Covering basic services already costs more than 24 thousand pesos per month for a family, and the income is not enough. Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) on the cost of the basic food basket and basic services showed that an average Mexican family of five—mom, dad, two children, and one grandparent—requires more than 24 thousand pesos per month. Just for food—which includes a basic individual portion of bread, tortilla, fruits, vegetables, milk, egg, and a portion of meat, among the most important—households need 9,701.85 pesos per month in rural areas and up to 12,855.9 pesos in cities. However, if the cost of priority services is added, the expense soars to 17,767.3 pesos for a rural family (of five) and 24,702.25 pesos in the country's urban and large cities. The money is not enough The National Survey of Occupation and Employment yielded the following key data: 77.4% of Mexicans earn between one and two minimum wages; between 9,451.2 and 18,902.4 pesos per month. Any of these people, on their own, cannot cover the cost of food and basic services, neither in rural nor in urban areas. In rural areas, a family requires two adults to work and earn at least one minimum wage to cover food and services. In urban areas, one adult must earn 2.7 minimum wages, equivalent to 25,518.24 pesos, to cover their family's maintenance. Essential expenses eat up the money and leave no room for maneuver in the pockets of millions of people, the Inegi revealed. Official data showed that the basic food basket, with essential nutrients, rose by more than 8% in the last year, while eight out of ten Mexicans lack sufficient income to feed and offer priority services to their loved ones. Through its report on Poverty Lines in Mexico, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported that the cost of the basic food basket shot up to 1,940.37 pesos per person in rural areas and to 2,571.18 in urban zones. The federal body noted that the basic food basket, for adequate nutrition, increased by 7.9% for those living in the countryside or in remote populations and up to 8.1% in the country's cities. But, if the cost of basic services is added—from clothing and footwear to transport, gas, water, electricity, education, and recreation—the minimum cost of living in Mexico rises to 3,553.46 in the rural sphere and an average of 4,940.45 in urban areas, per person. How much does it cost to live in Mexico? The numbers don't lie. Either that two adults work and one of them earns two minimum wages.
