How's the standard of living in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?
Mitch Keenan - Mexico International Real Estate
The economy of Merida is multifaceted and economic stratification is wide and diverse. There are poor, middle class, wealthy and mega-wealthy. There are also markets available for all stratification of income and governmental programs to help and subsidize the poor. The cost of electricity is subsidized for everyone.Without making this terribly complicated, all walks of life can live reasonably comfortably in and around Merida. If you are budgeting -...
The economy of Merida is multifaceted and economic stratification is wide and diverse. There are poor, middle class, wealthy and mega-wealthy. There are also markets available for all stratification of income and governmental programs to help and subsidize the poor. The cost of electricity is subsidized for everyone.Without making this terribly complicated, all walks of life can live reasonably comfortably in and around Merida. If you are budgeting - food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, transportation and entertainment can be found for very reasonable prices. If you want to live large, you can do that too. Market places and Mexican ingenuity have found opportunities, at nearly all income levels, to provide for the needs, wants and whims of a very diverse and very stratified population.
(Plaza in Colonial Merida, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted September 19, 2015
Gustavo Cisneros - Petén
The standard of living in Yucatan varies from area to area. (The Yucatan Peninsula has three states: Quintana Roo, Yucatan, and Campeche. Quintana Roo contains Riviera Maya, which has Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum. The state of Yucatan contains the largest city in the Peninsula—Merida—and nearby beaches.) Mexico has a distribution that is very unequal and we cannot hide that. There are cities that have all the services. They have every single...The standard of living in Yucatan varies from area to area. (The Yucatan Peninsula has three states: Quintana Roo, Yucatan, and Campeche. Quintana Roo contains Riviera Maya, which has Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum. The state of Yucatan contains the largest city in the Peninsula—Merida—and nearby beaches.) Mexico has a distribution that is very unequal and we cannot hide that. There are cities that have all the services. They have every single restaurant, every single service, and everything that you have in the US. In Cancun and Merida, they have an ice rink, Boston’s restaurant, and all the franchises that you see in the US. The hospitals are great and education is very good.The most important feature of Yucatan is the safety of the area. You will find the same services in most of the big cities in Mexico but what you will not find there is the tranquility to go out, or drive your car. You could have a very nice car in Yucatan and not worry about getting attacked or be threatened that someone will steal from you. These crimes do not happen in all of Mexico; they are only focused on certain areas. The news that people see and hear always bring a bad idea that these crimes happen everyday and in all cities. Mexico, just like anywhere else in the world, has areas that are secure and completely safe and there are areas that you would want to avoid.
There is a very nice standard of living in the state of Yucatan in general, which is one its best advantages as a state, although some towns are poorer than others.
(Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted February 20, 2016
Thomas Lloyd - Top Mexico Real Estate
You will find the standard of living in the Yucatan state of Quintana Roo to be very similar to the state of Florida in the US. Quintana Roo is tourism-based, so the local and the national government focuses on the infrastructure here, including the roads, the quality of which you will notice here. In the local city of Playa del Carmen, the population is only just about 200,000, but we have an overpass on the highway that takes you from the south end to the north end. You...You will find the standard of living in the Yucatan state of Quintana Roo to be very similar to the state of Florida in the US. Quintana Roo is tourism-based, so the local and the national government focuses on the infrastructure here, including the roads, the quality of which you will notice here. In the local city of Playa del Carmen, the population is only just about 200,000, but we have an overpass on the highway that takes you from the south end to the north end. You won’t find these types of gorgeous investments in Mexico except if you are in the larger cities like Mexico City, Monterey, or Puebla, which have a population of 3 million plus. We have this type of investment here in Playa del Carmen on a federal level even though the population is just around 200,000. We also have high end, five star hotels here such as the Hyatt, which just opened up a hotel in Playa del Carmen about 10 months ago and they will be opening another one inside the Mayakoba golf course community. These types of investments into this region are a very interesting indicator that they have done their study and they decided to invest large amounts of money into this region.
Another example is Cirque du Soleil, which has two locations in the world but they have a permanent structure here. One location is in Las Vegas and this very successful company chose to invest here in the Riviera Maya, in an area that is only 50 minutes north of Playa del Carmen. I think these are very interesting examples of multinational companies that have chosen to invest into this region expecting to be operating 5 or 10 years into the future.
With regard to the standard of life here, in Playa del Carmen, a lot of people get surprised that we now have a Sam’s Club, two Wal-marts, Home Depot, and a lot of other chain stores. We have a cinema here that has VIP service, where waiters come to your seat and take your order and deliver your orders to you while you sit on your lazy boy chair in the movie theater.
The hospitals here in Yucatan are top notch. There are First World, state of the art hospitals in Merida (in the state of Yucatan), primarily because it is the center of the Yucatan Peninsula. The leading hospital here in Quintana Roo is Hospiten.
There is a Jack Nicklaus golf course right between Merida and Progreso. (Progresso is a beach town about 50 minutes away from downtown Merida.) There is also an ice skating rink in Merida, which is a wonderful attraction. They also have Costco, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, and other chain stores that you are used to in the States.
(Cirque du Soleil theater north of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, pictured.)
Posted March 2, 2016