The US-Mexico border
Rising US costs drive Americans to Mexico
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- Rising US living costs are pushing some Americans to move to Mexico while keeping their US jobs.
- Border residents are also increasingly crossing into Mexico for cheaper groceries, healthcare, prescriptions and other expenses.
Rising costs in the United States are prompting some Americans in border communities to relocate across the border into Mexico while keeping their US jobs and commuting back for work, according to The Telegraph’s reporting on the trend.
The pattern is reportedly most common in border cities, where residents can cross daily as part of their normal routine.
In Laredo, Texas, some US citizens have moved across the Rio Grande into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and continue to commute into Texas for work.
One of them, 24-year-old Yvette Rita, told The Telegraph she relocated with her husband and young daughter because of rising bills and grocery costs. She still works in Laredo.
Shopping in Mexico
The trend extends beyond people who have moved their households. The Washington Post reported that residents of Texas border communities regularly cross into Mexico for groceries, healthcare, prescription medication, dental work, and family visits, in some cases multiple times a month.
This kind of cross-border shopping is not new. Residents of border cities have crossed for years for cheaper dental care, prescription drugs, and groceries.
What appears to be changing, according to people who study the region, is the number of full household relocations, not just shopping trips, as US living costs continue to rise.
Read more: Mexico arrests cartel leader, US wanted fugitive with $5 million bounty
The size of the cost gap
Broad cost-of-living comparisons help explain the financial incentive for people living in binational metro areas.
The cost-of-living index Expatistan estimates that everyday living costs in Mexico run roughly 45% lower than in the United States on average.
The gap is sharpest on housing and healthcare: rent and out-of-pocket medical and dental costs are frequently cited by border residents as the two biggest reasons for crossing, alongside groceries.
