Cost Of Living In Cagayan de Oro (2009)

I live in Cagayan de Oro so can so can give you some recent cost of living information. Of course, a lot depends on how big of a house or apartment you live in and in what neighborhood. A decent place can range from 5-15k. For a really decent place I usually would say 9-15k a month thousand, At this writing, April 2009 the peso is about 48 to one US Dollar.

Of course finding a furnished house or apartment is hard and expensive. But that's up to you. Transportation even if taxi / motorella's / jeepneys (I spend about 2k a month on taxi's and usually use taxi's). Jeeps are much cheaper as is other public transportation; trikes, busses, what ever, and some drive their own cars. Used car prices are high. Mechanics charge low if you can find a good one you can really trust, hard to do in a lot of the world. Gas is about $3 US per gallon today, I think.

My main cost is food, which is close all around, electricity, and water. Water is cheap from what friends say (my water and electricity is free where I stay) unless have a lot of leakage or someone stealing, i.e., tapping into your meter, no common but not unusual enough. Electricity hits hard, expensive in the Philippines, so you have to watch out for people stealing it too. Water could run 700-1500 a month (assuming no leaks) and electricity from 1500-7k. Think often around 1500-2k.

Many in CDO live fine on roughly 60-70k a month and a number on 45k a month. 60k-70k gives a plenty of time out also eating out and enjoying life. Cost of living some say is not as much as a challenge as adjusting to a new culture.

So fairly easy on $1200-1500 US long as you shop smart.