Salaries in Bangkok

[kellysensei]

I am wondering what an average/typical salary is for an international school teacher in Bangkok? And is it more typical to be provided free housing or to be given a housing allowance?

FWIW, I have a Master's degree and over a decade of domestic experience.

[fine dude]

5 - 6K US plus housing & benefits at the top 2 schools, but extremely competitive to break into. Admin make 10-14K US per month.
Lower tier pay about 3-4K, but the cost of living in BKK has gone up significantly. Fine dining at high end restaurants is more expensive than the US.

[buffalofan]

It's hard to just give an average salary in Bangkok as there is such a wide range and extremes at both ends.

If you are at one of the top schools you can easily clear 200,000 baht/month. The wanna-be "international" schools might pay as low as 50,000 baht/month. If the school is for-profit and/or managed by Thais, run away as fast as you can.

Bangkok has this myth of being a cheap place to live, this was maybe the case 15-20 years ago, the only thing cheap there these days are the taxis. I would say anything below 120,000 baht/month + housing allowance is a joke and an insult.

[PsyGuy]

Median Points:
3rd Tier (lower): BT฿30K
3rd Tier (upper): BT฿60K
2nd Tier: BT฿90K
1st Tier: BT฿120K
Elite: BT฿150k+
Housing allowance is more common than assigned housing and BT฿200k+ doesnt surprise me or even give cause to blink.

There is still this myth that BKK is the backpackers cheap paradise, it not a true as it was at the turn of the millennium and before. Its still very possible to get by on very lite coin (and not just the taxies). Fine dining can be more expensive than some parts of the US, but cheap eats are still abundant. You can still get a place for a BT฿15K housing allowance. There are still a lot of ETs making BT฿30K or less and its not fun but doable, especially outside of BKK. Its more accurate to say its gotten significantly more expensive to maintain a western lifestyle.

[kellysensei]

Thank you; that is useful information to have ahead of the job fairs!

If anyone else knows something different, chime in. :)

[Heliotrope]

kellysensei wrote:
> If anyone else knows something different, chime in. :)

Have a look at cost of living here: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Bangkok
You can change the currency at the top of the list

[Cooldude]

Depends on the school. 120K a month plus housing should be a minimum. There are some appalling schools in Bangkok: teacher beware.

[PsyGuy]

@Heliotrope

Is that just informative or are you inferring a point?

I ask because Numbeo, as you cite it, shows a cost of living (without rent/housing allowance) as THB฿20K for a single IT and only THB฿72K for a family of four, which is very cheap to live off. Housing costs (rent, utilities, etc.) about doubles that, which is still pretty cheap.

[Heliotrope]

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Heliotrope
>
> Is that just informative or are you inferring a point?


Just informative, so the OP can see what to expect.
I don't always disagree with you.

[PsyGuy]

@Heliotrope

Thank you for the clarification.

[Heliotrope]

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Heliotrope
>
> Thank you for the clarification.

Haha, it didn't needed clarification imo - I just mentioned Numbeo as a good source.

[BM12]

For information, I was in Bangkok the last two years. I was making around 135k-140k THB pre tax (including 25k taxed housing allowance). Taxes are around 15%, during the January - December year. When I arrived, my first few months August - December were taxed at about 5% and when I left, my last months of January - June were also taxed lower. So you only get taxed fully when you work a full calendar year.

For what it's worth, my school was definitely not considered as Tier 1, but a decent Tier 2 school. The numbers Psyguy mentions are too low. There are a number of British schools that are certainly not 'elite' but are paying close to 150k (Harrows, Shrewsbury, Brighton), if you have a few years of experience. Schools like ISB, NIST and Patana certainly pay over 150k so that part is true.

Anyway, with my salary, it was pretty easy for me to save about 40k-50k THB a month, and that was including a few good holidays and weekend trips a year. Depending on your school, you could also get a nice payout at the end of your contract if your school has a provident fund or something similar. There are some good arrangements tax wise for that in Thailand so plenty of schools participate. Also, if you stay only one or two years, you can get all your paid taxes back. That being said, Bangkok is certainly not as cheap as it used to be. A lot of the prices are closer or over the big cities in western Euope or the US, though there are always some nice deals to be found.

[fine dude]

The problem with Thailand is its currency, which appreciated significantly against Western currencies, nearly 15%, over the past 5 years. Another reason why pensioners moved to Cambodia and Vietnam (of course, the ever-changing immigration rules being another reason).
The golden ticket is to break into an admin position and with a compensation of over 300K Thai baht plus benefits per month, you can live like a true expat.

[buffalofan]

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Heliotrope
>
> Is that just informative or are you inferring a point?
>
> I ask because Numbeo, as you cite it, shows a cost of living (without
> rent/housing allowance) as THB฿20K for a single IT and only THB฿72K for a
> family of four, which is very cheap to live off. Housing costs (rent,
> utilities, etc.) about doubles that, which is still pretty cheap.

Really, in Bangkok? Did Numbeo last update those figures in 1992 or something? In 2020, starvation would kick in by the middle of each month on those wages. Even the tight ass retiree crowd in Chiang Mai couldn't swing that.

[grdwdgrrrl]

I take home about 130,000 THB a month. Our family of five has a budget of about 10,000/week for everything not including rent. We save my partner’s pay which is a bit higher than mine as their years of experience are more. We are also at different schools in Bangkok.