Cost of living
Build a realistic monthly budget by lifestyle tier.
Try it free →Read this first: Phichit sees almost no foreign visitors, so community-contributed price data for it is close to non-existent. Rather than publish false-precision figures, the tables below give indicative ranges typical of an inexpensive rural lower-northern province, clearly labelled as guide estimates. Confirm current asking prices — especially rent — directly for the specific town and property you choose.
Food & dining (indicative)
| Item | Indicative price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, inexpensive local restaurant / market stall | ฿40–60 | Rural provincial pricing — among the lowest in the country |
| Meal for two, mid-range restaurant | ฿350–600 | Riverside and town-centre restaurants sit at the top of this range |
| Cappuccino / café coffee | ฿40–65 | A modest café scene exists in Phichit town and around Bueng Si Fai |
| Local draft beer (small) | ฿55–90 | Cheaper at local shophouse spots than anywhere aimed at visitors |
Where people actually shop. Phichit town has a full-format Lotus's hypermarket in Tambon Tha Luang (122 Moo 8, Tha Luang, Mueang Phichit 66000), which also houses a Major Cineplex and an in-store Watsons pharmacy — confirmed against Watsons Thailand's own store locator, which lists its Phichit branch at that address. For bulk and wholesale buying there is a Makro branch at 310 Moo 3, Tambon Khlong Khachen, Amphoe Mueang (tel 056-031-730-9 / 056-036-038), per Makro's own branch contact page. A smaller Big C Mini convenience-format store also operates in the Ratchrot area of town. Deliberately not claimed: no full-size Big C Supercenter or Extra could be confirmed anywhere in the province, and there is no import-food specialist — for imported or specialty groceries, residents still make the roughly hour-long drive to Phitsanulok.
Housing & utilities (indicative)
Housing barely moves across Phichit — the province has no condominium market and no agency-led rental sector, so the real variable is whether you want an apartment room (Phichit town or Taphan Hin) or a house (everywhere). See the rental market guide for lease terms.
| Item | Indicative range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment room / small unit, Phichit town or Taphan Hin | ฿3,000–6,000/mo | Mostly above shophouses and in small local blocks |
| Townhouse or 1–2 bed unit, Phichit town centre | ฿4,000–10,000/mo | The most serviced part of the province, so the top of the market |
| 2–3 bed detached house, Bueng Si Fai / old city / districts | ฿4,000–12,000/mo | Let directly by local owners; garden and parking usually included |
| Basic utilities (electricity, water, common areas) | ฿1,000–2,500/mo | Electricity dominates; higher with heavy air-con use in the hot season |
The electricity line above rests on the national PEA rate, since Phichit is served by the Provincial Electricity Authority like every province outside Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan. Following the ERC's 5 August 2026 rebuild of the residential tariff — which cut the base rate from ฿3.78 to ฿3.69/unit — and an unchanged September–December 2026 Ft surcharge of ฿0.1623/unit, the collected all-class average fell to ฿3.86/unit (from ฿3.95), with ordinary residential users paying roughly ฿3.70–4.15/unit on the progressive tiers before 7% VAT, effective from the September 2026 bill onward.
Transport, connectivity & everyday (indicative)
| Item | Indicative price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol (1 litre) | ฿35–45 | A motorbike or car is a fixed line in almost every Phichit budget |
| Mobile plan (calls + data) | ฿300–500/mo | AIS and True (which absorbed dtac in the 2023 merger, network integration completed 2025) cover the province, plus state-owned NT |
| Home broadband (fibre, unlimited) | ฿450–800/mo | AIS Fibre, True and 3BB serve the towns; check coverage in the districts |
| Songthaew / short local trip | ฿10–40 | No BTS, MRT or city bus — songthaews and motorbike taxis fill in |
Phichit has no BTS, MRT or city bus network — a motorbike or car is the practical default almost everywhere, consistent with the getting-around guide. The train, however, is genuinely cheap and useful: Phichit, Taphan Hin and Bang Mun Nak all sit on the Northern Line.
The legal wage floor, and what it does not cover
One hard number sits under all the indicative ranges above. Under the Wage Committee's Notification (No. 14), announced in June 2025 and in force from 1 July 2025, the minimum wage in Phichit is ฿347 a day — the second-lowest of the seventeen bands in the schedule, with only ฿345 (Trang, Nan, Phayao, Phrae) and ฿337 (Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala) below it. Phichit shares ฿347 with fifteen provinces including its own neighbours Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai and Uthai Thani. So unlike several provinces this site describes as inexpensive, Phichit genuinely does sit near the bottom of the national wage schedule, and the hero above is not overstating it.
What the wage floor does not explain is the gap to the neighbours people actually compare Phichit against. Phitsanulok is ฿352, Nakhon Sawan ฿350 and Phetchabun ฿349 — five, three and two baht a day. A difference of that size does not produce the rent and services gap this guide describes; that gap is land prices, scale and the absence of a university, an airport and tertiary hospitals, not the cost of labour. Read the wage band as evidence about local incomes, not as the mechanism behind cheap rent.
