Wondering how much it really costs to live in Chiang Mai in 2025? In this video, I break down my monthly expenses after living here for four months, including rent, food, transport, SIM card, gym, visa, and more. Stick around to the end to see how much you’ll need for a comfortable lifestyle or a more budget-friendly setup.
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*🎬 OTHER TRAVEL GUIDES:*
How to Get Around Bangkok: https://youtu.be/pc_LB7–548
Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC): https://youtu.be/UCMKjUwbvew
Complete BANGKOK Airport Guide 2025: https://youtu.be/FOtAwBm6DNw
*MY RECORDING SETUP:*
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*VIDEO CHAPTERS:*
00:00 Cost of Living in Chiang Mai – 2025
00:42 Housing
01:54 Transport
03:00 Food
04:12 Gym and Fitness
04:43 SIM Card and Internet
05:53 Visa
07:10 Insurance
07:38 Activities
08:22 Other Monthly Costs
08:46 Total Monthly Cost
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🩺 Travel with peace of mind with SafetyWing Travel Insurance → https://bit.ly/safetyesr
📲 Stay connected while Traveling with an Airalo eSIM → https://airalo.pxf.io/9gJkbj
Use the code “THENOMADICJOURNEY” for 10% off
🎟 Book your tours with GetYourGuide → https://gyg.me/T6OdoRVF
Coming back to this vid ,
comparing Danang and Chiang Mai as short/mid-term stays (3 months)
Both cities look amazing and I keep going back n forth on researching them until I fly out to SE Asia mid-Aaugust
If you can do a comparison video of those 2 cities I think that'll be huge for the viewers
What about entertainment, fly to home, holidays, medical insurance, change of mobile phone, clothes, etc….very simplistic budgeting but hey, the important bit is to make views to finance the lifestyle 😂
Seeing the numbers really helps to normalize the move for so many families. It’s crazy how much more peace you can buy with a remote salary when you stop paying for the overhead of a system that’s financially draining you.
I like your video, very direct and straight to the point, You did not mention the burning season, please how long does this go on for?
is it hot all the time? lol
If you don't mind having a gym, pool, or furniture set up ( you may have one ), the cost of renting a place to stay is anywhere from $80 to $160 per month, depending on the location. The newness of the accommodation
If you don't mind eating food at restaurants in the mall. Focus on food costs in the department store Ordinary restaurant that is not a restaurant General coffee shop that is not an international brand like Starbucks. It's a local brand. Buy raw materials at the fresh market Or going to the supermarket to cook your own food will cost around $ 320-490 per month. and can spend higher if people want to increase
Water, electricity, and internet are inexpensive. The waterfall fee is around $ 3-5 per month, the electricity bill is around $ 9 – 78 per month ( lf you turn on the air conditioner it will be expensive).
Internet costs range from 16 -31 dollars per month. It depends on the packet, speed, and number of gigs. Internet in Thailand is relatively cheap, stable, and controlled throughout the country. Including having the world's top speed. And you can use free wifi at residences, hotels, coffee shops, or malls.
Medical expenses If you are slightly sick Buy medicine at 7-Eleven Or at drugstores it's very cheap. Or you can find a doctor at a clinic, but what if your arm or leg is broken or requires surgery? Public hospitals are about 10 times cheaper than private ones, but the disadvantage is long queues. But some government hospitals have an international department to save time. But the treatment cost is still about 2-3 times cheaper than a private hospital, or maybe around. 50%, depending on the case. As for private hospitals, treatment fees are about 2-10 times cheaper than in the West, but you don't have to wait in long queues to waste time. and found a specialized doctor who spoke excellent English and first-class management and clean, luxurious places, some of which are similar to being in mall or a luxury hotel.
If you don't want to take a taxi or Grab, take a Taxi motorcycle , a Red pick-ups , or have your own motorcycle. Or like to ride a bicycle, $ 20-32 per month.
The good thing about Chiang Mai is that Slolide has some of the lowest crime in the region. superior to Singapore The healthcare system is good, the roads are excellent, traffic is not congested, there are many shopping malls and coffee shops. Convenient travel There is beautiful nature, including forests, wildlife, many kinds of birds, many beautiful waterfalls, beautiful flowers, and a beautiful river and lakes. Suitable for kayaking. Some parts of the season are cool for about 4-5 months from mid-October to mid-February every year. There is a Songkran tradition. and fun Yi Peng There are beautiful centuries-old temples throughout the city. There is delicious northern and international food, both Western and Asian. There are dozens of hill tribes. including mountain cherry blossoms
The disadvantages of Chiang Mai During the agricultural season, approximately 1-3 months from burning for agriculture of the hill tribes. and from neighboring Myanmar and Laos where the wind blows in Because Chiang Mai is a pan basin. Because there are mountains surrounding the city, PM 2.5 is high and the summer is hot and dry. And the tourist season at the end of the year will bring many tourists. Most of them are from Asia and Europe, such as South Korea, China, Japan, and England, America, which can cause traffic jams in the city center. And the footbath in the old city is quite narrow, making walking difficult.
Traveling in Chiang Mai is quite convenient because there is an international Airport within the city and you can connect to flights directly to regions such as Phuket, Bangkok and some cities in some countries such as Cebu in the Philippines and Incheon in South Korea or some cities in China.
In 2026, Bangkok and Chiang Mai are the #1 and #2 cities voted by Digital Nomad as the best places to live in the world,too.
Nice video! I find it interesting to compare other people's spending patterns to mine. Chiang Mai can be cheap if you really focus upon sticking to a budget. I've been here for about 15 months and typically spend 500-1000 baht/day. But if I get a nice bottle of wine, or get a shirt made, that pushes the average daily spend right up.
Today's spend:
Watermelon & papaya for breakfast: 50 baht.
Yoga class: 350 baht.
Freshly squeezed orange juice: 90 baht.
Foot massage: 300 baht + 100 baht tip.
Dinner at Japanese restaurant: 210 baht.
So without really making any large purchases, I've spent 1,100 baht. I seem to be averaging over 1,000 baht spending money per day = ~$1K USD/month. Rent and co-working not included.
The US is out of control😢
Thanks for such a clear breakdown — especially useful seeing housing, food, and fitness separated out. Curious whether you’re planning to revisit this later in 2026, as Chiang Mai prices seem to be shifting quite fast lately.
Really good and realistic video. I love CM and can only squeeze in limited time per year. Enjoy yourself!
A lot of these travel channels only exist to promote their commission affiliate links, which means you can't really trust a word they say. I liked youtube much better when your could trust that the info being provided was genuine and not just to direct you to an affiliate link, but those days are long gone. There was a time when youtubers were satisfied with ad revenue and weren't trying to push mediocre products.
46mbps is very slow tbh
Compare rides with Bolt & idrive.
thank you
Very helpful content ty
I pay 2700 AUD for one month rent in Melbourne
I have done medical trial in Australia to earn tax free money and I always meet this same group that come back from Chang Mai do 2 or 3 really good trials get paid go back to Chang Mai they living
The police in this city (country) are corrupt so I would not visit.
Thank you for your video!
So helpful
Are you open to paid collabs?
FYI, DTV stand for Destination Thailand Vista, not digital.
Merci pour partager👍