The cheaper cost of living was one of the reasons we moved to Mexico in 2018. At the time, the cost of food, goods, and services was roughly a third of the cost in the US. We had a fine example of this shortly after we arrived. J left the door to the rooftop terraza open and the wind blew it violently shut, breaking one of the glass panes. The cost for the repair guy to come take measurements on day one, then return on day two and remove the broken pane and replace it was the equivalent of $7. At that rate, I calculated, we could break and repair a window every week and it would still be cheaper than replacing a window at our home in Virginia with plastic wrap.
Lately, however, I’ve noticed things are getting more expensive. When I was a kid, my Dad used to have a magnet on the refrigerator that listed “What things cost in 1944” (the year he was born). He would walk around the house saying stuff like, “When I was young, you could buy a gallon of milk for 30 cents, and they would deliver it to your door!” Then he’d hand us a sweater and turn the thermostat down to 52 degrees. In February.
I’m becoming my father. The other day I said out loud and within earshot of my children, “Geez, when we first moved here you could get a container of yogurt for 32 pesos. Now it’s 51 pesos!”
Yogurt with strawberries, yogurt with nuts, yogurt with raisins, yogurt with fruits of the forest. Any flavor will set you back $2.50.
Cringe-worthy, I know. But since I can’t take it back, I thought it would be interesting to compare the current cost of certain grocery staples in Mexico, with US costs in 1944 (the year my father was born) and 1970 (the year I was born).
1944 US Costs
loaf of bread - $0.09 ($1.33 in today’s dollars);
1/2 gallon of milk - $0.31 ($4.58 in today’s dollars);
dozen eggs - $0.55 cents ($8.13 in today’s dollars).
1970 US Costs
loaf of bread - $0.24 ($1.61 in today’s dollars);
1/2 gallon of milk - $0.66 ($4.43 in today’s dollars);
dozen eggs - $0.61 ($4.09 in today’s dollars).
2022 Mexico Costs
loaf of bread - $0.41 pesos (converts to about $2.00 USD);
1/2 gallon of milk - $0.74 pesos (converts to about $3.75 USD);
dozen eggs - $0.32 (converts to about $1.50 USD).
Now, I’m not an economist, so I don’t know exactly how you calculate today’s dollars from prior year prices. But I am a consumer, and what these numbers tell me is that it is cheaper to grocery shop in Mexico today than it was to grocery shop in New Jersey in 1970.
While that is somewhat comforting, it doesn’t negate the fact that the cost of living is rising - here, there, and everywhere. The price of yogurt is only one example. A liter of propane gas was $8.15 pesos in December 2020. Now it costs $12.10 pesos. A kilo of tortillas has gone from $18 pesos to $24. A liter of beer, about as basic a food staple as you can get, from $28 to $40 pesos. And it’s not even good beer! I don’t even know what these things cost in the US (well, I do know what beer costs) but I’m betting they aren’t cheaper than they are here.
Another good comparison between US and Mexican prices came up recently. For years we’ve been telling folks about the abundance of quality health professionals in Mexico and the low cost of healthcare. During my last year with the US government, my portion of the health insurance premium was $4,800, and the government chipped in $18,000. That’s a $23,000 windfall to Aetna Health without having to cover a single expense - we were pretty healthy that year and didn’t even drive past our doctor’s office!
In contrast, we paid $4,317 in health care premiums for our four-person family our first year in Mexico, with a $1,000 deductible. We had some minor doctor visits that year - removal of a big ball of wax from Coconut’s ear and pieces of R’s teeth are always falling off - but came nowhere near meeting our deductible.
The next year our premium jumped up to $5,620, which is a lot of money to pay just so your daughter can hear and your wife can eat. This plan period I decided to lower our premium to $2,842 by increasing our deductible to $5,000. It was a savings of nearly $3,000 in premiums and I felt brilliant!
It was working out perfectly until we were on our family ski trip in December and R decided to teach J how to properly take an Olympic-style jump. Only, she didn’t land it. She tore the ACL ligament in her knee, put her meniscus through the blender, did something called a segond fracture, and sustained an internal fracture in her tibia. On the same weekend as R wrecked her knee, our friend’s dog, Neptune, tore ligaments in his knee while trying to keep up with the young pups at the dog park. What’s that saying? Dog’s of a feather . . . anyway, surgery was on tap for the both of them.
R couldn’t keep up with the young pups at the ski park and got her first ride down the mountain in the ski patrol sled.
According to Guroo.com (a service of the non-profit Health Care Cost Institute), the cost of ACL surgery for humans varies widely across the US from facility to facility, but the national average in 2020 was about $14,800. For dogs, the cost can be as high as $4,500. Because we still believe the costs in Mexico average about a third of the costs in the US, we figured R’s surgery in Mexico would be about the same as Neptune’s surgery in the US.
That turned out to be wishful thinking. While the cost to fix Neptune came in right around expected, R’s quote was closer to the US average - three times more than what we expected to pay rather than two-thirds less. We rationalized it this way; Rebecca opted to go with a very highly-regarded, internationally-trained surgeon. Neptune just went to the local vet.
Anyway, I’m happy to report that both surgeries were successful and both patients are progressing towards full mobility. The primary difference in these post-op months is that R is allowed to sit on the couch while Neptune has to sleep on the floor.
