Cost of Living in Medellín: The Numbers We Could Source (2026)

Last verified: Oct 19, 2026 (every number below is dated and linked to the page we read it on)

General information, not financial advice. Medellín Basic is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Colombian government, EPM or Metro de Medellín. Prices change every month. We only print numbers we could tie to an official or named source, with its date. Check the linked page before you budget.

Short answer (checked Oct 19, 2026): Rent is the biggest cost, and it depends on the neighborhood. In mid-October 2026 the median asking rent for a 1-bedroom apartment was COP 4.3 million a month in El Poblado and COP 2.6 million in Laureles (ClickCasa listing data, Oct 19, 2026). These are asking prices, not signed contracts. For reference, the 2026 minimum wage is COP 1,750,905 a month, Medellín's annual inflation was 7.04% in September 2026, and the official rate was COP 3,174.67 per US$ on Oct 19, 2026. Sources: ClickCasa, El Poblado; ClickCasa, Laureles; Decreto 1469 de 2025; DANE, IPC; Banco de la República, TRM.

Why is there no single number?

Most "cost of living" pages give one monthly total. We don't, because the biggest cost, rent, has no official source in Colombia. It varies by neighborhood, building, furnishing and contract length. Below we give asking rents from named listing sites instead, with their dates and sample sizes. Utility bills also depend on your estrato, the 1–6 number assigned to the property (see neighborhoods). Below is what we could tie to a dated source.

What are the reference numbers for 2026?

The minimum wage decree is still under review by the Consejo de Estado. On Oct 9–10, 2026 the Labor Ministry said COP 1,750,905 remains in force. (Portafolio, Oct 10, 2026, press report)

Which prices are rising fastest in Medellín?

In September 2026, these were the spending groups with the highest annual price increases in Medellín, from DANE's figures as reported by El Colombiano:

• Restaurants and hotels: 9.65%
• Health: 8.65%
• Education: 8.29%
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels: 7.56%

Source: El Colombiano, Oct 8, 2026, citing DANE.

If you budgeted with prices from a year ago, eating out and housing costs are the lines most likely to be off.

How do you convert pesos to dollars?

Use the TRM for the day you're paying. Banco de la República publishes it daily. On Oct 19, 2026 it was COP 3,174.67 per US$, so COP 1,000,000 was about US$315. (Banco de la República, TRM) Your bank or card will apply its own rate and fees, which can differ from the TRM. See banking as a foreigner.

What does electricity cost?

EPM publishes its regulated electricity tariffs every month. For September 2026 (published Sept 16, 2026), the residential prices per kWh for customers on EPM-owned network assets were:

Source: EPM, Tarifas y costo de energía eléctrica, septiembre de 2026 (PDF), read Oct 19, 2026.

Estratos 1–3 pay a lower price for the subsistence block. Estratos 5 and 6 pay more than the cost price, and estrato 4 pays the cost price. The same EPM sheet sets the subsidized block at 0–130 kWh for places at or above 1,000 m. Medellín sits at 1,479 m (Alcaldía de Medellín, 2025).

From October 2026: a temporary efficient-use program from the energy regulator (CREG) can add a surcharge if a household uses more than 110% of its individual consumption target. Per press reports, the surcharge is 30% for estratos 1–3 and 50% for estratos 4–6, applied only to the kWh above the limit. (El Colombiano, Oct 5, 2026, press report; we didn't read the CREG resolution)

Water, sewage and gas: unknown. We didn't read EPM's tariff sheets for those services for this draft.

How much is the metro?

Metro de Medellín fares since Jan 10, 2026, per trip, for journeys with up to 4 connections across metro, cable cars, tram, Metroplús and feeder routes:

The Cívica Eventual card for visitors costs COP 12,100, paid once, plus whatever you load onto it. Source: Metro de Medellín, users page, read Oct 19, 2026.

