The cost of living in rural towns and villages is low. Rent is low and food is usually from the shamba, it’s cheap. Transport is also cheap. In rural areas, rent is Ksh 500 to Ksh 2,000 for single rooms and Ksh 2500 to Ksh4,000 for bedsitters. One bedroom house will cost you Ksh 5,000 to Ksh 8,000. If your monthly income is Ksh 15,000, you will comfortably survive in rural areas.
The reason why teachers earn low salaries is because most of them work in places they were born. They don’t spend a lot of money on rent, food and transport. You will find a teacher earning Ksh25,000 per month and is not complaining because he lives in his own house.
Generally, if your salary is Ksh 25,000 to Ksh40,000 per month,you will comfortably survive in any rural town in Kenya.The only challenge is the phone network—some villages don’t have good network coverage. Electricity can also be a challenge. This means that if you are doing online work, it’s difficult to operate in rural areas.
Nowadays there are Airbnb in rural towns and they cost Ksh 1,000 to Ksh 2000 per day. It’s rare to find one costing over Ksh2,000.
