In this report, I will discuss why some of you may be able to retire early on $1352 USD Month in Cozumel Mexico.
I first came to the island of Cozumel about 30 years ago in 1992. I was staying in Playa Del Carmen and decided to take the ferry over for the day. It was a much smaller quaint village at the time. But I really loved the colonial era feel of the city center.
So a few years later, in around 1996, when I booked a week in Playa Del Carmen, I booked a second week at the Iberostar All-Inclusive on Cozumel. That was a lovely week. It was a more intimate week than the one spent in Playa Del Carmen that year.
One of my favorite memories was renting a scooter for the day and completely circling the island. I was surprised at how untouched the east-facing beaches were at the time. Back then I don’t think I saw more than 20 people on the whole east side of the island. The east side was untouched white sand beaches.
I am happy to report that the east side beaches remain almost the same still today. On this trip, we probably saw 200 people instead of 20 people. So the east side of Cozumel hasn’t seen the growth or massive tourism that you see in other parts of Quintana Roo, such as Cancun and Playa Del Carmen.
I have probably been back to this part of Mexico at least 10 or 15 times over the last thirty years.
I have learned many tricks about slow traveling since the last time I was in Cozumel. I now know to stay away from the tourist areas to get a more authentic Mexican experience.
We even found a ‘locals’ neighborhood we would live in if we decided to retire early in Cozumel. I have circled the area on a map if you are curious. On the circled area of the map, at this time, I would be able to rent a one-bedroom apartment for about 7000 Pesos ($350 USD) per month plus utilities. Plus we found Tacos for $1 USD and Empanadas for 50 cents, and liters of fresh-squeezed juices (without sugar) for $1 USD. Laundry was about 14 Pesos per Kilo (32 cents per pound).
I explained how pristine the eastern beaches are in Cozumel. The only downside of living in Cozumel is that our favorite beach, San Martin, is 22km (13.2 miles) from the quant little non-tourist neighborhood we love in Cozumel. That is about a 25-minute drive.
For that reason, it would probably be our second favorite place to retire early for cheap in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Make sure to subscribe so you will find out our favorite place to retire cheap in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Retire Early $1352 USD Month Cozumel Mexico
Qiang and I were in Cozumel for 7 nights and spent $460 USD. That includes ferries to and from the island, rent, restaurants, tours, everything. If you multiply that by 4 weeks, it cost us $1840 USD to live there for a month.
The problem with that calculation is that it is too high. It includes ferry rides both ways 1000 Pesos ($50 USD), two scooter rentals 800 Pesos ($40 USD), and 630 Pesos ($32 USD) to enter the Eco Park. If you subtract that “tourism” expense of $122 USD from our $460 USD weekly cost of living, it costs us just $338 USD per month to “live” in Cozumel for a week.
So 4 weeks of only “living expenses” for two is $1352 USD per month to live in Cozumel. We also use the below table to estimate living expenses. Of course, that is just food and accommodations.
Here is another way to estimate expenses.
Here is an example Airbnb apartment for about $526 USD per month at the time of this post. Of course, you should be able to beat this price if you live like a local, with the locals, outside of the tourist areas.
You could also pay double or triple depending on where you decided to live, how much space you would like, and if you decide to live with tourists.
To get a great deal for a month or longer (without paying all of these fees), just book a place for a few days and then just walk the area outside the tourist areas and look for rent signs. I explain how to get the best deals in this post: How I find the best apartments for cheap around the world.
This means you are going to have to rent whatever you can for a few days online and then walk around the neighborhoods you like and deal directly with landlords to get rates as we pay. Even if you were only able to get another landlord in the neighborhood to discount the cleaning fee and service fee for a longer-term lease, you would be paying around $460 USD per month. That would be about $15 dollars a day including utilities.
So, I will use $15 USD per day as my 1 Bedroom apartment rate in the estimate below. But don’t expect to get that rate online. You need boots on the ground.
The high-end restaurants in Cozumel average around 180 pesos ($9 USD) for an entree, local family-owned restaurants start around 80 Pesos ($4 USD), and you will see food cart type vendors starting for as little as 15 Pesos ($0.75 USD) in the local’s neighborhoods.
With regard to local transportation, collectivos (shared minivans) are 8 Pesos (40 cents USD), taxis are about 30 Pesos ($1.50 USD), and there is no other practical transportation within the city. Since our favorite beaches are 25 minutes away, you won’t want to pay taxi. But you can get a collectivo once the COVID scare is over.
Thus, a bare-bones cost of living estimate that includes only rent, 2 meals a day, and (Taxis as) local transportation is shown in the below table.
Estimated Cost of Living Table (Cozumel, Mexico)
|
Expense |
Cost |
Low |
Medium |
High |
|
Airbnb (month) |
$15.00 |
0 |
14 |
30 |
|
$20.00 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
|
|
$35.00 |
30 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
High-End Restaurant |
$9.00 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
|
Neighborhood Restaurant |
$4.00 |
30 |
44 |
48 |
|
Food Cart |
$2.00 |
30 |
12 |
4 |
|
Subway (none) |
$0.00 |
20 |
26 |
8 |
|
Bus (Collectivo) |
$.40 |
20 |
10 |
0 |
|
Taxi (No Grab or Uber) |
$1.50 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
|
Total |
Per Month |
$1,256.00 |
$845.00 |
$752.00 |
|
Total |
Per Day |
$41.87 |
$28.17 |
$25.07 |
Here is a free report explaining, “How The Cost of Living Table Works.”
