Quito Cost of Living: Overview
What it costs to live and work remotely from Quito, broken down by category.
Cuenca is Ecuador's established retiree-and-expat colonial city — Quito, the capital, is the genuinely different alternative: a larger, higher-altitude business hub with deeper professional infrastructure and more direct international flight connections, at a generally higher cost of living than Cuenca for comparable housing.
- 1BR apartment, city area — $400-1,200/month depending heavily on neighborhood; La Floresta and similar areas run $400-700 furnished, while La Carolina or González Suárez sit higher. Quito runs a real 15-25% more expensive than Cuenca overall, primarily driven by housing in expat-popular areas — worth knowing directly if you're comparing the two Ecuadorian cities on this site
- Coworking, monthly — $100-200/month at established spaces (Impaqto and similar, concentrated in La Floresta and La Carolina)
- Local SIM/data — $2-3 for the SIM, then $10-15/month for a 12GB plan via Claro or Movistar; Claro has the strongest overall network, CNT is the cheapest but has the weakest coverage
- Eating out, per meal — genuinely affordable; local restaurants offer real savings of 40-60% over international chains, and Quito's high altitude (2,850m) means no air conditioning or heating costs factor into any budget here
Run your own numbers
Every figure above is a starting estimate. Plug in your real budget with the Cost Calculator.
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