It was one of the buzzwords of 2025: Gentrification. With a huge influx of foreign residents, especially in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico’s cities (and beaches) have transformed from local communities to metropolitan hubs. Not everyone is happy about it.
We’ve collected some of the best Mexican and expat perspectives on these changes.
Mexico City’s cultural melting pot
In Mexico City’s Roma and Condesa, who really counts as a “local” in neighborhoods built on a century of migration? This timely essay traces Syrian Jewish shopkeepers, European refugees, U.S. veterans and today’s digital nomads to show that gentrification is about class and policy, not passports. Walk through protests, rent freezes, Airbnbs and new housing reforms in a nuanced look at a city forever shaped by newcomers.
Is tipping really helping?
In a Mexico City café, a casual “How much should we tip?” opens up a bigger, uncomfortable question: can generosity accelerate gentrification? This thoughtful essay follows a former U.S. restaurateur turned San Miguel local as she dissects 10–15% norms, “gringo taxes,” chronic overtipping, and who really benefits. If you live, work, or vacation in Mexico, it might change how you reach for your wallet.
The tipping point: Is your overgenerous gratuity in Mexico a form of gentrification?
Paradise lost
Once a sleepy Maya port, Tulum is now ground zero for the glittering, pseudo-spiritual elite known as the Tuluminati. This razor-sharp piece skewers tech-funded “shamans,” US $1,000-a-night eco-hotels, ketamine-fueled “healing” raves, and cult-leader chic fashion — while listening to locals worried about eviction, rising prices and fragile cenotes. Read how enlightenment, entitlement and Instagram transformed a jungle coastline into the world’s most photogenic cautionary tale.
Tuluminati takeover: How a coastal Yucatán city became a hub for high-end hippies
A local view on ‘those’ gentrification protests
In Mexico City’s Roma, what happens when you realize you helped create the gentrification you now resent? In this candid, Mexican-written essay, a former “niña fresa” charts 11 years of rising rents, lost corner shops, Airbnbs, anti-gringo protests, and the government’s deliberate tourism push. It’s a raw, nuanced look at love for a neighborhood, complicity, xenophobia and what repairing a fractured community might really take.
Another side of the story: A Mexican perspective on gentrification
The golden cage
In one of the most impactful pieces we’ve published this year, María Ruíz discusses the effects of gentrification on her hometown of San Miguel de Allende. In this deeply personal essay, she weighs the beauty, jobs and cultural festivals foreign residents brought against soaring housing prices, displaced traditions and neighbors pushed to the outskirts. From altars that vanished downtown to libraries, nonprofits and jazz festivals, discover how gentrification here is both wound and lifeline — and why everyone who moves in shares responsibility.