The above table of the estimated cost of living is for one month, for one person, as a temporary visitor. It only includes rent, 2 meals per day, and local transportation. For a full understanding of what it would cost you to live here, visit Numbeo for Cozumel and add anything you spend money on in your home country that is not mentioned in the table. You are providing data for nearby Cozumel because there is no data on Numbeo for Cozumel yet.
Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on lifestyle and the time since this post.
Please book using our links to recommended flights, tours, or accommodations. You will pay nothing extra, but we will earn a small commission. Your kindness will encourage us to keep making these travel guides and videos.
Best Area to Stay in Cozumel
I like being in Mexico when I am in Mexico. So my favorite area of Cozumel is in a non-touristy area shown in the below map. It was all locals living in this area. Plus, there were sidewalks running through the middle of the neighborhood where cars couldn’t go. So you saw other people walking and bike riding and kids playing instead of cars zooming by.
People come to Cozumel for the beaches, scuba, snorkeling, and relaxed lifestyle. But in these sorts of more traditional Mexican neighborhoods circled in red above, you are a 20-minute scooter ride from my favorite beaches on the east side of Cozumel. That is possibly why those east side beaches continue to remain so pristine. You can’t live over there, you can only visit. So maybe that will protect those beaches for future generations?.
Cheapest Flights to Cozumel
We almost always get our cheapest flights on this Skyscanner. They have a web crawler that is constantly looking for the cheapest prices all over the world. As usual, we found the cheapest flight on Skyscanner. This time we found the cheapest flight to Cancun. But check the costs to fly into Cozumel also.
Cozumel Livability Factors
Here are some of the factors I think about when I consider each place for retirement potential. After I discuss each factor I will assign an overall desirability score to Cozumel.
Walkability: High. If I were to live in Cozumel in the unpretentious neighborhood shown in red above, I would be able to walk to restaurants, small fruit and vegetable markets, and the two large grocery stores. If you have too many groceries to walk home you could get a taxi for about 50 Pesos ($2.50 USD).
Internet: High. We had no issues with the Internet speeds in Cozumel. It worked so well I never even remembered to run the ATT speed test on the router.
Food: Medium. We found a bunch of great Mexican food restaurants with fair pricing outside the tourist areas. But there were not many foreign food choices. So if you are a fan of foreign foods I would rate the food as medium or even low.
Weather: Medium. Cozumel can get quite hot in the off-season and hurricane season can be extreme on islands. That is probably one of the reasons the east side of Cozumel has very little development. The cooler season is December through February when nighttime lows average 70F/21C and daytime highs average 82F/28C. The hot season is April through October when nighttime lows average 78F/26C and daytime highs average over 88F/31C, but it is not unusual for days to reach the high 90s in April through October. The rainy season is May through November, with most of the rain falling in September and October. The hurricane season is June through November.
Things to Do: Medium. If you enjoy the beach and water sports, you should be fine. If you are a cultural lover I would say medium or even low. Cozumel has options for deep-sea fishing, snorkeling, scuba, kite surfing, and windsurfing.
Social Considerations: Medium. Cozumel is not the best place in the world to be single. Life here is pretty much centered around the beach and is too transient in general for relationships to develop naturally. You will want to learn Spanish if you decide to settle here.
Expats: Medium. If you like hanging out with ex-pats, you will find them through various Facebook pages: 1, 2, 3. New ones pop-up all the time so search on Facebook for “Cozumel Expats.” Facebook is a good place to go if you have a very specific or odd question I have not answered here.
Real Estate: Property starts here for around $100k but you can easily spend $300k USD. I never recommend buying until you have lived somewhere at least 3 years. Read this to better understand why I don’t recommend buying outside your home country.
Cozumel Desirability Score: Medium. Cozumel is one of my favorite places in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Many people think of Cozumel as a small island where all of the ships sailing around the Caribbean stop for the day. That is true. But on days you feel like partying, they will be ready to party too. But the area of town where the ships cause chaos is fairly small in comparison to the size of the island. There are several neighborhoods where you can live a fairly simple life with minimum contact with the tourists arriving by cruise ship or ferry. Plus, in the evening when the last ferry and the last cruise ship depart, even the central area of Cozumel is more peaceful. Since it feels like an island life if you stay out of the crazy zones I am ranking it medium for retirement only because of the limited cultural experiences. If I was looking for simple island life and nothing more, I would rate it high.
Cozumel Facts and History
The Maya people settled the island in about 100AD. There are a number of ruins on the island, the largest being San Gervasio. The Spanish showed up here first in 1518 and were received peacefully by the Mayans of Cozumel. The Mayas remained friendly even after the Spanish destroyed temples continuing to supply the Spanish with food and water for ocean voyages.
10,000 Mayans lived here when a Spanish crew member brought smallpox to the island in 1520. By 1570 only around 300 Mayans were alive after the smallpox outbreak.
By about 1688, most of the remaining inhabitants of coastal cities of what is now called Quintana Roo were moved to island towns such as Chemax to avoid the scourge of pirate raids.
Scuba diving, charter fishing, and tourism are the main attractions of Cozumel. The coral reefs on the west side of the island are magnificent, some of the best in the world, mainly because they are protected from the ocean by the island’s natural geography.
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