Ho Chi Minh vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Ho Chi Minh	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$735	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2016	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$376	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$815	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$72.4	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$487	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	2 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	66	5
😀 Quality of life	65	34
🏙️ Population	9.39M	115K

The cost of living in Ho Chi Minh is 74% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 6739th and 8915th ($735 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Vietnam and Bhutan, respectively. Check Vietnam vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Ho Chi Minh compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Ho Chi Minh ranked 1st best city to live in Vietnam vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 4253rd and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Ho Chi Minh vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Ho Chi Minh vs Thimphu

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

	Ho Chi Minh	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$2.17	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$23.4	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.72	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.18	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$1.88	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.5	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$459	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$281	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1102	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$634	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$50.1	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$77.2	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.54	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.56%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4334	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2039	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.27	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.9	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.97	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.89	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.54	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.06	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.49	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.3	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.66	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.02	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.12	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.82	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.7	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.93	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.3	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.78	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.41	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.12	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.89	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$21.4	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.32	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$20.2	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.65	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$41.1	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$105	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$277	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14143	$666

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300