The Metrocable to Parque Arví (Line L) has its own fares. The general/foreigner fare is COP 26,700 (Resolución 0008 of Jan 9, 2026). (same source)

City buses outside the metro system: COP 3,800 on buses and busetas, COP 3,900 on microbuses, from Jan 10, 2026. (Alcaldía de Medellín, Secretaría de Movilidad, Jan 9, 2026)

What does rent cost?

No Colombian authority publishes market rents by neighborhood, so these figures come from listing aggregators. They are asking prices (precio pedido), not the rents people sign for, and they usually leave out the building's administración fee. Dollar figures are our conversions at the TRM of COP 3,174.67 per US$ (Oct 17–19, 2026), rounded to the nearest US$10. (Banco de la República, TRM)

Median asking rent per month, mid-October 2026

Sources: ClickCasa, El Poblado rent data; ClickCasa, Laureles rent data; ClickCasa, Laureles vs El Poblado (Oct 18, 2026); Aptologia, Envigado. All read Oct 19, 2026. ClickCasa says it collects listings from FincaRaíz, Metrocuadrado and Ciencuadras. Aptologia says it covers 26 portals.

"All" mixes furnished and unfurnished. ClickCasa doesn't publish a separate unfurnished median for El Poblado or for Laureles 1-bedrooms, so we don't print one.

Limits of these numbers:

• Laureles furnished is thin. The furnished medians rest on 45 (1-bedroom) and 55 (2-bedroom) listings. ClickCasa reports that 7% of Laureles listings are furnished, against 18% in El Poblado. (ClickCasa, Oct 18, 2026)
• Envigado's count is probably inflated. Aptologia's 9,424 Envigado listings are close to its 11,061 for all of El Poblado, and the same apartment is often advertised on several portals. Treat 9,424 as an upper bound. We found no bedroom or furnished split for Envigado.
• Index-based ranges run higher for Laureles. Total Bienes, a real-estate agency, projected unfurnished 2-bedroom rents in April 2026 of COP 3.5–5.5 million in Laureles, 5.2–8.5 million in El Poblado and 3.8–6.2 million in Envigado. It based these on the Lonja de Propiedad Raíz de Medellín's rent index adjusted for inflation, and didn't give a sample size. (Total Bienes, Apr 2026) Its method is different from a median of live listings, which is why its Laureles range sits above ClickCasa's COP 3.0 million.

What the law says about rent: deposits in cash are prohibited for urban housing leases, and yearly increases are capped at the previous calendar year's inflation. (Ley 820 de 2003, arts. 16 and 20, Secretaría del Senado)

What do official fees cost if you stay longer?

Two Migración Colombia fees that often come up in a long-stay budget, as listed on its current fee page:

Source: Migración Colombia, tarifas vigentes.

Fees last checked Oct 19, 2026 on Migración Colombia, tarifas vigentes. If the official page says something different, the official page is right. See cédula de extranjería and extending your stay.

What about health insurance, coworking and groceries?

• Health insurance: unknown. We don't quote premiums. If you need a visa, see the coverage rules in health insurance for visas.
• Coworking: unknown. We haven't collected dated prices.
• Groceries and eating out: unknown as a peso amount. The DANE inflation figures above show the direction of prices, not their level.

What we couldn't confirm

• Contract rents. We only have asking prices from listing sites. What tenants actually sign for, and the administración fee, can differ.
• Envigado by apartment size, and El Poblado unfurnished. Not published by the sources we used.
• The Medellín inflation figure from DANE itself. We read 7.04% in El Colombiano's report of DANE's September 2026 data, not in DANE's city annex.
• Water, sewage, gas and the fixed charge on EPM bills. Not read for this draft.
• October 2026 electricity tariffs. EPM's October sheet wasn't in our results; the table above is September 2026.
• The CREG efficient-use surcharge. It comes from press reports; we didn't read the CREG resolution.
• Health insurance, coworking, groceries, restaurants. We have no sourced prices.

See also: Medellín neighborhoods overview · Banking as a foreigner · Health insurance for visas · Tax residency: the 183-day rule