Cost of living in Colombia
A single person living in Colombia spends around $705/month excluding rent. Per-city numbers below, every figure with its source; rent is shown separately in the Housing sections, by apartment type.
VerifiedUpdated
At a glance
DANE — línea de pobreza y clasificación por ingreso 2025 (basket anchor), CPI-consistent
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Curated single-person non-rent basket (food, utilities, urban transport, mobile+internet, modest leisure and misc.) for a foreign remote worker in a major Colombian city, anchored on DANE 2025 income bands (national poverty line 482,041 COP/mo; middle-class per-capita spending 853,608–4,596,352 COP/mo) and typical published utility/transport/mobile tariffs. Estimated ≈ 2,360,000 COP/mo ÷ 3,349.7 COP/USD (ECB EUR/COP 3,817.83 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399, fx-rates 2026-07-02) ≈ 705 USD. Curated estimate — DANE has not published a 2025/2026 one-person-household consumption line comparable to Poland's GUS figure; to be refined from ENPH microdata.
Colombian listing portals (Fincaraíz / Metrocuadrado) market asking rents, mid-2026
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- City-wide average asking rent for a long-term 1-bedroom apartment across the two covered cities (Bogotá and Medellín), from major listing portals mid-2026. Small/1-bedroom units broadly ≈ 1,700,000–2,800,000 COP/mo depending on city and stratum (Medellín ~15–20% below Bogotá); midpoint ≈ 2,060,000 COP ÷ 3,349.7 COP/USD ≈ 615 USD. Curated estimate — portal aggregate averages skew toward larger/high-stratum units, so this is a considered 1BR figure, not a raw portal mean.
- Notes
- Asking prices, furnished/short-term rents (common for nomads) run higher. To be refined against DANE housing indices and portal room-level reports next cycle.
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private cover in Colombia layers on top of the mandatory contributory system (EPS): a 'medicina prepagada' or voluntary health plan (Sura, Colsanitas, Coomeva) with outpatient + inpatient access for a healthy 35-year-old runs roughly 250,000–450,000 COP/month; midpoint ≈ 350,000 COP/mo ≈ 4,200,000 COP/yr ≈ 1,254 USD at 3,349.7 COP/USD (range ≈ $895–$1,610). Curated market midpoint — Colombian prepaid-medicine premiums are age/plan-banded and quoted on request, not from a public engine.
- Notes
- Residents affiliated to an EPS already have universal contributory cover; prepaid medicine buys faster access, private hospitals and broader networks. Premiums exclude the mandatory 12.5% health contribution (counted in the tax burden), not an insurance premium. International (IPMI) plans cost several times more.
DANE income/spending bands 2025 (basket anchor)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Illustrative split of the ≈$705/mo single-person non-rent basket into typical urban categories, anchored on DANE 2025 income bands and published utility/transport/mobile tariffs, converted at 3,349.7 COP/USD. Categories sum to ≈$705. Curated estimate, not a DANE household-budget survey line; national/major-city average — El Poblado-tier neighbourhoods run higher.
National household-budget-survey basket. Rent is shown separately below.
Details
Cost of living (single, excl. rent)705USD/month, single person, excluding rent9.0
What this measures
Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.
DANE — línea de pobreza y clasificación por ingreso 2025 (basket anchor), CPI-consistent
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Curated single-person non-rent basket (food, utilities, urban transport, mobile+internet, modest leisure and misc.) for a foreign remote worker in a major Colombian city, anchored on DANE 2025 income bands (national poverty line 482,041 COP/mo; middle-class per-capita spending 853,608–4,596,352 COP/mo) and typical published utility/transport/mobile tariffs. Estimated ≈ 2,360,000 COP/mo ÷ 3,349.7 COP/USD (ECB EUR/COP 3,817.83 ÷ EUR/USD 1.1399, fx-rates 2026-07-02) ≈ 705 USD. Curated estimate — DANE has not published a 2025/2026 one-person-household consumption line comparable to Poland's GUS figure; to be refined from ENPH microdata.
Private healthcare cost1,250USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old7.9
What this measures
Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private cover in Colombia layers on top of the mandatory contributory system (EPS): a 'medicina prepagada' or voluntary health plan (Sura, Colsanitas, Coomeva) with outpatient + inpatient access for a healthy 35-year-old runs roughly 250,000–450,000 COP/month; midpoint ≈ 350,000 COP/mo ≈ 4,200,000 COP/yr ≈ 1,254 USD at 3,349.7 COP/USD (range ≈ $895–$1,610). Curated market midpoint — Colombian prepaid-medicine premiums are age/plan-banded and quoted on request, not from a public engine.
- Notes
- Residents affiliated to an EPS already have universal contributory cover; prepaid medicine buys faster access, private hospitals and broader networks. Premiums exclude the mandatory 12.5% health contribution (counted in the tax burden), not an insurance premium. International (IPMI) plans cost several times more.