Kaohsiung vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kaohsiung	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$956	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2684	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$361	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$819	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$390	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$96.8	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1264	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	80	5
😀 Quality of life	83	34
🏙️ Population	2.73M	115K

The cost of living in Kaohsiung is 126% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 5750th and 8915th ($956 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 4th and 2nd in Taiwan and Bhutan, respectively. Check Taiwan vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Kaohsiung compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Kaohsiung ranked 4th best city to live in Taiwan vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 417th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Kaohsiung vs Thimphu infographic

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Prices in Kaohsiung vs Thimphu

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

	Kaohsiung	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.82	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$30.6	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.9	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.53	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.84	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.91	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$363	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$234	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$876	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$623	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.7	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$123	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$22.8	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.19%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4370	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2797	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.76	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$28.8	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.72	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.94	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$3.25	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.97	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.4	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.05	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.4	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.6	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.2	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.33	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.01	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.75	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.68	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.06	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.62	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.85	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.83	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.25	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.09	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$33.5	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$9.18	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$50.3	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.75	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$83	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$80.1	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$378	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$10905	$666

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 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