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What would your money buy in Cebu?
The average Social Security cheque is $2,071 and Medicare Part B takes $203 of it before it arrives — and an average is pulled up by high earners, so plenty of people get less. Put in what actually reaches your account.
| Budget $850 a month | Comfort $1,400 a month | Nothing skipped $2,000 a month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $330 | $560 | $900 |
| Power, water | $90 | $130 | $190 |
| Food | $200 | $330 | $450 |
| Everything else | $230 | $380 | $460 |
| Left over | $350 left | $200 short | $800 short |
| What that buys you | |||
| Aircon | Nights | All day | 24/7 |
| Pool, gym | no | yes | yes |
| Gate guard | no | yes | yes |
| Eating out | Rarely | 2× a week | Any time |
| Imported food | no | yes | yes |
| Cleaner | no | no | yes |
Every column is a whole month, nothing left out. Our own figures, checked August 2026 and sourced line by line. Health cover sits inside “Everything else” — and the cheap local HMO cards stop taking new members between 60 and 65, so past that age you are budgeting for international cover instead.
How these numbers were built
We ask for one figure because there is only one you know for certain: what lands in your account each month. Everything else here is ours to answer, and we would rather be held to our own numbers than to a form you had to guess at.
The fourth line matters more than the other three. Housing, power and food are the ones you can picture; “everything else” is internet, a phone, getting around, health cover, a haircut, a beer, a bus to the beach. It is the least precise line here and the one most comparisons leave out — and leaving it out is exactly how a monthly total comes out flattering.
Each of the three lives says what you give up as well as what you get. The cheapest one is real — thousands of people live well on it — but it buys an older building further out, no guard at the gate, and a fan through the hot part of the afternoon. Anyone can quote a low figure. Naming what it costs you is the part that is worth something.
What this cannot tell you is where inside those ranges you would land. That depends on the neighbourhood, the building, what you are willing to live without, and what the owner agrees to on the day. Which is the honest reason to talk to somebody who is standing here.