Cost of living in Cambodia in 2025

Hi Cheryl. Perhaps my experience over the last two years living in Siem Reap is unique. A lot is formed by my wonderful Khmer partner who takes care of me and makes life much easier and often cheaper. Definitely more fun.

We live in a 3 bedroom house about 2km from downtown. We pay 220 a month with a year lease. We just renewed the lease. Our electric bill is higher because we both enjoy sleeping in a   colder room. Tap water and garbage is normal I guess. I don't really know what we pay for food monthly. Nor do I shop for myself for shoes or clothing. It always costs more if I do so I just let my partner do all that. She's a wonderful cook and does some Cambodian food but mostly stuff she knows I like. For transit I just use passapp to get around.  There are coupons to get 50% off often for weekend and weekday travel. We often visit other places in Cambodia since I want to see the places I have not been here. More rarely do we go to other countries.

I would say our quality of life is very nice. I don't really do much. Walk every day and go to a local coffee shop I enjoy. I spend about 5k riel a day on coffee.  My "wife" as she calls herself takes care of about 95% of the house stuff. I'm left with only doing what I want to do. That's not much besides enjoying Siem Reap.

Perhaps others have a more realistic snapshot of what they spend. I just leave most money things up to my partner. She does very well managing it all.

It's difficult to say because the BASIC cost of living is so low that it's not really necessary to keep track of your spending unless you're on a really tight budget, want to live a western lifestyle, or have a large family.

Rent is generally $200 to 300 per month including utilities. Of course, if you need a large house/villa and run the A/C all the time, you're gonna pay hundreds more.

There aren't any subways or public city buses, even in the capital city Phnom Penh. People often have their own motorbike, car or bicycle/e-bike, walk a lot, or take tuks tuks for a couple dollars. Some people even own their own tuk tuk for personal use.

Health care isn't as cheap or as good as Vietnam but unless you need major surgery, it shouldn't be a problem. Last time I went to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning, it was $15. Haven't been to a doctor in years. Normal medications from the pharmacies are also cheap.

Tuition fees are something that will be relatively expensive for private "international" schools. However, the children of most expats here are probably already 30 or 40 years old as they are retirees.

Internet is usually free (included in the rent) and my phone plan is $6 a month for virtually unlimited data.

Shopping for food is also something that expats don't need to worry about. It's a tropical country so the cost of rice, fresh fruit, vegetables, etc. is pretty minimal. Small local businesses, sometimes run by expats, are baking fresh bagels, multi-grain bread, and pastries. It's a coffee producing country so unless you go to fancy coffee shops, you needn't worry about that.

Of course, if you're eating out in good upmarket restaurants every night and need imported goods, then again it will add up.

Most expats here don't seem to be too interested in replicating a western lifestyle but just want to have simple comfortable lives, which is possible without worrying much about money. It's a developing country though so don't expect the highest standards of living.