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Right next to where I am in Chapala, one of my neighbors pays 2,500 pesos (about US $147) a month for a 2-bedroom apartment, right in the heart of town, where she can walk to everything. In the same area, there are other places with smaller houses in the downtown area where you might pay $200 to $500 a month. A lot of people rent in dollars as opposed to pesos.
In Ajijic, you might pay an additional $100 to $200 to live in the village within walking distance of everything. A house in one of the subdivisions in the outskirts that’s bigger with a view and a pool would rent for 8,000 to 12,000 pesos (US $470 to $706).
A 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,500-foot house in a gated subdivision would cost between 10,000 to 15,000 pesos (US $588 to $882) a month or even a little more. There are lots of gated communities between Ajijic and Jocotepec, especially in the newer areas, and these tend to have smaller homes on them. A home in one of these areas that is less than 2,500 square feet could probably rent for as little as 6,000 to 10,000 pesos (US $353 to $588).
I don’t do much work regarding rentals, and the prices I’m quoting is from the clients and as such, may not be representative of the market. These are not the same prices that are advertised on the Internet, which tend to be a little bit high.
Relative to food prices, I can give you a comparison. When I would go grocery shopping in Santa Barbara, California, if I wanted to have barbecue with friends, I would probably spend $50 to buy the meat and vegetables to do the grilling and make the salsa. Here, I can usually walk in to the municipal market with 200 pesos (US $12) and probably get the same or more. The prices for good here are less than half or perhaps even a third of what they would be in Santa Barbara.
Eggs are around 20 pesos (about US $1.17) a dozen. Tortillas, which is the main staple here, are perhaps around 14 or 15 pesos for a kilo (about US 40 cents a pound).
Gasoline is a bit more expensive here than in the US.
Overall, the cost of living in Santa Barbara and here is like night and day. Rent, for example, is probably 25% of the rental cost here. I live in 2 houses; one in Guadalajara (a large, cosmopolitan city about an hour north of Chapala) and one in Chapala. In Santa Barbara, I would have to pay $1,500 to rent a 2-bedroom place in a nice neighborhood. In Guadalajara, for the same amount of money, I could get a four-bedroom penthouse in a guarded high-rise with a skybar, underground parking, pool, etc.
In order to give you a more complete idea, I used to rent a luxury high-rise apartment in Guadalajara in a nice neighborhood for 18,000 pesos (US $1060) a month. I was on the 10th floor of a 14-story building. We had high ceilings, marble floors, a wall of glass looking out of the city, there were security guards, there was a pool, a workout room, and three levels of underground parking. We had a skybar, as well, on the roof of the building. The common party areas had sofas, a wet bar, and the rooftop has glass barriers. So if you want to have an event with your friends or even a cookout, you can invite them and be on top of the building with 360-degree views. We also had an event’s room on the ground floor, where we could also invite friends. If I wanted to invite 50 people, I could invite 50 people instead of having to rent an events place.
(Rental in Guadalajara, Mexico, pictured.)