Can you live in Mexico on Social Security?
Well, the average Social Security payment in
2023 is $1,827, or Mexican pesos,
We're looking at 33,000 pesos,
approximately at today's exchange rate.
So can you live in Mexico on 33,000 pesos a month?
Let's find out.
First, let's take a look at what the typical Mexican
makes, because if a Mexican can live on a certain
amount, you should be able to as well.
First, let's take a look at the minimum wage in Mexico.
As you can see by this graphic here, the majority of
the country is in this red area, and anyone living in
this area, the minimum wage is 207 pesos per day.
Or if you're living near the border, it's about
a 50% increase, or 312 pesos per day.
But since the vast majority of the population in
the country lives in this red area, let's take
a look at this smaller number here.
So 207 pesos.
This is the daily minimum wage.
However, employees in Mexico get paid
even on their days off.
So to get the monthly minimum wage, you
would have to multiply this times about 30.
So when you do that, it comes to about
6200 pesos per month, or approximately one fifth of
what the average Social Security recipient is getting.
Well, then you can get a pretty good idea that,
yes, you can live in Mexico on Social Security.
With that said, only a tiny percentage of
the population here makes just minimum wage.
So now let's go look at the
wages of other various job positions.
So first we're going to go to Misalario.org.
This is a website that collects a whole
bunch of information from people around Mexico.
They compile it into one database and then
give you averages of various salaries around Mexico.
So first let's go to tu salario.
Compara tu salario.
Okay, first let's look at a cashier.
So we're going to go "Cajero" "Cajero de tienda"
So like your average cashier in a grocery store
or convenience store or something like that is going
to be making about 8400 pesos per month.
And this is someone with five years of experience.
So it's not someone just starting out and not
someone who's been doing it their whole life.
So 8400, that's about one fourth of
what the Social Security recipient is getting.
So now let's look at a higher
paying salary, an emergency room nurse.
So this is going to be paid higher
than a regular nurse enfermera right here.
So the average emergency room nurse with five
years of experience is going to be making
about 17,000 pesos a month, or just one
half of what you're getting on Social Security.
So when you look at this, I think this gives you a
really good idea of how well you can live in Mexico.
Because an emergency room nurse, this is
someone with a lot of experience.
They've gone to school for quite a while.
They've been working at their
job for five years already.
And they're only making half of
what you're collecting from Social Security.
Next, let's go with another unskilled labor.
Let's go like "jardinero", a gardener.
So the average gardener with five years of experience
is at 11,000 pesos a month, or just one
third of what you're getting from Social Security.
And finally, let's look up someone who has a lot
of schooling and is in a high paying position.
So I'm thinking like an aerospace engineer because aerospace
engineer comes to mind because there are some aerospace
factories near where I live, like Boeing, and I
think one other has a factory here.
And that person with five years of experience
is making on average 39,000 pesos a month.
So finally we have someone who's making more than
the Social Security recipient from the United States.
However, let's say you're a couple
and you're both getting Social Security.
Well then you're making significantly
yes, you can live here on Social Security.
However, depending on where you're living and depending on what
comforts you expect in your life, well, then you might
be living a life where you're barely scraping by or
you might be living like a king.
So next I would like to show you a
city where you're going to live like a king
and one where you might just be scraping by.
First, let's look at the city where you might be
struggling to live on Social Security, and that is Cabo
San Lucas at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
To find some homes for rent in Cabo San
Lucas, first we're going to search Google Casas en
Renta, which means homes for rent, Cabo San Lucas.
And then we're going to click
on the inmuebles24 listing.
This is usually my favorite real estate website in
Mexico to browse because I just think it's the
easiest to use, I think it's the most user
friendly, but you might have another opinion.
So at the very top here, we have
some homes that are about $3,000 a month.
This one is 16 or $1,700.
Still too expensive for our price point.
Let's see if there's anything that's affordable.
So here's $300, but it's per night,
so that's not going to work out.
