Cost of Living in Phnom Penh for Foreigners: Real Monthly Budgets

A useful planning figure for the cost of living in Phnom Penh for foreigners is about USD 950 a month for one adult on a basic budget and about USD 1,600 for one adult living comfortably. These are worked scenarios, not citywide averages. They cover rent, utilities, internet, food, transport, household spending and leisure, but exclude health insurance, immigration costs, school fees and move-in deposits.

For comparison, Numbeo, a price database built from user submissions, puts one person at USD 616 a month before rent, with a one bedroom at about USD 369 outside the centre and USD 643 in it. That gives rough benchmarks of USD 985 and USD 1,259 before anyone adjusts for how they actually live. Figures quoted below without another source come from the same database.

Cost of living in Phnom Penh for foreigners: two defined monthly budgets

The two budgets below use fixed amounts so every total can be checked. They are examples for one adult, not minimums or promises about what every resident will spend.

How these budgets are defined

Basic, one adult. Rent is set at USD 400, roughly the going rate for a one bedroom outside the centre or in a cheaper pocket of the city. Cooking happens at home most nights. Paid trips are occasional rather than daily, and there is little room for going out.

Comfortable, one adult. Rent rises to USD 650, which reaches a one bedroom in or near the centre. Restaurant meals sit alongside home cooking here, paid transport becomes a daily habit, and the leisure line goes from USD 100 to USD 170.

Air conditioning use is not used to assign either scenario to an electricity tariff band. Only the meter reading shows monthly consumption.

The monthly table

Nothing is hidden in the arithmetic. Basic comes to USD 950, comfortable to USD 1,600. Swap your own figure into any row that does not describe you, whether that is skipping the gym, cooking every night or paying less rent.

What two adults report

This page does not publish a total for two adults or a family. The available sources use different household sizes and treat school, childcare and insurance costs inconsistently. Multiplying a single person's budget does not work either, because rent, school fees, insurance and transport all scale at different rates.

School fees are excluded from every figure on this page. Tuition, capital charges and enrolment fees differ by school and year, so they are covered in the Phnom Penh international school fee guide.

What these totals leave out

Health insurance sits outside the table because the price moves with age, plan and coverage area. To show the shape of it, SafetyWing lists its Essential travel medical plan at USD 62.72 per four weeks and its Complete health insurance plan at USD 177.50 a month for ages 18 to 39. Essential covers new and unexpected medical problems plus emergency evacuation, while Complete adds routine and ongoing care. Neither figure is a Phnom Penh average or a retiree quote.

Immigration costs are also separate because a retiree, employee and short-stay visitor do not use the same documents. The refundable security deposit and advance rent are move-in cash rather than recurring monthly spending.

What sits behind each line

Rent

The budgets round the one bedroom averages of USD 369 and USD 643 up to USD 400 and USD 650, which keeps the monthly arithmetic easy to follow.

Location is only one part of the rent. Furnishing, building age, floor, management fees, pool and gym access, and whether internet is included can change the price. Current rental listings also show different deposit terms for similar monthly rents. Neighbourhood details and lease checks are covered in the guide to renting an apartment in Phnom Penh.

Food

An inexpensive restaurant meal averages about USD 3.50. On the grocery side, rice runs near USD 1.08 a kilogram, chicken fillets near USD 4.21 and tomatoes near USD 2.16.

The table sets USD 220 for someone cooking at home most nights and USD 440 for someone eating out and ordering in. Imported food, alcohol and delivery habits move this line faster than anything else in the budget.

Getting around

A single local transport trip runs about USD 0.40. A taxi starts near USD 1.11 and adds roughly USD 1 a kilometre after that. App pricing and traffic shift what any individual trip actually costs.

The table works in monthly amounts rather than promising a fixed tuk-tuk or taxi fare. Replace it with your own commute and the number of paid trips you make.

Internet, mobile and water

• Mobile plan with calls and at least 10 GB of data, about USD 7.59 a month
• Broadband of at least 60 Mbps, about USD 25.38 a month
• Water, billed under the lease, by the building or directly to the property

The budgets set aside USD 35 for internet and mobile together. Water stays on its own line because rental listings show both metered and flat charges. Check whether either is already bundled into the rent before adding it again.

The household line is a chosen amount rather than a measured average. It covers cleaning products, toiletries and the small replacements that turn up every month.

Cash you need before month one

Many Phnom Penh landlords ask for one month's rent in advance and a security deposit equal to one or two months' rent. Some properties ask for more, so the signed lease controls the final amount.

