What's an "impressive" middle class income and savings in Thailand in 2025?

[KhunLA]

10 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Well, whatever you say.. but there are about 6000 people who haven't gone native here...

We're talking salary & living expense.  If you have the visa already, that doesn't figure into monthly income & expenses, or monthly salary needed to be impressive.

 

Definitely not needed to live in TH, unless paying a large mortgage, and new cars every year or 2, financed.

 

Is this just another thread for you to tell people how fortunate you are ?  Not that others are not, but just don't repeat it over & over.

 

We're far from going native.  Just don't need to disclose our finances, besides what is asked.

 

Stating a kid need 100k a month to live on is silly, and simply self serving your ego.   IMHO

 

Have a pleasant day

[noobexpat]

2 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Well, whatever you say.. but there are about 6000 people who haven't gone native here...

 

 

300k baht a month, just to stand still financially? Of course, this is net not gross income. 

 

On the basis, that nothing comes for free and stress etc, that seems like a lot on you, especially here where it doesn’t need to be.

 

How old are you and when do you plan to retire?

 

 

[noobexpat]

7 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Is this just another thread for you to tell people how fortunate you are ? 

 

Fortunate? ...thats a big assumption though.

You have to visually see the person behind the words and the whole picture before that conclusion. You are never going to get that.

 

This guy is a snapshot of my worst nightmare lol. But i have friends back in UK who are similar. Kid turns 18 and needs £100k gbp for a house deposit. 

[Ben Zioner]

7 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

We're talking salary & living expense.  If you have the visa already, that doesn't figure into monthly income & expenses, or monthly salary needed to be impressive.

 

Definitely not needed to live in TH, unless paying a large mortgage, and new cars every year or 2, financed.

 

Is this just another thread for you to tell people how fortunate you are ?  Not that others are not, but just don't repeat it over & over.

 

We're far from going native.  Just don't need to disclose our finances, besides what is asked.

 

Stating a kid need 100k a month to live on is silly, and simply self serving your ego.   IMHO

 

Have a pleasant day

This answers the OP's question: "What is an impressive income". IMHO the LTR requirements should be a good indication, no?

 

Also the child burden of 50% of and adult's cost is reflected in the French Income Tax system. The family is taxed as a whole and the assessable income divide between the family members, 1 for each adult 0.5 for the two first children and 1 for each subsequent children.

 

And I never stated  a kid needed 100k I said two kids needed that.

[Ben Zioner]

12 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

How old are you and when do you plan to retire?

Well I am 72 and have been retired for the last 10 years, in Isarn. So kindda know what I am talking about.

 

Isarn might be part of the problem, as one grabs every opportunity to get out of it for a week or two. And establishing and maintaining a home with the normal commodities of life is probably more expensive than in Chon Buri.

[noobexpat]

2 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Well I am 72 and have been retired for the last 10 years, in Isarn. So kindda know what I am talking about.

 

Isarn might be part of the problem, as one grabs every opportunity to get out of it for a week or two. And establishing and maintaining a home with the normal commodities of life is probably more expensive than in Chon Buri.

 

Oh i see. Lack of context changes the picture dramatically.

When you write about costs, you should state age 72. I typically mention my age (50) when doing the same.

 

Age 72 with kids. Also an interesting situation!

 

[Ben Zioner]

5 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

Age 72 with kids. Also an interesting situation!

Why?  I share much more time with my two girls then I have share with my previous family. And my wife will inherit my pension. And assets..

 

[noobexpat]

6 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Why?  I share much more time with my two girls then I have share with my previous family. And my wife will inherit my pension. And assets..

 

 

Interesting doesn't mean bad ...i know its AN but not every comment is a battle.

 

Yeh i see the positives.

 

 

[PB172111]

15 hours ago, noobexpat said:

 

Ok ...so if we go worst case ie. Its decreased, what factors in thailand have caused my decrease?

 

Arguably, life saving care time could be slower here. I can't think of anything else thats different from my 50 years in UK compared with 2.5 in thailand. Therefore i will still refer to UK stats until i materially change something.

 

Agree or disagree?

You would be fun at a party

[noobexpat]

2 minutes ago, PB172111 said:

You would be fun at a party

 

Your previous boyfriend said your were unoriginal and predictable?

