Kaohsiung vs Phuket - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kaohsiung	Phuket
🚶 Cost of living one person	$956	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2684	$3111
🏠 One person rent	$361	$519
🏘️ Family rent	$819	$1664
🍽️ Food expenses	$390	$300
🚐 Transport expenses	$96.8	$29.5
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1264	$718
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	27 km
🎓 Higher education	80	7
😀 Quality of life	83	53
🏙️ Population	2.73M	77.6K

The cost of living in Kaohsiung is 2% more expensive than in Phuket. Cities ranked 5750th and 5827th ($956 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd 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 0.8 months in Phuket. Kaohsiung ranked 4th best city to live in Taiwan vs Phuket ranked 7th in Thailand, while ranked 417th and 6063rd 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	$3.82	$5.23
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.6	$36
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$7.38
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.53	$2.68
☕ Cappuccino	$2.84	$2.39
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.91	$0.73
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$363	$504
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$234	$403
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$876	$1891
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$623	$1436
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.7	$79.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$120
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$22.8	$16.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.19%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4370	$4059
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2797	$2821
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.76	$1.34
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.8	$10.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.72	$11.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.94	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$3.25	$1.87
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.97	$1.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$1.5
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$2.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$20.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.6	$3.15
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.33	$3.05
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.33
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$2.06
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$1.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$1.44
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.31
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.75	$0.33
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.68	$1.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.06	$18
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.62	$1.71
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.85	$4.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$3.23
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.83	$2.36
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.28
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$1.4
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.5	$56.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.18	$8.94
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$50.3	$28.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.75	$5.56
👖 Brand Jeans	$83	$45.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$80.1	$98.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$378	$723
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10905	$13013

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	$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

Cities near Phuket

Distance	City	Cost of living
48 km or 30 mi	Ao Nang	$792
60 km or 38 mi	Krabi	$782
76 km or 47 mi	Ko Lanta	$772
173 km or 107 mi	Surat Thani	$563
183 km or 114 mi	Nakhon Si Thammarat	$763
185 km or 115 mi	Ko Lipe	$719
231 km or 143 mi	Langkawi	$560
248 km or 154 mi	Hat Yai	$570
248 km or 154 mi	Ko Samui	$705
256 km or 159 mi	Kangar	$536
269 km or 167 mi	Ko Pha-ngan	$730
289 km or 180 mi	Ko Tao	$777
293 km or 182 mi	Alor Setar	$490
331 km or 206 mi	Lhokseumawe	$435
339 km or 211 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
348 km or 216 mi	George Town	$620
352 km or 219 mi	Butterworth	$619
384 km or 238 mi	Langsa	$461
425 km or 264 mi	Taiping	$695
428 km or 266 mi	Banda Aceh	$398
468 km or 291 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
470 km or 292 mi	Ipoh	$628
470 km or 292 mi	Medan	$481
477 km or 296 mi	Binjai	$470
507 km or 315 mi	Myeik	$576
514 km or 319 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
517 km or 321 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
548 km or 340 mi	Hua Hin	$656
553 km or 344 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
569 km or 353 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
596 km or 370 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
625 km or 388 mi	Nong Prue	$752
625 km or 389 mi	Pattaya	$781
637 km or 396 mi	Klang	$670
637 km or 396 mi	Shah Alam	$645
638 km or 396 mi	Sihanoukville	$755
638 km or 396 mi	Ko Chang	$677
639 km or 397 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
641 km or 398 mi	Laem Chabang	$743
641 km or 398 mi	Kuala Lumpur	$810