How Much Will I Need to Retire in Belize Comfortably?

Retiring in Belize and associated costs can vary wildly based on a few things like location, lifestyle, and even the foods and beverages you choose to consume. The quick and easy answer is that you can live comfortably on about 60% of what you currently spend.

The most expensive place to retire would be the Island of Ambergris, where a healthy Expat population currently resides in San Pedro and surrounding areas and has driven prices on real estate to the highest in the country. Being an island, of course, everything has an added cost of transportation in order to get to the market there, plus the cost of traveling back and forth to the mainland.

Costs on the mainland in the areas away from the sea, like San Ignacio and Belmopan, will generally be less for real estate and a little less for food. Belize levies a tax on imported goods, so the more you can live like a local the cheaper it will be. The coastal areas like Hopkins and Placencia will cost somewhere in between the areas of San Pedro and San Ignacio, with Hopkins being the less expensive coastal village and Placencia a little more. I have known people who can live perfectly well on $1500 per month, but $2500 seems to be the norm for couples who like to go out to eat a couple of times a week and enjoy the natural activities of Belize like hiking, fishing, swimming, and snorkeling. Compared to coastal areas with similar climates in the USA, the cost of real estate is exponentially less expensive and prices are always on the rise in these communities.

 

Belize’s agriculture industry is the driving force of the economy besides tourism, so locally produced vegetables, fish, chicken, pork, beef, and other farm products can be as much as half of the cost in other countries.

Once you’ve found your property and developed it, your cost to live there is largely dependent on your lifestyle. If you need Jack Daniels, Campbell’s Soup, and USDA imported steaks, you will likely be spending much more than the person who can enjoy the local rum, a cold beer, and organic grass-fed local beef on the grill, then you will find yourself living at about 30% less than your friends with the imported tastes.

There is the Qualified Retired Person program established by the government to reduce the cost of moving here and includes bringing in a container of household goods, vehicles and even boats with no duty assessed, and you can qualify for this program with proof of only $24,000 USD annually. Exact requirements and costs for this program can be found here: https://www.belizetourismboard.org/programs-events/retirement-program/#1490202032346-1e76d79c-10c0

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