What currency (money) does Mexico use?

Mexico uses the Mexican peso but all the large purchases are quite often US dollar denominated. When you buy real estate here, you will inevitably be quoted a US dollar price. Quite often if you are dealing with a more sophisticated businessperson who owns the property, they are going to want the money sent to their bank account in the Cayman's or Chase in New York. You are wire transferring the purchase price in US dollars to some bank outside Mexico. You are not paying in Mexican...

Mexico uses the Mexican peso but all the large purchases are quite often US dollar denominated. When you buy real estate here, you will inevitably be quoted a US dollar price. Quite often if you are dealing with a more sophisticated businessperson who owns the property, they are going to want the money sent to their bank account in the Cayman's or Chase in New York. You are wire transferring the purchase price in US dollars to some bank outside Mexico. You are not paying in Mexican pesos to a Mexican bank. 
 
Day-to-day stuff is purchased and sold in pesos. I’ll tell you what I do here, however. I specifically use a credit card where there is no foreign transaction fee. I happen to have a Chase Sapphire Preferred but there are a number of credit cards, where no matter where you travel around the world, there is no foreign transaction fee. We have engineered that our monthly credit card bill is automatically paid by our checking account, which happens to be a Chase as well. Funds from our social security checks, my pension check, every once in a while from investments I have, I transfer to that account.  This lessens the amount of cash that I actually have to have here in pesos.
 
There are a number of credit cards that have no foreign transaction fees. That is why I chose it.  In contrast, the Chase United airlines card where I get miles charged me a whole bunches of transaction fees. It showed me the transactions I did in pesos that are then transferred into dollars. It also showed what I owe and their charge for the transaction.  As a result, I got myself a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.

 

(Banamex ATM inside a bank in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico pictured.)

Mexico uses both US dollar and Mexican pesos but the official currency of Mexico is the Mexican peso. I live close to the border of Mexico and the US so we use both currencies. If you are traveling to Mexico City, or any other areas in Mexico, you can pay in dollars if you are going to check-in at a hotel or if you are going to rent a car. If you are traveling to areas that are not close to the border, it is better to have pesos just to be safe because there are not a lot of restaurants...

Mexico uses both US dollar and Mexican pesos but the official currency of Mexico is the Mexican peso. I live close to the border of Mexico and the US so we use both currencies. If you are traveling to Mexico City, or any other areas in Mexico, you can pay in dollars if you are going to check-in at a hotel or if you are going to rent a car. If you are traveling to areas that are not close to the border, it is better to have pesos just to be safe because there are not a lot of restaurants that are going to take your Visa or MasterCard in dollars so you have to pay in cash. There are certain parts of Mexico where they do not have the capability to charge your card in pesos so they would just take cash.
 
When you are on the toll roads in Baja, you have to pay in cash at the tollbooths but the clerks could accept either dollars or pesos.  I am not sure if they do accept both currencies in other places in Mexico, but they do in Baja.
 
One of the expensive toll roads in Baja is the one that crosses between Tijuana and Tecate, which is a 30-minute drive. It costs 150 pesos or $8.50 right now. If you go from Tijuana to Rosarito, there is just one toll road, which is a 30-minute drive as well, and it costs around 31 pesos $1.80. If you use the toll road to go from Rosarito to Ensenada, it would cost 31 pesos or $1.80, and that is a 1-hour drive.
 
There are also alternative roads where you do not have to pay but the toll roads are safer to drive on because they are more substantial. There are no gas stations on the toll roads but the cities are close to each other and each city has a gas station and a convenience store. If you need gas, you need to make sure that you stop at a gas station first before you enter the toll roads, which is not difficult to do because the cities are close to each other and you will make it to the next city even on just a quarter of a tank.

 

(1945 Dos pesos gold coin, Mexico, pictured.)

The legal currency of Mexico is the Mexican peso.
 
In San Miguel de Allende, houses are priced in American dollars, but most of the time paid in pesos. You can use dollars in some places such as art galleries.
 
Legal transactions will have to be done in pesos.
 
So, even if the house rent is in dollars, it may be paid in pesos as stated by the law.

 

The legal currency of Mexico is the Mexican peso.
 
In San Miguel de Allende, houses are priced in American dollars, but most of the time paid in pesos. You can use dollars in some places such as art galleries.
 
Legal transactions will have to be done in pesos.
 
So, even if the house rent is in dollars, it may be paid in pesos as stated by the law.