Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Medellín vs Buenos Aires

One person needs about €968 a month in Medellín and €936 in Buenos Aires, rent included — Buenos Aires is 3% cheaper overall.

🇨🇴
Medellín
Colombia · 2.5M pop
vs
🇦🇷
Buenos Aires
Argentina · 3.1M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€600€550
8% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€220€240
9% pricier
Eating out (meal)
€6€7
17% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€20€25
25% pricier
Avg salary (tech)
€1,300€1,400
8% higher
Coworking / mo
€120€110
8% cheaper
MedellínBuenos Aires
Rent€600€550
Groceries€220€240
Transport€25€15
Utilities€55€50

Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle

Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.

To live in Buenos Aires the way you live in Medellín on €3,000, you need

€2,901/ month net

3% less than today (-€99)

Medellín today
Basket €968 · left over €2,032 (68%)
Buenos Aires at the matched salary
Basket €936 · left over €1,965 (68%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 150% over in Buenos Aires (adequate) vs 134% in Medellín. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇨🇴 Medellín

Spring weather year-round and the cheapest nomad hub in the Americas.

Monthly budget: €968

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

🇦🇷 Buenos Aires

Very cheap in hard currency, with prices that move week to week.

Monthly budget: €936

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

Should you move to Medellín or Buenos Aires?

On salary, Buenos Aires pays more for tech roles (€1,400 versus €1,300 a month), so the money left over after costs is €464 in Buenos Aires at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €600 in Medellín against €550 in Buenos Aires. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Medellín at 76 and Buenos Aires at 72 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Medellín comparisons

More Buenos Aires comparisons