Chicago vs Kaohsiung - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chicago	Kaohsiung
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2678	$956
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$6655	$2684
🏠 One person rent	$1596	$361
🏘️ Family rent	$2946	$819
🍽️ Food expenses	$700	$390
🚐 Transport expenses	$200	$96.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4876	$1264
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	7 km
🎓 Higher education	100	80
😀 Quality of life	95	83
🏙️ Population	2.75M	2.73M

The cost of living in Chicago is 180% more expensive than in Kaohsiung. Cities ranked 529th and 5750th ($2678 vs $956) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 483rd and 4th in the United States and Taiwan, respectively. Check the United States vs Taiwan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Chicago compared to 1.3 months in Kaohsiung. Chicago ranked 3rd best city to live in the United States vs Kaohsiung ranked 4th in Taiwan, while ranked 23rd and 417th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Chicago vs Kaohsiung infographic

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Prices in Chicago vs Kaohsiung

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

	Chicago	Kaohsiung
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.9	$3.82
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90.6	$30.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$12	$4.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$7	$1.53
☕ Cappuccino	$5.4	$2.84
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.95	$0.91
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1841	$363
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1327	$234
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3729	$876
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2474	$623
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$104	$78.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$123
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$62.1	$22.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.68%	2.19%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3391	$4370
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2689	$2797
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.48	$0.76
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$75.1	$28.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.1	$8.72
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.94	$3.25
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.68	$1.97
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.61	$2.4
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.13	$3.05
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.5	$14.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.2	$9.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.3	$16.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$5.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.84	$2.01
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.36	$2.65
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.43	$3.56
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$2.24
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.71	$1.93
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.81	$0.75
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.85	$1.68
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.9	$9.06
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.04	$1.62
🚬 Cigarette pack	$15	$3.85
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.5	$11.7
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.02	$4.83
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.63	$2.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.76	$2.09
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63	$33.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$14.8	$9.18
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$127	$50.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$29.8	$8.75
👖 Brand Jeans	$59	$83
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.4	$80.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2114	$378
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24502	$10905

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chicago

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 7 mi	Cicero	$2425
14 km or 8.8 mi	Berwyn	$2421
14 km or 8.9 mi	Oak Park	$2510
16 km or 10 mi	Elmwood Park	$2426
18 km or 11 mi	Maywood	$2444
18 km or 11 mi	Evanston	$2194
19 km or 12 mi	Skokie	$2256
19 km or 12 mi	Burbank	$2401
20 km or 12 mi	Melrose Park	$2418
21 km or 13 mi	Oak Lawn	$2384
22 km or 14 mi	Morton Grove	$2314
22 km or 14 mi	Niles	$2334
23 km or 14 mi	Park Ridge	$2389
23 km or 14 mi	Wilmette	$2264
25 km or 16 mi	Blue Island	$2377
26 km or 16 mi	Elmhurst	$2392
27 km or 17 mi	Glenview	$2363
28 km or 17 mi	Des Plaines	$2509
28 km or 18 mi	Dolton	$2359
29 km or 18 mi	Villa Park	$2393
30 km or 19 mi	Harvey	$2360
30 km or 19 mi	East Chicago	$1938
30 km or 19 mi	Westmont	$2362
31 km or 19 mi	Calumet	$2363
31 km or 20 mi	South Holland	$2344
32 km or 20 mi	Lombard	$2396
32 km or 20 mi	Hammond	$1948
32 km or 20 mi	Oak Forest	$2350
33 km or 20 mi	Northbrook	$2378
33 km or 20 mi	Mount Prospect	$2446
33 km or 20 mi	Darien	$2369
33 km or 21 mi	Elk Grove Village	$2506
34 km or 21 mi	Downers Grove	$2342
35 km or 22 mi	Orland Park	$2367
36 km or 22 mi	Lansing	$2342
36 km or 22 mi	Glen Ellyn	$2227
37 km or 23 mi	Highland Park	$2345
37 km or 23 mi	Munster	$1954
37 km or 23 mi	Tinley Park	$2351
37 km or 23 mi	Wheeling	$2371

Cities near Kaohsiung

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Tainan	$814
88 km or 55 mi	Taitung	$788
97 km or 60 mi	Chiayi	$747
124 km or 77 mi	Douliu	$770
150 km or 93 mi	Nantou	$796
163 km or 101 mi	Changhua	$813
175 km or 108 mi	Taichung	$894
224 km or 139 mi	Miaoli	$728
253 km or 157 mi	Hsinchu	$897
257 km or 160 mi	Zhubei	$821
265 km or 165 mi	Taoyuan	$875
280 km or 174 mi	Yilan	$731
285 km or 177 mi	Kinmen	$823
291 km or 181 mi	New Taipei	$1073
298 km or 185 mi	Taipei	$1181
301 km or 187 mi	Jinjiang	$627
307 km or 191 mi	Xiamen	$688
309 km or 192 mi	Quanzhou	$644
315 km or 196 mi	Keelung	$967
340 km or 211 mi	Putian	$625
341 km or 212 mi	Zhangzhou	$664
379 km or 235 mi	Shantou	$581
393 km or 244 mi	Chaozhou	$451
398 km or 247 mi	Fuzhou	$669
416 km or 258 mi	Jieyang	$443
430 km or 267 mi	Puning	$569
432 km or 268 mi	Longyan	$649
437 km or 271 mi	Ishigaki	$1155
457 km or 284 mi	Ningde	$648
466 km or 289 mi	Meizhou	$655
487 km or 302 mi	Sanming	$603
497 km or 309 mi	Nanping	$630
510 km or 317 mi	Shanwei	$936
562 km or 349 mi	Miyakojima	$1154
575 km or 357 mi	Rui'an	$681
575 km or 357 mi	Tuguegarao	$431
587 km or 365 mi	Heyuan	$764
600 km or 373 mi	Wenzhou	$726
605 km or 376 mi	Huizhou	$601
616 km or 382 mi	Wuyishan	$601