Add the relevant visa fee and moving costs to the housing cash. The official e-Visa portal should be checked for the final amount charged during an online application because the table above lists the base visa fee shown by the portal.

Cambodia requires travellers carrying USD 10,000 or more, or the equivalent in another currency, to declare it to customs.

Why electricity bills vary so much

An electricity bill depends on two figures. The first is the number of kWh consumed. The second is the rate charged for each kWh. Air conditioning affects consumption, but appliance efficiency, room size, direct sun, temperature settings and other equipment all move the meter too.

The tariff bands, and which one you land in

The Electricity Authority of Cambodia's 2024 power sector report lists the following residential categories for the Electricité du Cambodge supply area. Check the current schedule before relying on them for a new lease.

The tariff band follows measured monthly consumption. Running air conditioning at night does not by itself prove that a household used more than 200 kWh.

What foreigners report being charged per kWh

Foreigners living in Cambodia report landlord and building rates of about 1,000 riel per kWh, and some as high as 1,500 riel. These are private billing rates, not EDC tariff bands.

A private billing rate does not automatically rise when consumption crosses an EDC threshold. The landlord or building may charge one flat rate under the lease.

Reported bills and the usage behind them

The same consumption can be priced very differently. The table below calculates the bill for 200 kWh rather than comparing households with missing meter data.

These calculations isolate the billing rate. They do not estimate how many hours an air conditioner must run to reach 200 kWh.

How to check your own rate

1. Record the meter reading at the start and end of the billing period.
2. Subtract the first reading from the second to find the kWh consumed.
3. Divide the amount charged by the kWh consumed to find the rate per kWh.
4. Compare the result with the lease and ask whether the bill is direct from EDC or issued by the landlord or building.

Photograph the meter when you move in and at the same point each month. If the meter moves after every appliance in the unit has been switched off, ask the landlord or building manager to inspect the connection.

What your immigration status adds each year

Immigration costs depend on status rather than lifestyle. The official e-Visa portal lists a USD 30 base fee for Tourist Visa T and USD 35 for Ordinary Visa E. The E-class entry visa is used before applying inside Cambodia for longer-stay subcategories such as EB, EG, ER and ES.

No current public General Department of Immigration fee schedule separating government extension charges from private service fees was verified for this article. Extension prices and overstay penalties are therefore not quoted here. Check the relevant procedure guide and obtain an itemised current quote before handing over a passport.

A comparison of the available categories is in the Cambodia long-stay visa options guide.

Living on dollars and riel

Cambodia is a highly dollarised economy, and the National Bank of Cambodia says US dollars are widely accepted alongside riel. This article uses 4,000 riel per US dollar for quick budget calculations. The official rate was 4,042 riel per US dollar on July 29, 2026, making the rounded figure about 1.0 percent lower than that day's rate.

For a monthly budget, check the conversion used for each payment. Do not treat 4,000 as a fixed official exchange rate.

Practical tips

Before you sign a lease

Ask for the advance rent, security deposit, electricity rate per kWh, water charge and building management fee in writing. Confirm whether electricity and water are billed directly by the utility or through the landlord.

Record the meter readings on the move-in date. Check the inventory and the lease conditions for deposit deductions before paying.

Cutting the bill

Track monthly kWh rather than estimating electricity from air conditioning hours. Clean filters, a lower temperature difference and an efficient inverter unit can reduce consumption, but the meter is the only reliable measure of the result.

Treat the food, transport and leisure rows as dials rather than fixed costs. Cooking more meals or cutting delivery changes the budget faster than squeezing every category to its lowest possible price.

First-timer mistakes

Paying an electricity bill without a meter reading or stated rate per kWh. Without both figures, you cannot separate heavy consumption from a high billing rate.

Counting the security deposit as recurring spending. It is move-in cash and may be returned under the lease after valid deductions.

Using a monthly total that does not state the household size or what it includes. A number that excludes rent cannot be compared with an all-in budget.

Treating 4,000 riel per US dollar as an official fixed rate. It is a common quick conversion, while the National Bank rate changes.

Conditions described in this guide reflect what long-stay foreigners commonly report as of July 2026. Prices, platform availability, and local practices shift. Verify anything time-sensitive before acting on it.

Key sources

• Numbeo Cost of Living in Phnom Penh
• Electricity Authority of Cambodia, Salient Features of Power Development in the Kingdom of Cambodia
• Official Cambodia e-Visa portal
• National Bank of Cambodia daily exchange rate
• SafetyWing Nomad Insurance pricing
• Realestate.com.kh rental payment and deposit guide
• Acclime Cambodia immigration guide