And then here's some that are in
the 6 or 7,000 or $8,000 per month range.
So that's not going to work out either.
But I'll click on the cheapest one
I see here, 30,000 pesos per month.
No, actually it looks like that's going to be
per week or something because the actual rent for
longer term is 55,000 or $3,000 a month. Give or take.
So that's not going to work for us.
So let's go to Facebook Marketplace instead, because I
think we will find some that will work for
us and our budget on Facebook Marketplace.
So we're going to change our location here
to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur.
Five mile or five kilometer radius looks good.
And let's check out this one here.
It's 16,000 pesos a month or $900.
So this is two bedroom, one bathroom.
It says it includes Internet, but usually when it
includes Internet, they include a slow Internet, like one
of the cheaper Internets they can buy.
So you might have to pay to upgrade your Internet.
So that's the backyard there and
kitchen and living room area.
So this furniture that's included
is very cheap furniture.
It's some of the cheapest furniture you can buy here.
Like when I'm renting a cheap airbnb here
in Mexico, well, this is the kind of
furniture that it has. At least
The driveway is paved there, so that's one good thing.
And then it has like a real gate that you
can close for the garage, so that's good as well.
But this refrigerator is small, although at least it's larger than
you see in a lot of lower end Mexico homes.
But it's still a cheap option
to buy this shelving is cheap.
This stove is cheap.
Everything in this home is cheap.
And this is the cheapest style of closet
you can buy here in Mexico as well.
So for $900 a month, this does not seem like
a great deal to me, at least compared to what
I'm used to in other places in Mexico.
Let's check out this one that might fit our budget.
12,000 pesos a month, about $650.
So it has a driveway here that's not even paved.
This wall here looks jacked up. Like they didn't
even put any sealant in between all these bricks.
Looks very small.
And if this is the kitchen
there, there is nothing there.
Yeah, for $650 a month, this thing is garbage.
So as you can see, the real estate options in
Cabo San Lucas are not great at this budget.
Now, if you go over here and you have $5,000
a month to spend, $3,000 a month to spend, no
problem, you're going to get an awesome place.
But this video is about living here on Social Security.
So as you can see, your money isn't going
to go very far in Cabo San Lucas.
You might be paying $900 a month
to rent a very basic home.
You might be paying $200 a month for your
electric bill because it gets so hot there that
you'll probably want to run your AC a lot.
And in addition to that, you have all
of your other regular life expenses, your car
expenses, your cell phone bill, your health insurance.
So let's say you want to get
private health insurance here in Mexico.
That might be $200 a month.
Or if you have a preexisting condition and
you can't get the private health insurance.
Well, maybe you opt for IMSS or I-M-S-S,
which might run you $50 a month.
But anyway, all these expenses add
up and that doesn't even count.
Like eating, getting food and whatnot.
And even if you're going to the grocery store and
cooking all your meals at home, that can still be
another 100, $200 a month, or maybe even more, depending
on what type of groceries you're getting.
When it comes to eating out in Cabo, you're looking
at similar prices to eating out in a major US city.
Of course, you can always go into the
local neighborhoods and go to the taco stands
and the street food and whatnot.
And that's going to be a lot cheaper
than eating at regular sit down restaurants.
But still, even that's going to be
more expensive than other places in Mexico.
By the way, if you're enjoying this video so far,
please do me a favor and poke that like button.
Now let's take a look at Pachuca, Hidalgo,
the city where you're going to be living
like a king on Social Security.
To find some homes for rent in Pachuca, we're
going to head on over to Facebook Marketplace.
We're going to change the location here to Pachuca de
Soto Centro and then 10 km, that looks good.
To cover the whole city and click Apply.
And then I already searched Casa en
Renta here, but let's click on some
of these listings and see what's available.
So this one 4500 a month, about $250.
You have two bedrooms, one bathroom.
And let's take a look at
these nice spacious living room area.
I like that the stairs have a railing.
