Kaohsiung vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Kaohsiung	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$971	$1010
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2603	$2467
🏠 One person rent	$353	$555
🏘️ Family rent	$606	$956
🍽️ Food expenses	$410	$325
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$35.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1504	$512
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	80	8
😀 Quality of life	88	55
🏙️ Population	2.71M	77.6K

The cost of living in Kaohsiung is 4% less expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 5770th and 5497th ($971 vs $1010) 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 1.5 months in Kaohsiung compared to 0.5 months in Phuket. Kaohsiung ranked 6th best city to live in Taiwan vs Phuket ranked 9th in Thailand, while ranked 281st and 6330th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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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	$4.32	$5.76
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.4	$40.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.02	$9.13
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.57	$2.46
☕ Cappuccino	$2.93	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.05	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$349	$650
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$256	$429
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$630	$1157
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$468	$761
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$52.5	$63.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$79.7	$96.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.2	$19
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.55%	5.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4645	$3728
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3214	$2603
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.71	$1.53
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.7	$23.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$9	$11.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.99	$1.39
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$3.2	$1.74
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.19	$1.51
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3	$1.59
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.65	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.1	$19.8
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.99	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.6	$11.2
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.74	$3.02
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.55	$2.3
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.19	$2.17
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.77	$1.51
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2	$1.39
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.71	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.75	$1.36
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15.8	$19.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.63	$1.87
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.41	$4.4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$12.9	$3.35
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.02	$2.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.32	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.16	$1.44
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.6	$53.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.9	$7.75
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$69.2	$29.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.78	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$92.7	$64.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$88.3	$97.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$470	$565
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13326	$13979

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	$938
88 km or 55 mi	Taitung	$844
97 km or 60 mi	Chiayi	$904
124 km or 77 mi	Douliu	$884
150 km or 93 mi	Nantou	$868
163 km or 101 mi	Changhua	$874
175 km or 108 mi	Taichung	$942
224 km or 139 mi	Miaoli	$687
253 km or 157 mi	Hsinchu	$921
257 km or 160 mi	Zhubei	$889
265 km or 165 mi	Taoyuan	$989
280 km or 174 mi	Yilan	$792
285 km or 177 mi	Kinmen	$892
291 km or 181 mi	New Taipei	$1123
298 km or 185 mi	Taipei	$1248
301 km or 187 mi	Jinjiang	$643
307 km or 191 mi	Xiamen	$729
309 km or 192 mi	Quanzhou	$648
315 km or 196 mi	Keelung	$979
340 km or 211 mi	Putian	$673
341 km or 212 mi	Zhangzhou	$702
379 km or 235 mi	Shantou	$612
393 km or 244 mi	Chaozhou	$474
398 km or 247 mi	Fuzhou	$679
416 km or 258 mi	Jieyang	$473
430 km or 267 mi	Puning	$600
432 km or 268 mi	Longyan	$705
437 km or 271 mi	Ishigaki	$1039
457 km or 284 mi	Ningde	$672
466 km or 289 mi	Meizhou	$682
487 km or 302 mi	Sanming	$640
497 km or 309 mi	Nanping	$689
510 km or 317 mi	Shanwei	$954
562 km or 349 mi	Miyakojima	$1042
575 km or 357 mi	Rui'an	$717
575 km or 357 mi	Tuguegarao	$403
587 km or 365 mi	Heyuan	$777
600 km or 373 mi	Wenzhou	$774
605 km or 376 mi	Huizhou	$638
616 km or 382 mi	Wuyishan	$617

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$784
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$836
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$806
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$582
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$788
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$747
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$616
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$588
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$735
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$592
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$766
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$812
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$545
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$429
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$637
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$762
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$720
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$439
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$555
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$407
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$531
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$677
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$453
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$449
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$567
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$449
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$678
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$787
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$459
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$470
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$550
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$809
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$839
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$743
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$741
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$766
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$718
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$783
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$799
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$992