 

I'm more of sky bar person. Tichuca is nice...

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

45 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Isarn might be part of the problem, as one grabs every opportunity to get out of it for a week or two. And establishing and maintaining a home with the normal commodities of life is probably more expensive than in Chon Buri.

I can relate to that ... when living Udon, school aged wee one, and was out of town as much of the 3 months of school break as possible.

 

Even now, just the wife & myself, every month I need to go somewhere for a long week.   During the week even, need to explore locally for a new coffee shop, restaurant or view.

[KannikaP]

16 hours ago, blaze master said:

 

A UK male living in Thailand right ? So throw all that data you posted out the window as its irrelevant.

Why would a careful UK male die earlier if living in Thailand?

[JB300]

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

฿300k  = $8.900 x 12 = $105K = ฿3.58M a year, to live in TH 

 

Fits the topic title, 'impressive', but totally unnecessary to live here.

 

IMHO

Have 1 friend who was (he got promoted & had to move the family to Germany where he’s finding life really expensive) paying 150K pm to put his 2 kids through international school… Granted it was part of his expat package so it didn’t cost him directly but it does show that you can easily spend way more than 300K pa bringing up a child in Thailand. 

 

Have another mate paying 70K pm for the schooling of his 6 year old but he’s minted so it’s just a rounding error to his budget.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Why would a careful UK male die earlier if living in Thailand?

Ambulance service slow and has no trained medical staff on board and zero equipment.

Essentially you're dead before you get to the doctor.

 

Then there's the poor diagnostic skills of many Thai doctors, who form opinions of your illness in an instant and then allow their Thai pride to not only stop all further thought, but will stop all other medical staff that might have a different diagnosis.

Essentially their pride will kill you.

 

Then there's the poorly trained lab staff, who often produce erroneous lab test results, or even type the results of other patients in the wrong files.

[Captain Flack]

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[khunPer]

On 2/20/2025 at 4:04 AM, ericdk said:

I'm curious, what would be, as a farang but also objectively as a thai, be considered an impressive income and cash savings in the middle class in Thailand now?

 

Monthly income?

 

Cash savings?

 

Lets just say big cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

"Middle class" seems to be a quite wide classification, more like lower middle class, middle middle class and upper middle class. The latter below the level of real rich people.

 

Many Thais are now in the 15,000 baht per month income group – which also is the average monthly income – is that middle class, perhaps low middle class?

 

This income level also means that they are paying the maximum Social Security, 1,500 baht per month, and obtain the benefits – including retirement pension – from that.

 

If a household has double income it is in average around 30,000 baht per month.

 

 

(Source link: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030220/thailand-average-monthly-income-per-household-by-region/)

 

As stated from above, the average household income in Bangkok is around 40,000 baht per month.

 

The median salary is – perhaps a bit surprising – stated by Time Doctor to be 88,900 THB per month; implying that 50% of the population earns more than 88,900 THB, while the other 50% earns below 88,900 THB.
(Source link: https://www.timedoctor.com/blog/average-salary-in-thailand/)

 

However, this median salary might be based on foreigner's income level, or positions with education and some level of experience, as it range from 24,500 baht to 433,000 baht per month.

 

(Source link: https://www.salaryexplorer.com/average-salary-wage-comparison-thailand-c215)

 

So, the area around 90,000 baht per month could be the midlle of the middle class. And how do you save from that income. To me, it seems like a major saving is real estate – i.e., to own your home – and furthermore some might well be in deductible retirement savings, when we are up in that income level. With the mortgage typically around 50% of the property value, there could be quite a bit of saving there.

 

My girlfriend told me that when she visited our Thai next door neighbour – good friends that I considered as being somewhere in the middle class level – the were making their budget. She told me the had 300,000 baht disposal income. I was a bit surprised, because that is 25,000 baht per month, I thought they had little more. My girlfriend replied: "It not per year, it per month! How would you else expect them to send their two kids in expensive schools?"

 

Suddenly – me, the farang that many Thais are supposed to consider as "rich" – I fell a little poor...

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, JB300 said:

Have 1 friend who was (he got promoted & had to move the family to Germany where he’s finding life really expensive) paying 150K pm to put his 2 kids through international school… Granted it was part of his expat package so it didn’t cost him directly but it does show that you can easily spend way more than 300K pa bringing up a child in Thailand. 

