Cost of living comparison

compared to

Playa del Carmen vs. Thailand Cost of Living Summary

Playa del Carmen is 47.1% more expensive than Thailand overall.

Restaurants: pay 3.0 times more in Playa del Carmen
Groceries: pay 24.0% more in Playa del Carmen
Transportation: pay 37.0% more in Playa del Carmen
Housing: pay 77.8% more in Playa del Carmen
Childcare: pay 47.4% less in Playa del Carmen
Entertainment and Sports: pay 21.8% more in Playa del Carmen
Clothing: pay 18.0% more in Playa del Carmen

The cost of restaurants, housing, transportation, groceries, entertainment and sports, and clothing in Playa del Carmen are more expensive than in Thailand. Notably, restaurants and housing are significantly more expensive in Playa del Carmen.

Playa del Carmen vs. Thailand Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 3.0 times more for restaurants

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.67 THB83.04	$11.90 MX$213.05	+345.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99 THB217.38	$10.83 MX$193.99	+54.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.73 THB22.84	$1.62 MX$29.08	+120.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.36 THB11.18	$1.34 MX$24.03	+272.9%
Average			+198.5%

Thailand vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of restaurants

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pay 24.0% more for groceries

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Bread 1 loaf	$1.41 THB43.77	$1.98 MX$35.42	+40.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 THB245.00	$4.33 MX$77.60	-45.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.17 THB222.71	$5.50 MX$98.48	-23.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.07 THB64.33	$2.27 MX$40.61	+9.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.41 THB43.89	$3.76 MX$67.34	+166.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.33 THB41.28	$1.30 MX$23.21	-2.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.59 THB18.42	$0.64 MX$11.52	+8.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 THB27.92	$0.90 MX$16.06	-0.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.75 THB23.41	$0.94 MX$16.78	+24.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 THB22.13	$0.85 MX$15.25	+19.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.62 THB19.17	$1.02 MX$18.33	+65.9%
Average			+24.0%

Thailand vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of groceries

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pay 37.0% more for transportation

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.83 THB150.18	$5.02 MX$89.99	+4.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$28.12 THB873.95	$27.08 MX$484.97	-3.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,471.21 THB947,012.60	$31,003.27 MX$555,293.31	+1.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.53 THB327.24	$25.93 MX$464.38	+146.2%
Average			+37.0%

Thailand vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of transportation

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pay 77.8% more for housing

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$18.52 THB575.64	$30.51 MX$546.40	+64.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$414.60 THB12,885.40	$1,072.23 MX$19,204.51	+158.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$266.86 THB8,293.71	$484.68 MX$8,681.00	+81.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$60.46 THB1,879.04	$64.40 MX$1,153.46	+6.5%
Average			+77.8%

Thailand vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of housing

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pay 47.4% less for childcare

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$359.13 THB11,161.36	$204.43 MX$3,661.54	-43.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,104.31 THB345,110.10	$5,361.26 MX$96,024.52	-51.7%
Average			-47.4%

Thailand vs. Playa del Carmen - Cost of childcare

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pay 21.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.15 THB66.96	$3.12 MX$55.88	+44.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.97 THB61.25	$3.46 MX$61.98	+75.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.31 THB134.08	$4.17 MX$74.69	-3.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.45 THB1,661.28	$60.49 MX$1,083.49	+13.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.32 THB196.33	$4.98 MX$89.28	-21.1%
Average			+21.8%

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

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pay 18.0% more for clothing

	Thailand	Playa del Carmen
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$37.08 THB1,152.42	$43.98 MX$787.71	+18.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$29.48 THB916.20	$41.89 MX$750.23	+42.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.15 THB2,832.84	$75.82 MX$1,357.92	-16.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$69.13 THB2,148.35	$88.61 MX$1,587.16	+28.2%
Average			+18.0%

Thailand 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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