The other day, a mate back in Lyon sent me a link to an article titled "Live in Bangkok for €800 a month." I nearly spat out my iced coffee — a coffee I paid ฿95 for at the Café Amazon downstairs, by the way. Not ฿15 like some blogs would have you believe. Eight hundred euros a month in Bangkok in 2025 is doable, sure. If you're living in a windowless studio in On Nut, eating exclusively from 7-Eleven, and have zero social life. That's not what I'd call "living."
On the other end, I've seen estimates of €4,000 or €5,000 for a "comfortable expat" budget. That's equally disconnected from my reality. The truth, as usual, sits somewhere in between. And after seven years here — seven years of bank statements, unglamorous Excel spreadsheets, and gradual adjustments — I can give you my real numbers. Mine. Not some abstract average weighted by an algorithm.
My profile, so you can compare
Before I throw numbers around, some context. I'm 38, I live alone (well, that changed recently, but our finances are separate, so it doesn't affect anything here). I freelance for French clients, bill in euros, get paid into a Wise account. I live in a one-bedroom condo in Phra Khanong, 42 sqm, 12th floor, with a pool and gym in the building. It's neither luxury nor bottom-of-the-barrel: it's upper-middle-class Bangkok.
I'm not a reformed backpacker. I'm not a corporate expat on a package with housing paid by the company either. I'm somewhere in between, like 80% of Westerners who settle here long-term.
Housing: the expense that's shifted the most
My current rent: ฿18,000 per month, charges included (water, common areas). That's roughly €470. I renegotiated when I signed a 12-month lease last year. When I arrived in 2018, an equivalent condo in the same neighbourhood cost me ฿12,000. The increase is real: between 30 and 50% over seven years in the areas near the BTS between Thong Lo and Bearing.
Electricity is the sneaky one. Bangkok is hot. All the time. The aircon runs from 6 PM to 7 AM minimum, plus weekends. My electricity bill: between ฿2,500 and ฿4,200 depending on the season. April is absolute hell. Smoothed average: ฿3,200 (€83).
Practical tip: ALWAYS negotiate the electricity rate with your landlord. Many charge ฿8 to ฿9 per kWh when the official MEA rate is around ฿4.2. Ask for an individual MEA meter or walk away. Over a year, the difference can reach ฿20,000.
Food: the real budget, not the legend
The myth of the ฿40 pad thai still exists, but you have to hunt for it. In my area, a dish at a mall food court runs between ฿60 and ฿80. A proper street-food meal with a drink: ฿80–120. A "proper" Thai restaurant with aircon: ฿200–350 per person. A Western brunch or a decent Japanese place: ฿400–800.
I do a mix. I cook in the morning (eggs, sliced bread, homemade coffee). Lunch is often a takeaway via Grab or a food court. Dinner depends: two or three times a week at a restaurant, the rest at home with groceries from Tops Market or Makro.
My actual food budget, tracked over six months: ฿14,500 per month on average (€378). That includes supermarket runs, restaurants, my daily coffee, and Friday night pizza.
| Expense | My real budget (baht/month) | Euro equivalent (≈) | "Optimistic blog" budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent (1-bed condo, BTS) | 18 000 | 470 € | 8 000 – 12 000 |
| Electricity / water | 3 500 | 91 € | 1 500 |
| Fibre internet + mobile | 1 100 | 29 € | 900 |
| Total food | 14 500 | 378 € | 6 000 – 8 000 |
| Transport (BTS + Grab) | 3 500 | 91 € | 1 500 |
| Health (insurance + care) | 5 800 | 151 € | "cheap" |
| Going out / leisure / social | 6 000 | 157 € | 2 000 – 3 000 |
| Misc (clothes, household, admin) | 3 000 | 78 € | rarely mentioned |
| TOTAL | 55 400 | ≈ 1 445 € | 20 000 – 30 000 |
See the gap? The "optimistic" budgets floating around online are often two to three times lower than the reality of a normal life, without any extravagance.
