Our favorite little ice cream shop with handmade ice cream in Frutillar 2,000 CLP for a double scoop waffle cone

The cost of living in a country is an important consideration. Some countries are very inexpensive to live in like Panama or Ecuador or Peru. But there may be trade offs for this lower cost of living like poorer infrastructure, unavailability and quality of goods, safety, the quality of living like safe water and clean food. And another big factor is how you choose to live. You can live like a king in Ecuador on an average US social security check or you can live like an average Chilean in Chile. Your choice but you need to do your research and make your choices based on the facts and your wishes of how you want to live. Some people want to have it all to be happy while others are looking to downsize and let go of things  to enjoy the simple life.
 The costs of living is a big and variable issue to deal with because prices vary from high in Santiago to low out in the country and small towns. 

Here are some numbers from my experience and as the rates are continually changing if you want to convert these prices to USD or any other currency, you can use this website https://xe.com/   

Rent-   1-2  bedroom apartment or cabin- out of city 150,000 CLP (chilean peso) in city 250,000 CLP
Rent-  3 bedroom apartment or cabin - out of city 280,000 CLP in city 350,000 CLP
A useful link - https://www.yapo.cl/
Yapo is the Craig's List of Chile. Just put in the region you are looking for and then put in the key words for what you are looking for in the left side bar in spanish, of course! Or you can search through the categories on the bottom of the left side bar. Rentals and cars are very popular items to list on Yapo.cl.

Always lots of cabins to rent especially in tourist areas

Cellular/Internet - The most popular services for cellular and internet are Entel, Movistar, and Claro.  BTW, you can't get service unless you are a temporary or permanent resident. You can get a pay as you go plan but no service contracts. High speed wireless in town 20,000 CLP or Low speed intermittent signal out in the campo with an internet company that has a tower on the nearest volcano 45,000 CLP . We have 2 cell phones and an internet plan with a router for 66,000 CLP per month.

Gasoline - 650 pesos per liter which is $3.63 per gallon. Diesel is significantly less like only 480 pesos per liter. So it would be best to purchase a diesel car or truck if you could.

Power Bill - 2 people in a 2 bedroom apartment with an average of 20,000 CLP per month or 5 people living in a 4 bedroom house with an average of 100,000 CLP per month

Propane -  Most homes use a propane stove and a propane hot water heater and with no central heating many homes use propane heaters esp. if they live in a city that can't burn firewood because of pollution. A 2 person home uses around 18,000 CLP per month and our 5 person home used 54,000 CLP per month

Direct TV- 10-20,000 CLP per month

Food - Food prices are comparable to the US. Jumbo is the high end grocery store and the prices may be a bit higher especially with imported specialty items. Better deals can be found at Lider ( the Chile Walmart) or Unimarc. We also shop for food at the local feria for fresh produce and seafood. We also shop for produce in bulk at the local feria that sells to markets. It's kind of like wholesale but it's not and if you can or dehydrate the produce it is much cheaper.

Shopping at the local feria

We spend about 200-250,000 CLP per month on our family of 3 but remember we also grow a lot of our own food.
Here are a few prices for you - 
milk- 700 pesos per liter that is about $4.00 per gallon 
ground beef - 4-5,000 CLP per kilo = 4-5$ per pound
bread - 1,000 CLP per kilo = $1 per pound
Here are some links to the most popular nationwide grocery stores

My crazy teenager outside the Jumbo Supermarket

Jumbo

Lider/WalMart

Always a good supply of fresh bread at Lider

A nice specialty coffee for 2-3,000 CLP

Cars -  Car importation is highly regulated and over taxed especially on used cars so cars retain their value better than in the US. You can get a decent small used car or truck for 4,000,000 CLP See yapo.cl for the selection of used cars. Towns and cities have great bus systems so if you live in the city a car is not always necessary.

We bought a 2007 Toyota Prado in Santiago in 2013 for about 8,000,000 CLP

This chart shows that living in Chile can be a whole lot cheaper than living in most places in the US. So prices are lower in Chile than the US but take a look at that last line on local purchasing power. Here is the definition of that term from Numbeo 

Local Purchasing Power shows relative purchasing power in buying goods and services in a given city for the average wage in that city. If domestic purchasing power is 40, this means that the inhabitants of that city with the average salary can afford to buy on an average 60% less goods and services than New York City residents with an average salary.

Hmmm, I guess that decrease in purchasing power means your chilean pesos don't go as far. So the lower prices may be a wash overall.

This chart was taken from Numbeo with the link provided below.

Indices Difference
Consumer Prices in Chile are 22.67% lower than in United States
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Chile are 33.47% lower than in United States
Rent Prices in Chile are 55.26% lower than in United States
Restaurant Prices in Chile are 25.61% lower than in United States
Groceries Prices in Chile are 33.17% lower than in United States
Local Purchasing Power in Chile is 53.08% lower than in United States

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/