Cost of living comparison

compared to

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Playa del Carmen is 29.2% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.9 times more in Playa del Carmen
Groceries: pay 15.4% more in Playa del Carmen
Transportation: pay 21.6% more in Playa del Carmen
Housing: pay 45.9% more in Playa del Carmen
Childcare: pay 63.1% less in Playa del Carmen
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.6% more in Playa del Carmen
Clothing: pay 11.4% less in Playa del Carmen

The cost of restaurants, housing, transportation, groceries, and entertainment and sports in Playa del Carmen are more expensive than in Bangkok. Expenses including childcare and clothing are lower in Playa del Carmen. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Playa del Carmen.

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Playa del Carmen instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.9 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.10 THB97.51	$11.90 MX$205.36	+283.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 THB195.01	$10.83 MX$186.98	+74.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB24.90	$1.62 MX$28.03	+105.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 THB10.48	$1.34 MX$23.17	+302.6%
Average			+191.5%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of restaurants

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pay 15.4% more for groceries

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Bread 1 loaf	$1.44 THB45.28	$1.98 MX$34.14	+37.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.50 THB267.46	$4.33 MX$74.79	-49.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 THB227.34	$5.50 MX$94.92	-23.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.28 THB71.84	$2.27 MX$39.14	-0.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.38 THB43.40	$3.76 MX$64.90	+172.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.59 THB50.02	$1.30 MX$22.37	-18.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 THB25.68	$0.64 MX$11.11	-21.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB32.19	$0.90 MX$15.48	-12.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 THB26.82	$0.94 MX$16.18	+9.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB22.66	$0.85 MX$14.70	+18.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.65 THB20.42	$1.02 MX$17.67	+57.7%
Average			+15.4%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of groceries

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pay 21.6% more for transportation

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.69 THB147.57	$5.02 MX$86.74	+7.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.21 THB1,170.08	$27.08 MX$467.45	-27.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,206.42 THB1M	$31,003.27 MX$535K	-16.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.63 THB365.65	$25.93 MX$447.60	+123.0%
Average			+21.6%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of transportation

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pay 45.9% more for housing

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.91 THB531.67	$30.51 MX$526.66	+80.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.06 THB21,229.37	$1,072.23 MX$18,510.56	+58.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$321.97 THB10,125.27	$484.68 MX$8,367.32	+50.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.69 THB2,160.09	$64.40 MX$1,111.78	-6.2%
Average			+45.9%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of housing

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pay 63.1% less for childcare

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$609.37 THB19,163.77	$204.43 MX$3,529.23	-66.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,346.39 THB420K	$5,361.26 MX$92,554.71	-59.8%
Average			-63.1%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of childcare

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pay 4.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.79 THB87.76	$3.12 MX$53.86	+11.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 THB79.89	$3.46 MX$59.74	+36.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.40 THB138.22	$4.17 MX$71.99	-5.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.03 THB1,604.94	$60.49 MX$1,044.34	+18.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.06 THB253.52	$4.98 MX$86.05	-38.2%
Average			+4.6%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 11.4% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Playa del Carmen
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.81 THB1,849.32	$43.98 MX$759.24	-25.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.03 THB1,196.07	$41.89 MX$723.12	+10.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.24 THB3,278.07	$75.82 MX$1,308.85	-27.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.47 THB2,876.44	$88.61 MX$1,529.81	-3.1%
Average			-11.4%

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: February 2026

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