 

Have another mate paying 70K pm for the schooling of his 6 year old but he’s minted so it’s just a rounding error to his budget.

You can always pay more, but not necessary, or possibly any better quality.   My kid got a decent education, at what I thought was terrible private school (grade & high school) at Udon Thani, although the better schools in that area.  If living in Udon, the best value probably.

 

More than enough for entrance exams for Unis, and she had her pick of any one that she applied at.   Went with Thammasat, as having good marketing department.

 

Paid off, then interning & then working at Lazada on their premium accounts.   Then to another company doing the same, and now at a better company, being compensated much better, for doing the same.

 

All on her initiative and drive, as she applied herself during covid, when they suspended students doing mandatory internship for grades.   She did it any way, and at the company she wanted to work for.  6 or 9 months of 'unpaid' interning.  12 tto 15 hour days, between school & work/interning.

 

You can pay as much as you want, need as much impressive income as required for your kids education, but if they don't apply themselves, it wasted money.  They had elementary international kindergarten at Udon, for some silly 100k price, I think.   100k, to learn alphabet, numbers, maybe, sing & nap time 

 

Her Uni only cost about 40k a year, but living expense was 30k a month.  She was actually spending more money than wife & myself per month.   Mostly due to condo rental & transport, till we gave her the car, as not worth selling, when we upgraded.

 

As stated earlier, she makes enough now (100k month) to buy housing, car & save.   Not really impressive income, middle class, but add her partners, (100k) and their sitting pretty good, for DINKs.

[Ubonian Canadian]

On 2/21/2025 at 3:47 PM, baansgr said:

Baht...and plenty 👍 

I turn 70 next month. I married "my nurse" who is 18 years younger 10 years ago. We own 4 Rai in rural Ubon. We built a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom & 2 kitchen large rancher. We have a paid off 2014 Toyota pickup we bought new, 3 motor bikes, 3 dogs & 7 cats. My wife's 3 young adult children, daughters fiancée, 1 grandson, sister & nephew all living here with my wife and I. We have a small hobby farm with chickens & ducks and are just starting crayfish.

We just get by on my $60,000 Baht per month but we all eat healthy and have a few beer from time to time.

[baansgr]

32 minutes ago, Ubonian Canadian said:

I turn 70 next month. I married "my nurse" who is 18 years younger 10 years ago. We own 4 Rai in rural Ubon. We built a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom & 2 kitchen large rancher. We have a paid off 2014 Toyota pickup we bought new, 3 motor bikes, 3 dogs & 7 cats. My wife's 3 young adult children, daughters fiancée, 1 grandson, sister & nephew all living here with my wife and I. We have a small hobby farm with chickens & ducks and are just starting crayfish.

We just get by on my $60,000 Baht per month but we all eat healthy and have a few beer from time to time.

Sounds perfect life for you..wouldn't you see yourself as middle class, I would 👍 

[noobexpat]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Ambulance service slow and has no trained medical staff on board and zero equipment.

Essentially you're dead before you get to the doctor.

 

Then there's the poor diagnostic skills of many Thai doctors, who form opinions of your illness in an instant and then allow their Thai pride to not only stop all further thought, but will stop all other medical staff that might have a different diagnosis.

Essentially their pride will kill you.

 

Then there's the poorly trained lab staff, who often produce erroneous lab test results, or even type the results of other patients in the wrong files.

 

Whacking thai people's cars with your shopping bags.

That decreases your life expectancy too!

 

[noobexpat]

6 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Sounds perfect life for you..wouldn't you see yourself as middle class, I would 👍 

 

There are 8 people living in the house ...i think ...not sure thats how middle class (at least by my own gauge) live. Not knocking the chap, the dogs and cats sound great. 

[noobexpat]

Isn't it funny when you get 5 notifications all at the same time ...the same person takes the effort to scroll back to all your posts in the same topic 😂

 

Love it 😛

 

 

[Caldera]

9 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

Well, whatever you say.. but there are about 6000 people who haven't gone native here...

 

Isn't it quite telling though how few dependant visas have been issued to dependants of LTR visa holders? Looks like most of them don't have ANY dependants, let alone a wife plus two children. Either they're single or they have gone native at least wife-wise.