Compute Living Costs

Submitted by fyl on 21 April, 2007 - 15:08.

There has been a lot of discussion about what is a decent salary in Nicaragua. While things can vary all over the world, trying to apply "US values" makes no sense here.

In the following table, I list some possible expenses and offer some reasonable values for where I live (Estelí, Nicaragua). Plug in some numbers for yourself and see what you get.

This is far from the last word on this but maybe this chart will get you thinking a bit more like a Nica.

Item Nicaragua Wherever
House Payment* $300  
House Insurance $0  
Property Taxes $3  
Utilities $30  
Maid $100  
Transportation $30  
Food $100  
Entertainment $50  
Clothing $20  
Repairs $10  
Private School $5  
TOTAL $645  

* House Payment doesn't usually make sense here. People usually don't
have one. They live "at home" until they can afford to own a new
place. I picked $300/mo because this is a reasonable estimate of the
time value of the money they have invested.

You may also ask "for how many people"? I guess I would say 2 or 3.
Sure, clothing can change a bit but, for most expenses, there is very
little difference.

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Re House Insurance

Submitted by arlington on 2 August, 2007 - 10:04.

Fyl, you have a $0 for house insurance. Is that because it's not available, or you like living on the wild side? or you don't believe in the likelihod of a fire. You've done the cost benefit analysis and decided against it.

Mostly Cost Benefit Analysis

Submitted by fyl on 2 August, 2007 - 12:02.

First, this house is re-bar, cement and brick. Roof support is steel. Roof is Nicalit. Suspended ceiling in the upstairs (and some wall parts) are plycem. The parts that can burn are the doors and some minor framing upstairs between 8 and 10 feet off the floor. So, in a fire I lose a couch, a bed, a wood desk, ... And, because these articles are so separated, it would be extremely unlikely that there would be a "whole house fire".

In front of the house is a street, behind a big lot with either brick fences or the cement walls of a tall building. On one side is a driveway for the building and on the other another brick house. Just not a lot of nearby stuff to burn either.

Insurance companies are in business to make money. So, if you are better than the average risk, insurance will cost you money. I don't have collision insurance on my car because I am better than the average driver, for example. House fires seem to be caused by bad electrical wiring and irresponsible cooking with wood. I did my own wiring and I don't cook with wood. Just seems pretty low risk.

Now, who has fire insurance here? Not anyone I know of.

that's what I thought . . .

Submitted by arlington on 2 August, 2007 - 13:00.

that's what I thought . . . but, what a mental leap for someone who's never been without it. Just one more thing about Nicaragua that I'm liking.

What about renting

Submitted by geobear on 22 April, 2007 - 11:58.

Does the $300 House Payment also apply to renting? Also, what kind of house might you expect to get in Estelí for that price?

Esteli is expensive

Submitted by fyl on 22 April, 2007 - 13:12.

Rent here is relatively expensive compared with other places. But, here are the data points I have:

  • I paid $150/mo for a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house with garage. About 2km from the center of town.
  • I know someone who rented about a 5-bedroom but not exciting house in the middle of town for, as I remember, $225/mo.
  • I know someone who is currently renting a new house, 2 br plus another "servant's quarters" building for a bit over $200.
  • Saw a couple of big houses for rent for $300/mo not far from the center of town.
  • Lots of "unexciting" houses for rent in the $150 to $200 range. By unexciting I just mean dumpy or in a noisy location. They all have electricity, water and sewer.
  • There are many "low-end" choices with a lot less but not generally what a Gringo would consider a place to live.

In the US, the "guide" was pay 100 times the rent to buy. Thus, a $200/mo house would sell for $20,000. Here, purchase prices seem to be a lot higher. For example, the house I rented for $150/mo was for sale for $25,000.

Expensive Estelí?

Submitted by geobear on 22 April, 2007 - 19:57.

Is Estelí is more expensive than some of the surrounding towns, or is that area more expensive than other parts of the country?

Thanks for the great info!

Just a city problem

Submitted by fyl on 22 April, 2007 - 20:38.

Estelí is a big city that is growing. That is why it is expensive. If you go to a small town such as San Nicholas or El Sauce I expect you would find much lower rental prices. Actually, I talk a bit about this in my book.

how did you do that nice HTML table?

Submitted by Jinoturistica on 22 April, 2007 - 09:52.

can we now use tables and perhaps put images in this forum?

Tony X Robins, Jinotega

In a word, carefully

Submitted by fyl on 22 April, 2007 - 10:13.

Adding tables to Drupal pages is, well, pretty nasty. We used to have a role to allow full HTML. I believe Pete deleted it--possibly because of problems.

Anyway, created it and set it for you. Let's see what happens.

Private School?

Submitted by carina_cisneros on 21 April, 2007 - 23:50.

Are you sure that is the cost of a private school in Nicragua? I am not saying you are wrong, but the cheapest private school in neighboring countries (Guatemala & Honduras), is more like $30-60. And, the cheapest of places are often far from the best of places. Perhaps taxes are different there, but here taxes are used to subsidize public education. Ins other words, private school tuition taxes, in many parts of the Latin world, are collected to pay for public education. This means that the high cost of private school is what it is uses to pay for public school. Oftens each person in private school pays a tuition which ultimately pays for 5-15 students in public school vias the taxes and fees and inspection costs on private tuition. If private school is so cheap in Nicaragua then who pays for public school? In the ends what could someone realistically expect for $5 a month?

about 175 cords

Submitted by GranadaSherif on 21 April, 2007 - 23:53.

in Jinotepe (about 10 dollars)... Notre Dame is 200 dollars a month + about 1000 registration + bus costs from managua to Jinotepe ($80 a month) Not bad for the class of school

Class size?

Submitted by carina_cisneros on 21 April, 2007 - 23:57.

Jinotepe is tiny. $10 there might not be $10 elsewhere. If they state it, do you know how many students are in a single classroom, at any of these places? If the figures above are right and i ams not saying they are wrong then a private school class size of 20 students results in a smaller wage for the private school teacher than the maid gets (she is listed at $100: and schools siphon off a lot of money before it get sto teacher pay).

25 to 35 students.

Submitted by GranadaSherif on 22 April, 2007 - 01:25.

Notre Dame has 20 or so class size. a teacher earns about 120 a month and less in public schools.

Same in Granada except that the class size about 45 but the monthly cost was only about 145 cordobas (if i recall) last year for a private school next to Casa de Tres Mundo!