Boston vs Ho Chi Minh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Boston	Ho Chi Minh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3547	$735
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7979	$2016
🏠 One person rent	$2453	$376
🏘️ Family rent	$4007	$815
🍽️ Food expenses	$729	$210
🚐 Transport expenses	$146	$72.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5732	$487
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	2 km
🎓 Higher education	100	66
😀 Quality of life	91	65
🏙️ Population	676K	9.39M

The cost of living in Boston is 383% more expensive than in Ho Chi Minh. Cities ranked 24th and 6739th ($3547 vs $735) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 21st and 1st in the United States and Vietnam, respectively. Check the United States vs Vietnam comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Boston compared to 0.7 months in Ho Chi Minh. Boston ranked 17th best city to live in the United States vs Ho Chi Minh ranked 1st in Vietnam, while ranked 103rd and 4253rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Boston vs Ho Chi Minh infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/boston/ho-chi-minh.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Boston vs Ho Chi Minh infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/boston/ho-chi-minh" target="_blank">Boston vs Ho Chi Minh - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Boston vs Ho Chi Minh

Prices for goods and services in Boston and Ho Chi Minh are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Boston	Ho Chi Minh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.6	$2.17
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$101	$23.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12.3	$4.72
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.36	$1.18
☕ Cappuccino	$5.8	$1.88
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.99	$0.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2794	$459
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2107	$281
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5075	$1102
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3386	$634
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$140	$50.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$215	$77.2
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68	$9.54
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.63%	9.56%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10352	$4334
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5877	$2039
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.39	$0.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$90.1	$11.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18.1	$5.97
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.92	$0.89
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.19	$1.54
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.95	$1.06
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.06	$1
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.67	$1.49
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.4	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$3.66
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$10.5
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.17	$2.62
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.14	$1.02
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.61	$1.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.54	$1.12
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.72	$1.25
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.61	$1.21
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.8	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.78	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.2	$11.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.77	$0.93
🚬 Cigarette pack	$13.5	$1.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.78	$1.78
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.02	$3.41
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$4.05	$1.12
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.97	$0.89
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$79.2	$21.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$16.2	$4.32
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$195	$20.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$24.7	$9.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$63.8	$41.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2725	$277
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$31112	$14143

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Boston

Distance	City	Cost of living
4 km or 2.5 mi	Cambridge	$3805
4.4 km or 2.7 mi	Chelsea	$3101
4.5 km or 2.8 mi	Somerville	$3627
5.6 km or 3.5 mi	Everett	$2936
5.7 km or 3.5 mi	Brookline	$3088
6.9 km or 4.3 mi	Revere	$2948
7.4 km or 4.6 mi	Malden	$2922
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Medford	$2320
10 km or 6.2 mi	Belmont	$2943
10 km or 6.2 mi	Arlington	$2834
10 km or 6.2 mi	Watertown	$2906
11 km or 6.9 mi	Melrose	$2803
12 km or 7.5 mi	Milton	$2939
12 km or 7.5 mi	Winchester	$2710
12 km or 7.7 mi	Newton	$2784
13 km or 7.8 mi	Saugus	$2883
13 km or 8.1 mi	Quincy	$3131
14 km or 8.6 mi	Stoneham	$2740
14 km or 8.9 mi	Waltham	$2813
15 km or 9.4 mi	Lynn	$3088
15 km or 9.5 mi	Woburn	$2601
16 km or 9.6 mi	Dedham	$2873
16 km or 10 mi	Needham	$2824
16 km or 10 mi	Lexington	$2774
16 km or 10 mi	Wakefield	$2783
18 km or 11 mi	Braintree	$2934
18 km or 11 mi	Weymouth	$2922
19 km or 12 mi	Reading	$2732
19 km or 12 mi	Hingham	$2882
20 km or 12 mi	Burlington	$2403
20 km or 13 mi	Wellesley	$2805
21 km or 13 mi	Norwood	$2844
22 km or 14 mi	Peabody	$2851
22 km or 14 mi	Randolph	$2866
22 km or 14 mi	Salem	$3022
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmington	$2592
23 km or 14 mi	Marblehead	$2848
23 km or 14 mi	Canton	$2833
25 km or 16 mi	Natick	$2861
26 km or 16 mi	Stoughton	$2825

Cities near Ho Chi Minh

Distance	City	Cost of living
21 km or 13 mi	Thu Dau Mot	$530
25 km or 15 mi	Bien Hoa	$425
72 km or 45 mi	Vung Tau	$494
96 km or 60 mi	Svay Rieng	$678
113 km or 70 mi	Sa Dec	$512
127 km or 79 mi	Can Tho	$454
141 km or 88 mi	Long Xuyen	$508
153 km or 95 mi	Soc Trang	$514
162 km or 100 mi	Prey Veng	$721
167 km or 104 mi	Phan Thiet	$506
181 km or 112 mi	Mui Ne	$507
184 km or 114 mi	Kampong Cham	$513
189 km or 117 mi	Rach Gia	$526
198 km or 123 mi	Bac Lieu	$504
205 km or 127 mi	Phnom Penh	$836
233 km or 145 mi	Da Lat	$577
244 km or 151 mi	Ca Mau	$516
257 km or 160 mi	Buon Ma Thuot	$531
270 km or 168 mi	Phan Rang-Thap Cham	$534
271 km or 168 mi	Kampot	$596
300 km or 186 mi	Phu Quoc	$519
309 km or 192 mi	Stung Treng	$634
320 km or 199 mi	Nha Trang	$535
343 km or 213 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
414 km or 257 mi	Siem Reap	$644
433 km or 269 mi	Qui Nhon	$516
452 km or 281 mi	Battambang	$573
488 km or 303 mi	Ko Chang	$677
502 km or 312 mi	Serei Saophoan	$639
527 km or 327 mi	Ubon Ratchathani	$545
533 km or 331 mi	Quang Ngai	$427
584 km or 363 mi	Klaeng	$685
592 km or 368 mi	Hoi An	$584
605 km or 376 mi	Da Nang	$593
637 km or 396 mi	Hue	$393
663 km or 412 mi	Nong Prue	$752
664 km or 413 mi	Chaophraya Surasak	$739
668 km or 415 mi	Pattaya	$781
670 km or 416 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
676 km or 420 mi	Nakhon Ratchasima	$588