There is no single national average rent in Guatemala. Rent ranges from about Q500 ($65) for a basic room in Huehuetenango up to the dollar-priced apartment towers of Guatemala City's Zones 10, 14 and 16. A typical one-bedroom runs roughly $120–$260 (Q900–Q2,000) in highland cities, $235–$390 in Xela and $150–$550 around Lake Atitlán. For the capital's zones this page quotes no fixed figure at all: the zone medians are rebuilt every week from active Encuentra24 listings and render live in the table below. What you pay depends on the city, the zone, the listing currency (USD vs quetzales), and whether the unit is furnished.
How much is rent in Guatemala?
Guatemala does not have one headline rent figure — the gap between the cheapest highland room and a furnished Zone 10 tower in the capital is an order of magnitude and then some. The honest answer is a range that depends on four things: which city, which zone, whether the listing is priced in dollars or quetzales, and whether it comes furnished.
Two datasets sit behind the numbers on this page. Guatemala City zone medians come from active Encuentra24 listings, re-scraped every week — the table below renders them live, with the scrape date printed directly above it, so no zone figure on this page is typed by hand or carried forward from an older scrape. The by-city ranges are advertised-listing ranges compiled across each city page as of March 2026. We date both honestly: the zone medians are current to the scrape date shown, the city ranges are a recent baseline rather than a this-week quote.
In the by-city table below, where we convert a quetzal figure to dollars (or vice-versa), the result is marked “computed at Q7.62” — that is the rate used for this page, not the slightly different rates used inside the underlying city pages. The live zone table does not convert at all: it reports each currency’s median on its own terms.
Guatemala City rent by zone (live median data)
This is the strongest dataset on the page: median rent from active Encuentra24 listings, split by listing currency because each zone runs two distinct sub-markets. Every figure in the table is rendered live from the weekly scrape — none of it is typed by hand, so the table and the sentences around it move together. Click a zone for the full neighborhood-level breakdown.
Encuentra24 active listings, scraped 2026-09-06, refreshed weekly; sale-priced rows excluded; medians calculated separately for each currency.
| Zone | USD median | GTQ median | Priced listings (USD / GTQ) | USD share | What the zone is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 — Centro Histórico | $3,300 | Q5,000 | 15 (3 / 12) | 20% | The historic centre, and the city’s oldest housing stock |
| Zone 4 — Cuatro Grados Norte | $850 | Q6,000 | 53 (35 / 18) | 66% | Small central apartments and lofts around the creative district |
| Zone 9 — the Zone 4-to-Zone 10 corridor | $912 | Q5,750 | 16 (6 / 10) | 38% | An established apartment market that stayed locally rented |
| Zone 10 — Zona Viva / Oakland | $1,500 | Q7,200 | 210 (183 / 27) | 87% | Restaurants, offices and hotels; the capital’s dollar-priced tower market |
| Zone 11 — Mariscal | $887 | Q6,200 | 45 (21 / 24) | 47% | Quetzal-first and locally rented |
| Zone 13 — Aurora / airport | $1,150 | Q6,600 | 83 (55 / 28) | 66% | Airport-adjacent, with a working mix of both currencies |
| Zone 14 — Las Américas | $1,525 | Q7,700 | 206 (184 / 22) | 89% | Embassy and executive addresses; overwhelmingly dollar-priced |
| Zone 15 — Vista Hermosa | $1,300 | Q8,250 | 202 (166 / 36) | 82% | Family-oriented: larger lots, international schools nearby |
| Zone 16 — Cayalá | $1,520 | Q6,200 | 212 (173 / 39) | 82% | Master-planned and walkable — branded Cayalá buildings plus older residenciales |
| Mixco | $1,000 | Q5,500 | 52 (13 / 39) | 25% | The western suburb, and the deepest quetzal-priced pool in the metro |
| Santa Catarina Pinula | $1,500 | Q5,650 | 34 (17 / 17) | 50% | Suburban houses and apartments along the Carretera a El Salvador |
Read the priced-listings column before the medians: where it is small, treat that zone’s median as indicative rather than reliable. The bracketed pair splits that total into dollar-priced and quetzal-priced listings, so each median’s own sample size is on the page next to it. Each median is the middle listing in that currency — the two currencies are separate markets, never averaged into one figure and never converted into each other. Listings carrying a sale price in the monthly-rent field are quarantined before anything is calculated, and a dash means the slice was too thin to publish.
