Retiring in Baguio: cool air, steep streets, real costs

Baguio sits about 1,500 metres up in the Cordillera, inside the province of Benguet. That height is what sets it apart: PAGASA gives the city a mean annual temperature of 18.3 °C, “comparable with those in the temperate climate”. It is also a hilly city with a long, very wet rainy season, and its own airport had no airline flights in 2025. A retiree gains cool weather and two level 3 hospitals, and gives up flat streets and easy flights.

What it costs to live here

This page uses PSA’s 2025 poverty threshold for Benguet, the province around the city (preliminary, released 26 August 2026): PHP 33,906 per person a year. That is the income PSA says one person needs for food and other basic needs. For a couple, double it as a floor, then add what you expect to spend above the basics.

PSA put inflation in the Cordillera Administrative Region at 8.2% in September 2026, against 7.2% for the whole country (release of 6 October 2026). Inflation is the yearly rise in prices, so a budget written today needs room to grow.

Scroll the table sideways for more

Wages in the Cordillera

The regional wage board’s order CAR-24 sets the daily minimum for non-agriculture work in the Cordillera at PHP 505, in force on 20 October 2026 (NWPC summary of 6 October 2026). It gives a sense of local pay for hired help such as drivers. A domestic worker (kasambahay) has a separate monthly minimum, which the regional wage board sets under the Domestic Workers Act (RA 10361 Sec. 24).

Hospitals

The DOH Cordillera office’s list of licensed hospitals (as of 1 July 2026) shows two level 3 hospitals in the city:

• Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, government (DOH-retained).
• Saint Louis University Sacred Heart Medical Center, private.

The same list shows two level 2 hospitals in Baguio: Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital and Pines City Doctors’ Hospital, both private. If you need a particular specialist or regular treatment such as dialysis, ask the hospital directly whether it offers it.

The climate, month by month

PAGASA puts Benguet in climate Type I: two clear seasons, dry from November to April and wet the rest of the year. PAGASA’s 30-year rainfall averages for the Baguio station show how wet the wet season is:

Scroll the table sideways for more

PAGASA’s annual normal for the station is 3,841.4 mm. Almost all of it falls from May to October.

The honest drawback: no airline flights

No airline flights. CAAP’s 2025 passenger figures show no airline passengers at Baguio’s airport (Loakan). Every flight starts with the drive down the mountain to a lowland airport such as Clark or Manila.

The rain, too. From May to October Baguio gets more than 340 mm of rain every month, and over 900 mm in an average August, on PAGASA’s 30-year averages. Every trip to the lowlands, for flights, family or a hospital visit, goes by mountain road. Before you travel in the wet months, check the DPWH Cordillera office’s road advisories for the road you plan to take.

Getting in and out

For flights you go down the mountain to an international airport such as:

• Clark International Airport, Pampanga.
• Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, further south.

The trip time depends on the road you take and the weather, so plan for a long drive either way.

Things a retiree should check here

• Water in the dry months. Ask the Baguio Water District for the supply schedule in the barangay you are looking at, and whether the house has its own tank.
• Stairs and slopes. Many streets and houses are on steep ground. If you have heart, lung or joint problems, ask your doctor how the altitude and the hills would affect you.
• Land in forest and watershed areas. Before you buy land or build, ask the City Planning and Development Office and the DENR whether the lot sits inside a forest or watershed reservation.

See how Baguio compares with the other places in where to retire in the Philippines.

The OFW retirement calculator uses the same PSA threshold as this page.

To turn these figures into a budget, see the OFW retirement calculator and pick Baguio as the place.