Cost of living comparison

compared to

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico City Cost of Living Summary

Playa del Carmen is 10.1% more expensive than Mexico City.

Restaurants: pay 7.2% more in Playa del Carmen
Groceries: pay 9.7% less in Playa del Carmen
Transportation: pay 2.4 times more in Playa del Carmen
Housing: pay 10.5% more in Playa del Carmen
Childcare: pay 51.6% less in Playa del Carmen
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.5% less in Playa del Carmen
Clothing: pay 22.3% less in Playa del Carmen

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

Playa del Carmen vs. Mexico City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 7.2% more for restaurants

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.86 MX$195.79	$11.90 MX$214.52	+9.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.82 MX$159.08	$10.83 MX$195.32	+22.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.73 MX$31.23	$1.62 MX$29.28	-6.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.30 MX$23.52	$1.34 MX$24.20	+2.9%
Average			+7.2%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of restaurants

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pay 9.7% less for groceries

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Bread 1 loaf	$2.63 MX$47.34	$1.98 MX$35.66	-24.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.04 MX$90.89	$4.33 MX$78.13	-14.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.54 MX$117.92	$5.50 MX$99.15	-15.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.61 MX$47.01	$2.27 MX$40.89	-13.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.80 MX$68.61	$3.76 MX$67.80	-1.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.37 MX$24.69	$1.30 MX$23.37	-5.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.80 MX$14.43	$0.64 MX$11.60	-19.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.97 MX$17.55	$0.90 MX$16.17	-7.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.91 MX$16.34	$0.94 MX$16.90	+3.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.96 MX$17.29	$0.85 MX$15.36	-11.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.99 MX$17.93	$1.02 MX$18.46	+2.9%
Average			-9.7%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.4 times more for transportation

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.14 MX$92.65	$5.02 MX$90.61	-2.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$19.54 MX$352.42	$27.08 MX$488.31	+38.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$20,030.45 MX$361,229.19	$31,003.27 MX$559,112.91	+54.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.42 MX$79.79	$25.93 MX$467.57	+486.0%
Average			+144.3%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of transportation

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pay 10.5% more for housing

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$30.93 MX$557.85	$30.51 MX$550.16	-1.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,079.15 MX$19,461.34	$1,072.23 MX$19,336.60	-0.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$677.25 MX$12,213.45	$484.68 MX$8,740.72	-28.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$37.36 MX$673.78	$64.40 MX$1,161.39	+72.4%
Average			+10.5%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of housing

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pay 51.6% less for childcare

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$430.39 MX$7,761.60	$204.43 MX$3,686.73	-52.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,897.53 MX$196,526.06	$5,361.26 MX$96,685.03	-50.8%
Average			-51.6%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.5% less for entertainment and sports

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.26 MX$58.74	$3.12 MX$56.27	-4.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.81 MX$68.78	$3.46 MX$62.41	-9.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.34 MX$78.32	$4.17 MX$75.20	-4.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$58.44 MX$1,053.99	$60.49 MX$1,090.95	+3.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.51 MX$117.47	$4.98 MX$89.89	-23.5%
Average			-7.5%

Mexico City vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 22.3% less for clothing

	Mexico City	Playa del Carmen
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$60.95 MX$1,099.08	$43.98 MX$793.12	-27.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$48.08 MX$867.02	$41.89 MX$755.39	-12.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$105.72 MX$1,906.56	$75.82 MX$1,367.26	-28.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$110.91 MX$2,000.15	$88.61 MX$1,598.08	-20.1%
Average			-22.3%

Mexico City 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: December 2025

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