Two carve-outs in the same notification change the picture at the edges. The ฿400 national rate for licensed hotels of categories 2 to 4 and entertainment venues serving food or drink applies here as everywhere — but Phichit has essentially no tourism industry for it to reach, so unlike Khao Kho or a coastal province it does not lift the local payroll floor in practice. Far more consequential is the exclusion: plantation and crop work, livestock, forestry, salt pans and inland fishery sit outside the minimum wage entirely. With around 43.8% of the Phichit workforce in farming, that means the ฿347 figure simply does not apply to a large share of the people whose spending sets local prices — which is the honest reason an official wage band understates how low incomes here really run. The statutory working day is eight hours, or seven for hazardous work.
Why we present ranges, not single figures
Phichit attracts essentially no tourists or digital nomads, which are the populations that fund granular cost-of-living coverage elsewhere in Thailand. What public data exists is official statistics — provincial output, workforce, agriculture — rather than shopping-basket prices. Rather than invent a precise number to complete the picture, this guide uses honest indicative ranges and flags them clearly. As verified, Phichit-specific data becomes available, these tables will be updated to cite it directly.
Frequently asked
Is there reliable cost-of-living data for Phichit?Barely. Phichit draws almost no foreign visitors — in 2021 the province recorded around 280,908 visitors of whom all but roughly 94 were Thai — so the community-contributed price trackers that cover Phuket or Chiang Mai have essentially nothing on it. This guide therefore presents indicative ranges typical of an inexpensive rural lower-northern province and says so plainly. We would rather flag the uncertainty than publish a false-precision number.
How much does it cost to live in Phichit per month?For a single long-stayer, a realistic all-in budget is broadly in the ฿15,000–28,000/month range depending mostly on housing and whether you run a car — an apartment room in Taphan Hin at the low end, a townhouse or house in Phichit town at the higher end. That sits below almost every province BAANLYY covers, and well below Phitsanulok an hour north.
Why is Phichit so cheap?It is an agricultural province with essentially no tourism and no expat-premium pricing. Gross provincial product per head ran at roughly ฿93,950 in 2021, agriculture and fishery make up about 37.7% of provincial output, and around 43.8% of the workforce is in farming. The legal wage floor agrees: under the Wage Committee's Notification (No. 14), in force 1 July 2025, Phichit is ฿347 a day — the second-lowest of the 17 bands, with only ฿345 and ฿337 beneath it. But the same farming share that explains the low prices also limits what that figure describes, because plantation and crop work, livestock, forestry, salt pans and inland fishery sit outside the minimum wage entirely. In a province where roughly two in five workers are in farming, the ฿347 floor does not reach a large part of the workforce at all.
What is the minimum wage in Phichit?฿347 a day, under the Wage Committee's Notification (No. 14), which took effect on 1 July 2025 and replaced Notification (No. 13). Phichit shares that rate with fifteen other provinces including its neighbours Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai and Uthai Thani. Two things are worth knowing alongside it. First, the ฿400 national floor introduced by the same notification for licensed hotels of categories 2 to 4 and for entertainment venues serving food or drink barely bites here, because Phichit has almost no tourism industry to apply it to — unlike a resort province, where that carve-out can beat the provincial band by ฿50 a day. Second, agriculture, livestock, forestry, salt pans and inland fishery are excluded from the minimum wage altogether, which matters more in Phichit than in most places.
What's the biggest cost driver in Phichit?Transport, more than housing. Rents barely move across the province, but with no mass transit and real distances between Phichit town, Taphan Hin and Bang Mun Nak, almost everyone needs a motorbike or car — and anyone who needs regular specialist healthcare should budget the trip to Phitsanulok, about an hour north.
How does Phichit compare to Phitsanulok for cost of living?Directionally, Phichit is cheaper across housing, food and daily costs. Phitsanulok is a working regional hub with a university, an airport and tertiary hospitals, and prices reflect that; Phichit is a rural rice province with none of those. We present the comparison as directional rather than a precise percentage, since verified side-by-side Phichit data does not exist.
Where do people actually shop for groceries in Phichit?Phichit town has a full-format Lotus's hypermarket in Tambon Tha Luang, with a Major Cineplex and an in-store Watsons, plus a Makro wholesale branch in Tambon Khlong Khachen and a smaller Big C Mini convenience store in the Ratchrot area. There is no full-size Big C Supercenter and no import-food specialist in the province — for imported or specialty groceries, most residents drive the roughly hour to Phitsanulok.
Considering Phichit for your relocation?
BAANLYY can connect you with vetted local agents who know the province's real rental market.
Sources & References
- Phichit province — Wikipedia
- Ministry of Labour — minimum wage rates, Notification (No. 14), in force 1 July 2025
- Makro — Phichit branch, official contact page
- Watsons Thailand — store locator, Lotus's Tha Luang, Phichit branch
- CapSolar — Thailand residential electricity rate, Sep–Dec 2026 (ERC/PEA/MEA-sourced)
- True Corp completes integration with dtac network — Developing Telecoms
- National Statistical Office, Thailand
- Tourism Authority of Thailand
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Founder of BAANLYY · International real estate broker, investor & relocation specialist
Last updated 12 September 2026 · Last reviewed 12 September 2026