Kathmandu vs Vientiane - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Kathmandu	Vientiane
🚶 Cost of living one person	$419	$1163
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1077	$2803
🏠 One person rent	$131	$769
🏘️ Family rent	$240	$1561
🍽️ Food expenses	$181	$222
🚐 Transport expenses	$62.2	$101
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$238	$231
😷 Air quality	Bad	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	2 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	28	13
😀 Quality of life	46	36
🏙️ Population	846K	948K

The cost of living in Kathmandu is 64% less expensive than in Vientiane. Cities ranked 8918th and 4590th ($419 vs $1163) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in Nepal and Laos, respectively. Check Nepal vs Laos comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Kathmandu compared to 0.2 months in Vientiane. Kathmandu ranked 1st best city to live in Nepal vs Vientiane ranked 1st in Laos, while ranked 6495th and 7436th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Kathmandu vs Vientiane infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/kathmandu/vientiane.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Kathmandu vs Vientiane infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/kathmandu/vientiane" target="_blank">Kathmandu vs Vientiane - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Kathmandu vs Vientiane

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

	Kathmandu	Vientiane
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$1.44	$2.19
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$18.8	$19.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.47	$4.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.57	$1.2
☕ Cappuccino	$1.81	$1.5
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.48	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$162	$784
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$84.7	$697
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$296	$922
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$173	$1623
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.6	$43.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$32.8	$67.1
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.58	$11.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.88%	10.13%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2191	$1858
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1059	$938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.22	$0.46
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$10.9	$49.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$10.8	$11.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.38
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.82	$1.71
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.55	$0.93
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.9	$1.04
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.62	$1.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.84	$11.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.13	$6.54
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$6.15
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.31	$1.99
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$2.04
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$1.33
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.51	$1.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.67	$1.02
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.17	$0.25
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.76	$0.74
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.27	$10.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.23	$0.99
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.87	$1.62
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.24	$3.67
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.53	$2.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.92	$1.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$1.02
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.5	$50.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$3.22	$3.55
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$15.1	$15.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.77	$1.83
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.8	$88.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$53.2	$57.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$85.2	$337
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3409	$9354

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Kathmandu

Distance	City	Cost of living
5 km or 3.1 mi	Lalitpur	$341
47 km or 29 mi	Hetauda	$294
94 km or 58 mi	Birgunj	$321
124 km or 77 mi	Janakpur	$292
146 km or 91 mi	Pokhara	$391
183 km or 114 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
222 km or 138 mi	Gorakhpur	$300
234 km or 145 mi	Biratnagar	$323
235 km or 146 mi	Patna	$316
238 km or 148 mi	Saharsa	$292
261 km or 162 mi	Damak	$317
300 km or 186 mi	Purnia	$300
320 km or 199 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
322 km or 200 mi	Siliguri	$312
332 km or 206 mi	Gaya	$299
346 km or 215 mi	Jaunpur	$297
355 km or 220 mi	Varanasi	$308
359 km or 223 mi	Raiganj	$309
384 km or 239 mi	Shigatse	$900
398 km or 247 mi	Mirzapur	$329
400 km or 249 mi	Paro	$459
410 km or 255 mi	Malda	$308
411 km or 256 mi	Saidpur	$296
421 km or 262 mi	Thimphu	$422
431 km or 268 mi	Allahabad	$314
438 km or 272 mi	Balurghat	$307
443 km or 275 mi	Rangpur	$296
447 km or 278 mi	Lucknow	$366
449 km or 279 mi	Dhanbad	$293
468 km or 291 mi	Kulti	$300
476 km or 296 mi	Asansol	$299
479 km or 298 mi	Dhangadhi	$384
485 km or 301 mi	Ranchi	$375
493 km or 306 mi	Rajshahi	$274
495 km or 307 mi	Berhampore	$304
503 km or 313 mi	Durgapur	$292
510 km or 317 mi	Bheemdatta	$370
510 km or 317 mi	Bogra	$280
517 km or 321 mi	Kanpur	$315
553 km or 344 mi	Jamshedpur	$361

Cities near Vientiane

Distance	City	Cost of living
63 km or 39 mi	Udon Thani	$543
109 km or 68 mi	Vang Vieng	$1183
172 km or 107 mi	Khon Kaen	$568
220 km or 136 mi	Luang Prabang	$1253
241 km or 150 mi	Thakhek	$1161
279 km or 173 mi	Phitsanulok	$537
336 km or 209 mi	Vinh	$579
337 km or 210 mi	Nakhon Ratchasima	$588
352 km or 219 mi	Ha Tinh	$558
363 km or 225 mi	Nakhon Sawan	$654
363 km or 225 mi	Chiang Rai	$584
388 km or 241 mi	Ubon Ratchathani	$545
392 km or 243 mi	Thanh Hoa	$563
392 km or 244 mi	Chiang Mai	$691
427 km or 265 mi	Dong Hoi	$500
463 km or 288 mi	Nam Dinh	$496
465 km or 289 mi	Pai	$633
475 km or 295 mi	Viet Tri	$592
480 km or 298 mi	Thai Binh	$513
480 km or 298 mi	Tha Khlong	$641
481 km or 299 mi	Hanoi	$647
487 km or 303 mi	Jinghong	$604
489 km or 304 mi	Serei Saophoan	$639
491 km or 305 mi	Rangsit	$595
503 km or 313 mi	Sa Pa	$553
504 km or 313 mi	Pak Kret	$715
507 km or 315 mi	Nonthaburi	$717
508 km or 316 mi	Bac Ninh	$513
512 km or 318 mi	Hai Duong	$554
519 km or 323 mi	Bangkok	$941
527 km or 328 mi	Pu Chao Saming Phrai	$748
528 km or 328 mi	Thai Nguyen	$570
529 km or 329 mi	Siem Reap	$644
530 km or 329 mi	Haiphong	$591
530 km or 330 mi	Lat Luang	$753
535 km or 333 mi	Nakhon Pathom	$548
540 km or 336 mi	Hpa-an	$610
545 km or 338 mi	Battambang	$573
553 km or 344 mi	Mawlamyine	$569
555 km or 345 mi	Hue	$393