A Cuban resident in Artemisa documented yesterday on TikTok what can be purchased with an average salary in Cuba: two packets of spaghetti, a can of tuna, a can of tomato puree, a kilogram of cheese, and a can of soda, all for 4,830 Cuban pesos out of a budget of 5,000.
The content creator Ray (@raymond_ulloa) visited Bodegón La Fe, in the center of Artemisa, with that amount in hand to replicate the experiment that more and more Cubans are conducting on social media: comparing the monthly salary to the actual market prices.
The breakdown of the purchase was as follows: two packages of spaghetti (580 CUP), one can of tuna (600 CUP), one can of tomato puree (450 CUP), one kilogram of cheese (2,910 CUP), and one can of soda (300 CUP).
"After thoroughly analyzing the products and my budget, I decided to buy some spaghetti, tuna, cheese, and sauce to add to the spaghetti," Ray explained in the video.
The author noted that several products in the grocery store had prices that individually exceeded a full month's salary, so he had to limit himself to the essentials: "I couldn't afford much more. There were products whose prices surpassed my salary, which is why I didn't pick those items, but I got the essentials to make spaghetti with tuna and a soda to wash down the meal."
The official average salary in Cuba, according to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information for 2025, was 6,930 Cuban pesos per month. With the informal exchange rate of the dollar hovering around 550 CUP in May and reaching 600 CUP on June 2, that salary amounts to less than 13 dollars a month.
The gap between income and cost of living is overwhelming. A study published on June 4 estimated that a person in Cuba needs at least 96,060 pesos per month to cover basic needs, which is about 14 times the official average salary. Just for food, 70,070 CUP is required, and this figure is considered conservative because it does not include electricity, water, internet, or interprovincial transport.
The average Cuban salary has lost approximately 20-22% of its real value in one year, despite nominal increases in pesos, due to an official inflation rate of 14.7% and independent estimates placing it close to 70% year-on-year.
The context is even more illustrative when considering other prices in the Cuban market: a carton of eggs costs between 3,000 and 4,000 CUP, a package of imported chicken exceeds 4,500 CUP, and according to reports from May, a pair of pants can cost up to 34,000 pesos, which is equivalent to several monthly salaries.
The 5,000 Cuban peso note— the highest denomination in the country’s history, issued on April 1, 2026, by the Central Bank— barely covers the average salary, which highlights the magnitude of the devaluation suffered by the national currency under 67 years of communist dictatorship.
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