Health: the expense everyone systematically underestimates
In 2025, private international health insurance for a 38-year-old non-smoking male, covering inpatient + outpatient with a USD 40,000 annual cap, costs me around ฿48,000 per year, or ฿4,000 per month. I use Cigna through a Bangkok-based broker. Every year, the premium goes up 8 to 12%. It's the expense that stresses me out the most long-term.
On top of that, there are out-of-pocket routine costs: two dental cleanings a year (฿1,500 each at a decent dentist in Ekkamai), the occasional consultation, pharmacy runs. Count on ฿1,500 to ฿2,000 per month on a smoothed average.
Reality nobody tells you about: After 40, health insurance premiums in Thailand skyrocket. A 52-year-old friend of mine pays ฿120,000/year for coverage equivalent to mine. If you're planning to stay here long-term, factor in a 10% annual increase into your projections. It's the number-one trap of long-term expat life.
Transport: Bangkok isn't that cheap to get around anymore
I don't own a car or a motorbike. I take the BTS daily (average fare: ฿35–44, and no, the Rabbit card hasn't offered any meaningful discount since 2023). When it rains, when it's late, or when I just can't be bothered, it's Grab. A Grab car ride across Bangkok costs between ฿120 and ฿250 depending on distance and time. During rush hour or in the rain, surge pricing can double the fare.
My average transport budget: ฿3,500. Some months it's ฿2,000 (when I work from home all week). Others it's ฿5,000 (when I have meetings all over the city). Renting a motorbike would be cheaper, but riding in Bangkok is playing Russian roulette. I've made my choice.
The invisible costs nobody mentions
There's a whole category of expenses that "cost of living" articles conveniently ignore. Here they are:
The visa. My current visa (Non-Immigrant O based on an Elite, long story) works out to roughly ฿2,500 per month amortised. If you go for the entry-level Thailand Privilege (formerly Elite), that's ฿900,000 for 5 years, or ฿15,000/month. The student visa with a Thai language school: around ฿3,000–4,000/month all in. It's never free.
Flights back to France. I go home once a year. Economy ticket: between ฿25,000 and ฿40,000 depending on the season. Spread over 12 months, add ฿2,500/month.
Freelance tools. A VPN (because some sites are blocked or slow), Wise for transfers, software subscriptions, an accountant in France for the tax return. Around ฿2,000/month in "expat life infrastructure" costs.
Replacing what you had in France. The company health plan. Housing benefits. Social security. Subsidised public transport. The staff canteen. When you go independent in Bangkok, you pay for everything. Everything.
Real inflation since 2018
I've kept a spreadsheet since the day I arrived. Here's what I see: street food prices have gone up 25 to 40% in seven years. My usual plate of khao man gai went from ฿45 to ฿65. A Chang beer at the convenience store, from ฿37 to ฿47. The average Grab fare on my regular routes has climbed roughly 35%. Rent, as I said: +50%.
Meanwhile, the baht has strengthened against the euro. In 2018, one euro got you 38–39 baht. Early 2025, we're hovering around 37–38 baht, with dips to 36. Double whammy for those earning in euros: prices go up AND the exchange rate works against you.
Bangkok is still cheaper than Paris, Lyon, or Bordeaux. But the gap narrows every year. Anyone telling you it's "three times cheaper" hasn't updated their data since 2019.
What I wish I'd known
When I arrived in 2018, I planned my budget based on articles exactly like the ones I'm criticising today. Result: I underestimated my expenses by 40% in the first six months. I had to dip into savings when I thought I had plenty of margin.
What I wish someone had told me: take whatever budget you've estimated and add 30%. Not because Bangkok is expensive, but because the budgets online are built on theoretical minimums, not on a real life with friends, nights out, aircon running, a visa to renew, and a dentist to pay.
My real, stabilised budget in 2025 sits around ฿55,000 to ฿62,000 per month, or €1,450 to €1,620. I live well. Not in luxury, not in deprivation. I go out, I eat well, I have a good apartment, I'm covered if something goes wrong health-wise. That's what real expat life in Bangkok looks like. Not an €800 dream, not a €5,000 fantasy.
Do your own maths. But do them honestly.