Guatemala Statistics 2026: Cost of Living, Prices & Wages — Official Data
Every key Guatemala number we track — cost of living, fuel, electricity, wages and exchange rates — compiled from official sources (INE, Banguat, MEM, CNEE, MINTRAB), refreshed automatically, and free to cite. Page rebuilt September 10, 2026.
Exchange rate (USD → GTQ)
| Metric | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Banguat reference rate | Q7.62730 per USD | 2026-09-09 |
Source: Banco de Guatemala — tipo de cambio de referencia, pulled daily from the official Banguat web service. Daily history and bank buy/sell spreads: exchange-rates page.
Basic food basket — canasta básica alimentaria (INE)
| Measure (August 2026) | GTQ / month |
|---|---|
| Urban, per person | Q950.00 |
| Rural, per person | Q734.16 |
| Urban reference family (4.16 members) | Q3,952.00 |
| Extended basket (CBV), urban per person | Q2,299.95 |
Source: INE Guatemala — Canasta Básica Alimentaria (published monthly; open data at datos.ine.gob.gt). Monthly trend chart + family calculator: canasta básica page.
Fuel prices (MEM national averages — estimated)
| Fuel | GTQ / gallon |
|---|---|
| Regular gasoline | Q38.88 |
| Premium gasoline | Q40.82 |
| Diesel | Q44.95 |
Source: Ministerio de Energía y Minas — precios de combustibles. Basis: MEM monitored prices, 2026-08-31 — MEM stopped publishing its weekly 22-department reference table when the Decreto 11-2026 subsidy ended on 2 July 2026, and now monitors the capital weekly and departments monthly. These national figures are therefore estimates built from the monitored capital price plus each department's last published gap, not an official national average. Last verified against MEM 2026-09-09. All 22 departments: gas-prices page.
Electricity tariffs (CNEE regulated rates)
| Distributor | Social tariff (GTQ/kWh) | Non-social tariff (GTQ/kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| DEOCSA | Q2.03 | Q2.12 |
| DEORSA | Q1.98 | Q2.06 |
| EEGSA | Q1.42 | Q1.51 |
Source: CNEE — precios regulados (tariffs reset quarterly), tariff sheet 2026-09-10. The social tariff is the subsidised residential rate CNEE reports reaching about 93% of users. Full tier tables and fixed charges: electricity page.
Minimum wage 2026
| Sector (CE1) | Monthly base | Daily | + Q250 bonus = total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-agricultural | Q4,002.28 | Q131.58 | Q4,252.28 |
| Agricultural | Q3,791.20 | Q124.64 | Q4,041.20 |
| Maquila (export) | Q3,409.73 | Q112.10 | Q3,659.73 |
Source: MINTRAB, Acuerdo Gubernativo 256-2025 (two-tier system; CE1 = Guatemala Department shown). The Q250/month bonificación incentivo (Decreto 78-89) is a separate statutory bonus on top of the base wage. Full sector detail, CE2 rates and salary benchmarks: salaries page.
Remittances (USA → Guatemala corridor)
| Metric | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-market rate (Banguat) | Q7.62730 per USD | 2026-09-09 |
We track what each major provider (Wise, Western Union, Remitly, Xoom and others) actually delivers on a US$500 send, daily since February 2026. Live comparison + rate history: remittances page.
Minimum wage vs. food basket
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Urban family food basket (August 2026) | Q3,952.00 |
| Non-agricultural minimum wage incl. bonus | Q4,252.28 |
| Basket as share of the wage | 92.9% |
| Left over after food | Q300.28 |
Derived from the INE and MINTRAB figures above — one full-time minimum-wage income covers the reference family's food, with little left for housing, transport or health. Context: canasta básica · salaries.
Methodology
This page is generated from the same live data feeds that power our topic pages. Each feed scrapes or queries its official source on a fixed cadence, stores the raw values with their publication period, and this page renders them at build time — no manual copying, no third-party aggregators in the citable sections:
| Series | Official source | Update cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange rate | Banco de Guatemala (Banguat) reference rate web service | Daily |
| Food basket (CBA/CBV) | INE — Canasta Básica Alimentaria monthly release | Monthly |
| Fuel prices | MEM — official weekly price sheet (national + 22 departments) | Weekly, when published |
| Electricity tariffs | CNEE — regulated tariff schedule (EEGSA, Energuate) | Quarterly |
| Minimum wage | MINTRAB — Acuerdo Gubernativo 256-2025 + Decreto 78-89 bonus | Annual |
| Remittance corridor | Banguat mid-market + daily provider tracking on a US$500 send | Daily |
Two things we deliberately exclude from the citable core: rent and expat-budget figures. Those are estimates built from marketplace listings and surveys — useful, but not official statistics. They live separately on the real estate and cost of living pages, labeled as estimates.
When a source pauses publication (as MEM sometimes does with fuel sheets), the last official figures stay up with their validity dates shown — we never substitute an unofficial source or extrapolate a number.
Download the dataset
Download guatemala-key-stats.csv
One tidy CSV: metric, value, unit, period, source, source URL, and retrieval date for every figure on this page. Regenerated daily.
How to cite this page
Every section heading on this page has a stable anchor (for example
/guatemala-statistics/#minimum-wage) that will not change — safe to deep-link from
articles and research. For press inquiries or a custom data pull, contact us.
Related data pages
Deeper series behind each number: canasta básica trend · exchange rates & bank spreads · gas prices by department · electricity tariff tiers · salaries & labor law · remittance provider comparison · food prices