Currency is the real story. Zone 10, Zone 14 and Zone 16 price in dollars and are rented by foreigners, diplomats and executives; Zone 11 and Mixco price in quetzales and are rented by locals; Zone 13 and Santa Catarina Pinula carry a working mix of both. In Zone 10 about 87% of priced listings are in dollars, against about 25% in Mixco — that gap, not the headline median, is what actually separates the two markets. Compare a zone’s two medians side by side rather than converting one into the other: a dollar listing and a quetzal listing in the same zone are aimed at different tenants.
Rent by city across Guatemala
Outside the capital, markets are smaller and quote in whichever currency dominates locally. The table below shows typical one- and two-bedroom advertised ranges (March 2026). Antigua, Lake Atitlán, Flores/Petén and Guatemala City quote mostly in USD; Xela, Cobán and Huehuetenango quote in quetzales.
| City / region | 1BR (typical range) | 2BR (typical range) | Priced in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antigua Guatemala | live, all sizes: middle half $1,200–$1,775 | live median $1,325 on 12 USD listings (small sample; see the live block on the Antigua page) | USD |
| Guatemala City (see the live zone table above) | see live zone table | see live zone table | USD |
| Quetzaltenango (Xela) | Q1,800–Q3,000 ($235–$390) | Q2,500–Q4,000 ($325–$520) | GTQ |
| Lake Atitlán | $150–$550 (≈Q1,140–Q4,190*) | $250–$880 (≈Q1,910–Q6,710*) | USD |
| Flores / Petén | $120–$400 (≈Q910–Q3,050*) | $200–$600 (≈Q1,520–Q4,570*) | USD |
| Cobán | Q1,200–Q2,500 ($155–$325) | Q2,000–Q3,500 ($260–$455) | GTQ |
| Huehuetenango | Q900–Q2,000 ($120–$260) | Q1,500–Q2,500 ($195–$325) | GTQ |
*Quetzal equivalents for USD-priced cities computed at Q7.62. For the quetzal-priced cities (Xela, Cobán, Huehuetenango), the USD figures shown are as published on each city page. Guatemala City carries no range in this table — its zone-level medians render live in the table above. City ranges reflect advertised listings as of March 2026.
Lake Atitlán’s floor is San Pedro La Laguna (rooms from ~$150) and its ceiling is lakefront Panajachel; Huehuetenango is the cheapest highland city overall, with basic rooms from Q500. Most Lake Atitlán rentals come furnished or semi-furnished, while highland-city listings are nearly all unfurnished.
Furnished vs unfurnished
Furnished units cost roughly 30–50% more than unfurnished ones. Within Guatemala City the zone-level premium runs a little tighter — about 20–40% depending on the zone (highest in Zone 10, lower in Zones 11 and 13, where furnished supply is limited). A month-to-month lease adds a further 15–25% on top.
If you rent unfurnished and furnish it yourself, budget a one-time $700–$2,000 for a basic apartment’s worth of furniture and appliances — often worth it on a 12-month-plus lease.
Deposits, utilities, and leasing without local credit
Deposit
Plan on about two months’ cash upfront: one month as a security deposit plus the first month’s rent in advance. Premium or furnished units can ask for two months’ security, which works out to roughly three months upfront in total. Leases are typically 12 months with 30 days’ notice; asking rent is usually negotiable 10–20% below the listed price.
Utilities (Guatemala City, typical monthly ranges)
| Utility | Typical monthly range |
|---|---|
| Electricity (EEGSA) | Q200–Q600 ($26–$78) |
| Water | Q50–Q200 ($7–$26) |
| Internet | Q200–Q500 ($26–$65) |
| Gas (propane) | Q75–Q150 ($10–$20) |
| HOA / maintenance | Q500–Q2,500 ($65–$326) |
| Parking (if not included) | Q0–Q1,500 ($0–$196) |
Typical ranges, not provider tariffs — these are editorial estimates from our Guatemala City data, not published EEGSA / EMPAGUA / Tigo rate cards. Bills run lower outside the capital and in cool highland cities (no air-conditioning load).
Renting with no local credit history
There is no credit-check system in Guatemala, so landlords manage risk in other ways. Foreigners and anyone without a local track record are typically asked for one of:
- a fiador — a guarantor who owns property registered with the RGP (Registro General de la Propiedad) and can show DPI, NIT, the property certification and proof of income;
- a póliza de fianza — an insurance bond from an insurer such as Aseguradora General or MAPFRE, paid as an annual premium. For newly-arrived foreigners this is usually the most practical path;
- or an extra deposit of 3–4 months in place of a guarantor.
