Kaohsiung vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Kaohsiung	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1002	$1014
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2658	$2500
🏠 One person rent	$370	$544
🏘️ Family rent	$633	$932
🍽️ Food expenses	$420	$335
🚐 Transport expenses	$80.9	$32.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1313	$944
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	80	7
😀 Quality of life	85	57
🏙️ Population	2.73M	77.6K

The cost of living in Kaohsiung is 1% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 5567th and 5469th ($1002 vs $1014) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Taiwan and Thailand, respectively. Check Taiwan vs Thailand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Kaohsiung compared to 0.9 months in Phuket. Kaohsiung ranked 5th best city to live in Taiwan vs Phuket ranked 5th in Thailand, while ranked 461st and 6129th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kaohsiung vs Phuket infographic

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Prices in Kaohsiung vs Phuket

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

	Kaohsiung	Phuket
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.91	$6.11
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.7	$41.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.18	$9.29
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.63	$2.15
☕ Cappuccino	$3.03	$3.04
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.99	$0.74
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$418	$595
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$263	$419
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$739	$1073
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$480	$738
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$47.5	$71.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$72.4	$109
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$28.5	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.46%	5.28%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4822	$4256
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3194	$2916
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.81	$1.45
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.7	$23.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.56	$10.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.99	$1.31
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$3.66	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.26	$1.67
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$1.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.93	$2.23
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$16.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.18	$4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.15	$2.83
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.66	$1.97
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.73	$2.37
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.25	$2.13
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.88	$1.6
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.34
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.78	$1.52
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$21.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.7	$1.83
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.56	$4.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.9	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.12	$2.43
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.39	$1.34
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.23	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$37.5	$53.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.72	$8.54
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$71.2	$29
💇 Haircut, simple	$9.6	$5.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$111	$65.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.5	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$446	$612
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$12260	$14328

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kaohsiung

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Tainan	$894
88 km or 55 mi	Taitung	$854
97 km or 60 mi	Chiayi	$914
124 km or 77 mi	Douliu	$894
150 km or 93 mi	Nantou	$894
163 km or 101 mi	Changhua	$914
175 km or 108 mi	Taichung	$1006
224 km or 139 mi	Miaoli	$695
253 km or 157 mi	Hsinchu	$993
257 km or 160 mi	Zhubei	$868
265 km or 165 mi	Taoyuan	$942
280 km or 174 mi	Yilan	$802
285 km or 177 mi	Kinmen	$901
291 km or 181 mi	New Taipei	$1135
298 km or 185 mi	Taipei	$1313
301 km or 187 mi	Jinjiang	$615
307 km or 191 mi	Xiamen	$707
309 km or 192 mi	Quanzhou	$621
315 km or 196 mi	Keelung	$1030
340 km or 211 mi	Putian	$634
341 km or 212 mi	Zhangzhou	$681
379 km or 235 mi	Shantou	$589
393 km or 244 mi	Chaozhou	$454
398 km or 247 mi	Fuzhou	$628
416 km or 258 mi	Jieyang	$451
430 km or 267 mi	Puning	$579
432 km or 268 mi	Longyan	$697
437 km or 271 mi	Ishigaki	$1078
457 km or 284 mi	Ningde	$628
466 km or 289 mi	Meizhou	$669
487 km or 302 mi	Sanming	$616
497 km or 309 mi	Nanping	$671
510 km or 317 mi	Shanwei	$941
562 km or 349 mi	Miyakojima	$1079
575 km or 357 mi	Rui'an	$700
575 km or 357 mi	Tuguegarao	$415
587 km or 365 mi	Heyuan	$766
600 km or 373 mi	Wenzhou	$753
605 km or 376 mi	Huizhou	$608
616 km or 382 mi	Wuyishan	$600

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$773
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$854
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$807
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$593
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$810
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$756
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$592
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$741
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$570
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$765
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$509
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$423
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$653
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$754
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$701
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$449
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$552
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$386
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$517
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$657
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$466
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$460
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$553
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$461
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$654
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$724
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$472
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$488
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$534
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$787
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$812
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$704
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$681
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$763
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$708
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$731
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$779
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$866