Tool · Official data · Luc ‘n’ Steve on Leave
The Real Cost of Living: Mexico vs Quebec
🌐 Version française · English · Versión en español
We spend six months a year in Mexico and six months in Quebec. And the question we get asked most often is: “How much does it really cost?”
Here’s the answer in numbers — real ones, taken from official data. No travelers’ impressions, no “we heard that.” Just the data, explained simply.
How much does living 6 months in Mexico instead of Quebec really change things?
≈ $8,600 in savings over 6 months
That’s the figure you get when you use a monthly budget of $4,300 in Quebec (just an example — plug in yours in the table below). The same lifestyle in Mexico would cost about $2,865 per month. Month after month, the difference adds up.
The exchange rate
This is what one Canadian dollar buys in pesos today, at the official exchange rate.
The “real” rate
The purchasing power rate: how many pesos you need to live the same life you can live with $1 here.
The real gap
For the same lifestyle, life costs about a third less in Mexico.
Where does the −33% come from?
The exchange rate (13.29) tells you how many pesos your bank gives you for $1. But a peso doesn’t go as far as a dollar in the same way everywhere: over there, your coffee, groceries, long-term rent, and bus fare take up less of your budget. The World Bank measures this difference for each country — it’s called “purchasing power parity.”
When we divide the two, we get the actual relative cost: for every $1,000 worth of living in Quebec, the same lifestyle costs about $666 in Mexico. That’s where the −33% comes from — and where the $8,600 in savings over a 6-month season comes from.
What about your budget?
Find your row. The amounts are rounded, and these are national averages — we’ll explain the limitation just below.
| Your monthly budget in Quebec | The same month in Mexico | Monthly savings | Savings over 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,500 | $1,665 | $835 | $5,005 |
| $3,000 | $2,000 | $1,000 | $6,010 |
| $3,500 | $2,330 | $1,170 | $7,010 |
| $4,000 | $2,665 | $1,335 | $8,010 |
| $4,500 | $3,000 | $1,500 | $9,015 |
| $5,000 | $3,330 | $1,670 | 1$0,015 |
| $6,000 | $3,995 | $2,005 | 1$2,020 |
Can’t find your budget in the table? Try your exact amount and number of months: the interactive calculator does the math for you.
What the numbers don’t tell you
Because in real life, the difference doesn’t always turn into savings. Often, we don’t spend less: we live better for the same price. A two-bedroom apartment in a duplex in Lévis, or a two-bedroom apartment with a big pool and a large terrace in Puerto Vallarta? The total can be the same — but the quality of life that comes with it has gone up.
Same goes for restaurants. The bill is easier on the wallet, sure — but if we go out more often or choose nicer places, our restaurant budget doesn’t necessarily shrink.
And here’s the flip side: if you insist on eating exactly the way you do in Quebec, the advantage disappears quickly. Imported products generally cost more here.
One last thing, housing: the -33% is a national average. A tourist condo rented during peak season in Puerto Vallarta costs more than the Mexican average — and it can eat up a good chunk of the savings.
Our own real budget, with our actual numbers from both sides of the border — that’s the report we’re putting together now, and it’ll complement this page.
The tools we keep in our pockets
A long stay takes some planning when it comes to money and bookings, too. Here’s what we actually use, nothing else:
Tangerine and Wealthsimple — the two accounts behind our day-to-day setup, explained in detail on our own pages:
Expedia — our travel shop for flights and our first few nights on arrival:
Transparency: some links on this page are referral or affiliate links. If you use them and meet the requirements, we receive a bonus or commission — at no extra cost to you. It’s one of the ways this site pays for itself. Always check the current offer before signing up.
Want to dig deeper? Check out our Travel + Money page and our Puerto Vallarta guide.
For the curious: method and sources
Method. The “real rate” (8.85) is the ratio of household consumption purchasing power parities published by the World Bank (indicator PA.NUS.PPP, 2025 edition): 10.329 pesos per international dollar in Mexico versus CA$1.167 in Canada. The ratio between this real rate and the current exchange rate (13.29) gives the relative cost used in the table: 0.666.
Recent inflation. In September 2026, the consumer price index was up 3.1% year over year in Quebec (Institut de la statistique du Québec) and 3.45% in Mexico (INPC, INEGI) — both economies are heating up at roughly the same pace, which keeps the price-level gap fairly stable from one year to the next.
Official sources. Daily exchange rates: Bank of Canada. Purchasing power parity: World Bank. Quebec inflation: Institut de la statistique du Québec. Mexico inflation: INEGI. Figures collected on October 27, 2026.
— Luc N Steve