A passport stands in for a DPI on the paperwork, and you should always sign a written contrato de arrendamiento — verbal-only agreements carry no legal protection, even though WhatsApp messages are legally admissible in Guatemala.
Renting from abroad (diaspora)
If you are organizing a move from the United States or elsewhere, you can usually secure a unit before you land. Landlords who serve the foreigner market will reserve a property once you pay the security deposit and first month, typically arranged over WhatsApp. Two things to plan for:
- Exchange-rate cost on the deposit. Any deposit you wire from abroad converts at the day’s rate — a meaningful line item on two or three months of rent. Move the money through a low-margin transfer rather than a default bank wire.
- No local credit history. Line up a fiador or, more realistically as a newcomer, a póliza de fianza before you arrive so the lease can close without delay.
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Explore rent on the map
Want to compare zones and cities visually? Open the interactive map and filter by cost to see how rent, safety, and internet scores line up across the country.
Explore Guatemala on the map (cost filter) →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average rent in Guatemala in 2026?
There is no single national average — the market splits sharply by city, zone, listing currency, and whether the unit is furnished. Rent runs from about Q500 ($65) for a basic room in Huehuetenango up to the dollar-priced apartment towers of Guatemala City’s Zones 10, 14 and 16. A typical one-bedroom is roughly $120–$260 in highland cities like Huehuetenango, $235–$390 in Xela and $150–$550 around Lake Atitlán; those city ranges reflect advertised listings as of March 2026. For the capital’s zones — and for Antigua — this page no longer quotes a fixed figure: those medians are rebuilt every week from active Encuentra24 listings and are shown in the live tables on the relevant pages.
Where is rent cheapest and most expensive in Guatemala?
Huehuetenango is the cheapest highland city — a basic room runs Q500–Q900 ($65–$120) and a one-bedroom Q900–Q2,000. In the capital the cheapest and dearest zones are not fixed: the live zone table on this page carries each tracked zone’s current median in both currencies and is rebuilt weekly. Structurally, the dollar-priced end of the market sits in Zones 10, 14 and 16, while Mixco and Zone 11 are where the quetzal-priced supply concentrates.
Why are some rents listed in dollars and others in quetzales?
Guatemala’s rental market splits by currency. Zone 10, Zone 14 and Zone 16 in Guatemala City are overwhelmingly USD-priced because they target diplomats, executives and remote workers who earn dollars — the live table on this page shows the current dollar share for every zone we track. Zone 11 and Mixco are mostly quetzal-priced and rented to locals. The two currencies effectively segment the market: USD listings skew furnished, modern and expat-targeted; quetzal listings skew unfurnished, older and locally rented.
How much deposit do I need to rent in Guatemala?
Plan on about two months’ cash upfront: one month as a security deposit plus the first month’s rent in advance. Premium or furnished units can ask for two months’ security, so roughly three months upfront in total. There is no credit-check system in Guatemala.
Can I rent without a local credit history or as a foreigner?
Yes. Because Guatemala has no credit-check system, landlords ask for a fiador (a guarantor who owns RGP-registered property), a póliza de fianza (an insurance bond, often the most practical route for newcomers), or an extra deposit of 3–4 months. A passport substitutes for a DPI on the paperwork.
How much more does a furnished apartment cost?
Furnished units cost roughly 30–50% more than unfurnished. Within Guatemala City the zone-level premium runs about 20–40% depending on the zone. Month-to-month leases add another 15–25%, and furnishing a bare apartment yourself is a one-time $700–$2,000.
Related Resources
- Renting Guide for Guatemala — leases, deposits, and foreigner-tax mitigation in depth
- Cost of Living in Guatemala — full monthly budget framework
- Zone 4 (Cuatro Grados Norte) Rental Costs — live USD median $850
- Zone 10 (Zona Viva) Rental Costs — live USD median $1,500
- Zone 11 (Mariscal) Rental Costs — live GTQ median Q6,200
- Zone 13 (Aurora / Airport) Rental Costs — live USD median $1,150
- Zone 14 (Las Américas) Rental Costs — live USD median $1,525
- Zone 15 (Vista Hermosa) Rental Costs — live USD median $1,300
- Zone 16 (Cayalá) Rental Costs — live USD median $1,520
- Mixco Rental Costs — live GTQ median Q5,500
- Santa Catarina Pinula Rental Costs — live USD median $1,500
- Antigua Guatemala Rentals · Quetzaltenango (Xela) · Lake Atitlán · Flores / Petén
- All Real Estate guides
