Cost of living comparison

compared to

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen Cost of Living Summary

Bangkok is 15.3% more expensive than Playa del Carmen.

Restaurants: pay 60.8% less in Bangkok
Groceries: pay 3.7% more in Bangkok
Transportation: pay 1.1% less in Bangkok
Housing: pay 27.1% less in Bangkok
Childcare: pay 2.7 times more in Bangkok
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9% more in Bangkok
Clothing: pay 16.3% more in Bangkok

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

Bangkok vs. Playa del Carmen Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 60.8% less for restaurants

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.90 MX$216.19	$3.10 THB98.65	-73.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.83 MX$196.85	$6.20 THB197.30	-42.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 MX$29.50	$0.79 THB25.19	-51.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 MX$24.39	$0.33 THB10.61	-75.2%
Average			-60.8%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.7% more for groceries

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 MX$35.94	$1.44 THB45.81	-27.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.33 MX$78.74	$8.50 THB270.59	+96.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.50 MX$99.93	$7.23 THB230.01	+31.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.27 MX$41.21	$2.28 THB72.68	+0.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.76 MX$68.33	$1.38 THB43.91	-63.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.30 MX$23.55	$1.59 THB50.61	+22.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.64 MX$11.69	$0.82 THB25.98	+26.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 MX$16.30	$1.02 THB32.56	+14.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.94 MX$17.03	$0.85 THB27.13	-9.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 MX$15.48	$0.72 THB22.92	-15.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.02 MX$18.60	$0.65 THB20.65	-36.6%
Average			+3.7%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - Cost of groceries

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pay 1.1% less for transportation

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.02 MX$91.31	$4.69 THB149.30	-6.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$27.08 MX$492.12	$37.21 THB1,183.78	+37.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,003.27 MX$563,471.97	$37,206.42 THB1,183,775.25	+20.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$25.93 MX$471.22	$11.63 THB369.93	-55.2%
Average			-1.1%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - Cost of transportation

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pay 27.1% less for housing

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$30.51 MX$554.45	$16.91 THB537.90	-44.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,072.23 MX$19,487.36	$675.06 THB21,477.90	-37.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$484.68 MX$8,808.86	$321.97 THB10,243.81	-33.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$64.40 MX$1,170.45	$68.69 THB2,185.37	+6.7%
Average			-27.1%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - Cost of housing

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pay 2.7 times more for childcare

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$204.43 MX$3,715.47	$609.37 THB19,388.11	+198.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,361.26 MX$97,438.82	$13,346.39 THB424,634.53	+148.9%
Average			+173.5%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.12 MX$56.70	$2.79 THB88.78	-10.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.46 MX$62.90	$2.54 THB80.83	-26.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.17 MX$75.79	$4.40 THB139.83	+5.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$60.49 MX$1,099.45	$51.03 THB1,623.73	-15.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.98 MX$90.59	$8.06 THB256.48	+61.7%
Average			+2.9%

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

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pay 16.3% more for clothing

	Playa del Carmen	Bangkok
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.98 MX$799.31	$58.81 THB1,870.97	+33.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.89 MX$761.28	$38.03 THB1,210.07	-9.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$75.82 MX$1,377.92	$104.24 THB3,316.45	+37.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$88.61 MX$1,610.54	$91.47 THB2,910.11	+3.2%
Average			+16.3%

Playa del Carmen vs. Bangkok - 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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