How many years of minimum wage does an apartment cost? Ranking by city 2026
Machine-assisted English version of the Spanish original by Aptología. All figures are locked to the original (numbers are copied, not re-translated); if in doubt, the Spanish original prevails.
In Bogotá, an apartment of 2 alcobas costs 30.2 years of full minimum wage: the median price requested is $634 million, according to the sales ads of 5 October of 2026, and the minimum wage of 2026 is $1,750,905 (Decree 1469 of 2025), In Cartagena they are 37.1 years old and in Cali, the cheapest of the eight cities measured, 12.6.
Abstract: In none of the eight cities with sufficient data an apartment of 2 rooms costs less than 10 years of minimum wage. The rise of 23% of the minimum by 2026 cut between 2.9 and 8.6 years, according to the city, but did not change the ranking.
Updated: 9 October of 2026.
Prices ordered, not closing. The Aptology figures are medium of the price requested in the announcements published on 5 October of 2026, not what is finally paid or signed.
The ranking
| City | Medium price ordered, 2 alkobas (Aptology) | Minimum wage years 2026 | Years with the minimum 2025 | Years of per capita income (DANE 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartagena | $780,000,000 | 37.1 | 45.7 | 58.7 |
| Bogotá | $634,000,000 | 30.2 | 37.1 | 23.0 |
| Medellin | $550,000,000 | 26.2 | 32.2 | 23.8 |
| Rionegro | $470,000,000 | 22.4 | 27.5 | No DANE data |
| Barranquilla | $320,000,000 | 15.2 | 18.7 | 19.2 |
| Bucaramanga | $319,000,000 | 15.2 | 18.7 | 16.3 |
| Chia | $310,000,000 | 14.8 | 18.1 | No DANE data |
| Cali | $264,000,000 | 12.6 | 15.5 | 13.9 |
"Years of minimum wage" means the price divided by 12 minimum wages, without spending a weight on anything else. Complete detail in datos.csv,
What the data say
- No low city of 10 years. The starting hypothesis was "more than 10 years in expensive cities." The data go further: the eight cities exceed 10 years.
- Cartagena is the most expensive measure in minimum wagesabove Bogotá. Your offer for sale includes a lot of tourist or second-residence housing (see limitations).
- Measures against the real income of each city, Cartagena gets worse: the average income per person there is $1,107,779 per month (DANE, 2025), so the same apartment costs 58.7 years of that income. In Bogotá, with a higher income ($2,297,080), it is 23 years.
- The initial rate is also far away: saving 30% of the minimum wage, bringing together an initial rate of 30% of 2 alcobs in Bogotá ($190.2 million) takes 30.2 years.
Methodology
- Aptology data: average price ordered in apartment sales ads 2, by neighborhood (open Aptology API, 5 October of 2026, file
rentabilidad_arriendo_venta_barrio.csv). For each city we take the median of these medium-sized by neighborhood, weighted by the number of ads. Only cities with at least 300 sales ads of 2 alcobs enter: Cartagena, Bogotá, Medellín, Rionegro, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Chia and Cali. - Public data: minimum wage of 2026 ($1,750,905, Decree 1469 of 2025, ratified by Decree 159 of 2026) and 2025 ($1,423,500). Per capita income of the unit of expenditure 2025 by capital city (DANE, GEIH, monetary poverty annex, published on 12 June 2026).
- Formula: years = price ¬ (monthly income × 12).
- Update:
updatereread the Aptology dataset and the DANE annex and regeneratedatos.csv.calculator / prices _ per _ ciud.jsonand the charts. Every January, the new minimum wage must be put to the hand in the script.
Limitations
- They are prices ordered in ads, no closing prices or avalanos, and mix new and used housing.
- The median per city is calculated from the median per neighborhood, not from individual ads. In addition, it only counts neighborhoods that also have rental ads.
- The offer in oversized portals represents the medium and high segments. The price is not that of a VIS housing: the VIS ceiling is measured in minimum wages and is not compared here.
- DANE's income is a average per person (not the median) of 2025, while prices are 2026. Rionegro and Chia have no DANE entry data.
- The calculation does not include interest on credit, notarial expenses or subsidies.
Frequently asked questions
How many minimum wages does an apartment in Bogotá cost? A 2 bedroom has a median requested of $634 million, about 362 minimum wages of 2026: 30.2 years of full salary.
How much does an apartment in Medellín cost in 2026? The median requested for a 2 bedroom in the Aptology ads is $550 million, about 26 years of minimum wage.
What city is it cheaper to buy apartment in? Of the eight cities measured, in Cali: $264 million medium for a 2 bedroom, 12.6 years minimum wage.
How many years do I have to save for the initial fee? Depends on your income. With the minimum wage and saving 30%, the initial rate of 30% of 2 alkobas in Bogotá takes 30.2 years. Make your own calculation in the calculator.
How many years do I have to work to buy a house? With the minimum wage of 2026 and without spending anything, between 12.6 years (Cali) and 37.1 years (Cartagena) for a typical 2 apartment.
Search demand
Trends (2026 - 10 - 09): 'buy apartment' and 'how much an apartment costs' give ~ 0 against 'minimum wage', which has its peak in December and January. There is no clearly better specific query, so it keeps the main one. It is appropriate to publish or reactivate the study towards 28 December, with the decree of the new minimum, and to add as secondary 'buy a bogota apartment' and 'housing allowance'. Comparison: Google Trends. They're relative values, no absolute volumes. Google's self-completed, consulted on the same day, is on meta.json.
How to quote
Pinzón Pineda, D. M. (2026). How many years of minimum wage does an apartment cost? Ranking by city 2026. Aptology. With data from sales ads of Aptology, DANE (GEIH) and Decree 1469 of 2025. https://www.aptologia.com/estudios/anos-de-salario-minimo-para-comprar-apartamento. Data: datos.csv, CC BY license 4. 0.
Sources and data
- Original study (Spanish): ¿Cuántos años de salario mínimo cuesta un apartamento? Ranking por ciudad 2026
- GitHub (CSV, PDF): https://github.com/elbroker/aptologia-datos/tree/main/estudios/anos-de-salario-minimo-para-comprar-apartamento
- Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/datasets/aptologia/anos-de-salario-minimo-para-comprar-apartamento-colombia-2026
More questions
- How many minimum wages does an apartment in Bogotá cost?
- How much does an apartment in Medellín cost in 2026?
- What city is it cheaper to buy apartment in?
- How many years do I have to save for the initial fee?
- How many years do I have to work to buy a house?
- What does the study “How many years of minimum wage does an apartment cost? Ranking by city 2026” show?