
Cable TV is available through UBS and costs 1500 baht a month which includes 25 channels including BBC news, CNN, ESPN, Star sports, several football feeds, the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and at least four movie channels, among others.
Broadband internet can be had in the built up areas of Bangkok and will run you a bit over 1000 baht a month. Alternatively you can get dial-up access for 400 baht a month with the pre-paid internet cards or use the internet cafes which typically charge about ½ baht per minute.
Cell Phone: Cell phone rates are pretty darn reasonable and the rechargeable SIM cards in Thailand are a good value. You can easily pick up a used cell phone for a couple thousand baht at MBK (or even less) and the SIM cards can be recharged with a prepaid card from any 7-11. Or if possible you can buy just the SIM card for like 200 baht and you’re on your way. This only works with unlocked phones from AT&T or T-Mobile for U.S. based people.
Food: Food is very reasonable in Bangkok and Thailand, especially if you adopt a Thai diet. If you are really on a budget you can very likely get by on 5000-6000 baht a month for food living in Bangkok and even less in the provinces. Any of the open air restaurants (of which there are thousands) will get you lunch or dinner for less than 50 baht. On the other hand there are restaurants where you can easily spend in excess of 1500 baht for dinner as well. Some of the great deals I like are iced coffee for just 10 baht, fresh pineapple for 10 baht, grilled sausages (I like the spicy ones) 20 baht for two, fried chicken for 15-20 baht a piece and roti with banana for 15-25 baht.
Transportation: Transport is also very reasonable in Bangkok. If you can take the BTS to your destination expect to pay anywhere from 10-40 baht for the ride, same goes for the subway. Busses and ferries are a wonderful deal ranging anywhere from 8 baht to 25 baht again depending on the length of your trip. Taxi’s will run you about 120 baht for a trip all the way across town. Shorter trips of 15-30 minutes shouldn’t cost more than 60-70 baht. I haven’t yet gotten up the courage to try riding on the back of a motorcycle, but they are also very cheap….I think Golf told me just 6 or 8 baht.
Entertainment: This is another category that can run very high depending on your tastes. If you’re a party animal and butterfly expect to spend upwards of 10,000 baht a month clubbing. I’ve actually spent that in one night already. On the other hand if you’re moderate and go out just weekends without getting completely looped or availing yourself of the horizontal entertainment you can keep this within reason. Say 2000-4000 baht a month for a moderate party lifestyle. Cigarettes are just 40 baht a pack and a large Singha or Leo beer can be had for 60-80 baht at bars and half that from the supermarket.
I think that pretty much covers it. If you add up my numbers you’ll find that 40,000 baht a month is quite sufficient for a pretty good lifestyle in Bangkok. Anything above that is gravy and will make your life correspondingly more comfortable. Let me know if I skipped anything or missed anything or if you know where to find good bargains on anything within Bangkok. Or if you think I’m out of my mind to suggest that you can live on 40,000 baht/month in Bangkok let me know that too.
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Hey, one of the big challenges of living in Bangkok is transportation. I would often take a taxi to the BTS (motorcycle or car) from the BTS to where I’m going and then all of it again on the way back. It really adds up in baht as well as time.
Yeah I agree, especially if you’re taking taxi’s the cost of transportation can really add up. BTS is not nearly as bad cost wise and if you can do the ferry and Thai buses you’ll save loads compared to taxi’s.
As far as the cost in time, yeah there’s really no way around that other than living close to where you work. Some times of day it’s impossible to get anywhere in Bangkok.
Steve an interesting post. I spend around 40,000 Baht a month maintaining myself, Duen and Doy. Of course we live in a semi-rural area and not in BKK.
I also own my own house so there is no rent.
I agree with most of your costings although I do get my Internet for 490 Baht a month from TOT(only 1 MB).
On an average week we spend 6000 Baht at the shops and on diesel for the truck(no public transport here), this also covers incidentally expenses, like cigarettes and drinks plus a meal out at a decent restaurant once a week.
Electricity ranges from 2000-3200 Baht a month depending on the season, although I fancy someone renting might pay more unless they have their own meter. We pay around 400 Baht for water but I water the garden most days and also have a fish pond.
The best value item locally is getting your bin emptied weekly for 30 Baht a month.
This is an interesting post, and you give a fair round up of costs – especially the 40k ball park figure.
Decent studio flats (rooms with a bathroom and a balcony) situated centrally are readily available for 3,000 upwards but are rarely advertised. Word of mouth is the usual way to find them – or lots of legwork. If using the latter do so at the end of the month as they become vacant. Not many places will hold a room for you.
Internet: Aircards are excellent – faster than dial up, cheaper than broadband – and no contract unless you want/qualify for one. I use a DTAC aircard all over Thailand.
I hope the above is helpful.
Thanks for an excellent post.
All the best, Boonsong
Thanks Boonsong, your additions of how to find a cheaper place to live and the best way to get internet in Thailand will be helpful to both me and to my readers. I think quite a few of the people I know living in Thailand use aircards for their internet for precisely the same reason you outline.
Word of mouth for an apartment is a great way to find a good deal, I think this is especially helpful if you have some Thai’s in your circle of friends; the downside to that is you pretty much need to be living in Thailand for some time already so that you know people to get the info from. Still a good recommendation and you can certainly always go the legwork route. I’ve heard of many people who found great deals on apartments and houses by doing just that.
@Mike – sounds as if your expenses are probably pretty typical for many expats living in Thailand. And I’m pretty sure that if we didn’t have to pay rent that 40k per month would be enough for me, Golf and Alivia too, at least until Alivia is old enough to go to school. We plan on having her in a private International school and I’m sure you know the costs there can be astronomical.
Well, Thailand is not as cheap as you would think. Prices have climbed and the currency has strengthened, especially against the euro and pound, where in the last 9 months a 20% drop has been seen.