You don't always have a railing
on stairs, especially at lower budgets.
So here's the house.
From the outside, the kitchen looks decent.
Way nicer than those Cabo San
Lucas places we were looking at.
And look how much cheaper it is.
250 versus 900 over there.
Like it's night and day difference.
They're not using the cheapest closet
they can buy here either.
So you have a decent closet that
also had some drawers in it.
It looks like it's in a gated
community here with a kids play area.
This might be a tennis court there.
And there's a dog park as well.
Yeah, looks pretty decent.
I like it, especially for the $250 a month range.
Okay, now let's click on this one.
It's 6000 pesos a month, so maybe like
$350, 3 bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms.
So it is bigger than the last one.
This looks very spacious.
I like this with the big, beautiful windows
here leading out to the small backyard.
I like the kitchen there.
There's lots of storage.
It looks like there's lots of space there as well.
So what does it say here?
24 hours security.
So it's inside of a gated community.
And this is the name of
the gated community, Viñendos Residenciales
It has a little patio here overlooking the community.
I think the patio you see here might be
this one that you see in this picture.
Yeah, it looks nice.
I mean, for about $350 a month,
I could definitely see myself living here.
And at 350, when you're on a Social Security
income of like, 1800, that still leaves you almost
$1,500 a month to spend on other things in
your life or to save for a rainy day.
And the backyard is actually bigger than I
initially thought from the picture coming from the
inside, because it wraps around here like that.
So that's nice as well.
So now let's look at a
more expensive option here in Pachuca.
Let's say you have two incomes of two
people with Social Security, and you can pay
25,000 pesos a month in rent.
So this one has five bedrooms, three and a half
bathrooms, and it also has a room, a maids quarters
as well, so that's not included in the five bedrooms.
So it's like six rooms, three and a half bathrooms.
So nice spacious kitchen there.
This is 25,000 pesos a month.
So what is that you're looking at?
Probably like, 13, $1400 month.
This is pretty rare in Mexico to have
an enclosed garage with an automatic garage opener,
so you have parking underneath the house there.
Very interesting.
Look to this house with these stairs
leading up to the front door.
I can't say I've seen that before.
That's pretty neat.
So looks pretty spacious.
They're not using the cheapest tiles in here.
I can tell that already.
Although the blinds here are some of
the cheaper kinds you can buy.
I don't love the black closets, but again, we're
just looking at a couple of listings here.
Here's the picture of the garage with the garage door opener,
and you can see that it goes way back there.
It looks like you could double park a car
there because of how far it goes back.
I don't hate it, but, I mean,
we're just looking very quickly here.
So obviously if you searched longer, you would
find some awesome options available in Pachuca.
Your money is going to go so far here.
So although people don't rave about Pachuca, it is
still a nice place to live, I think.
Although I've never personally lived there, it's
a place I would consider living, and
these are the reasons why.
Number one, it has great climate year round.
Number two, you're close to a lot of things.
You're close to the new Mexico City airport.
You're close to Mexico City.
You're close to the Pueblos Magicos that are a
short drive up the mountains where there's tons of
history and nature and culture and all sorts of
things to do and see up there that make
great weekend getaways or even a place to live.
In addition to all those things, if you drive just a
couple of hours from the city, you can get to many
different places plus, it's a very affordable place to live.
May and I recently went there, and we went
to this restaurant where we had this incredible meal.
It was a three course meal
that included a drink as well.
The presentation was on point.
The food was amazing.
And for everything, it was $10 per person, 180 pesos.
So living there on Social Security, you
could eat out every single day.
You could live in a really nice home and live a
high quality of life on your monthly Social Security payment.
So I can't really make a video about what it
takes to move to Mexico without talking about residency.
Well, I recently interviewed someone on the channel in
this video right here, and he moved to Mexico
with just one $1500 to his name.
So in addition to telling you about how he
did it, we also talk about how someone like
you can get legal residency in Mexico.