New York City vs Wellington - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	New York City	Wellington
🚶 Cost of living one person	$4202	$2003
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$9189	$4295
🏠 One person rent	$2718	$1243
🏘️ Family rent	$4417	$1875
🍽️ Food expenses	$842	$532
🚐 Transport expenses	$400	$103
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5389	$3056
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	13 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	100	18
😀 Quality of life	95	84
🏙️ Population	8.8M	216K

The cost of living in New York City is 110% more expensive than in Wellington. Cities ranked 4th and 2013th ($4202 vs $2003) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 3rd in the United States and New Zealand, respectively. Check the United States vs New Zealand comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in New York City compared to 1.5 months in Wellington. New York City ranked 2nd best city to live in the United States vs Wellington ranked 3rd in New Zealand, while ranked 15th and 485th 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 New York City vs Wellington

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

	New York City	Wellington
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$22.6	$12.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$90	$60.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$13.4	$9.74
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.3	$7.34
☕ Cappuccino	$6.22	$3.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.28	$2.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$3692	$1149
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2206	$1062
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$5140	$1957
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3874	$1575
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$144	$110
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$218	$169
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$70.6	$53.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.31%	5.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$18073	$7032
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7831	$3790
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.01	$2.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$138	$110
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$27	$16.9
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.78
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.44	$1.88
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$4.07	$2.17
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.67	$1.91
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.75	$7.17
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.6	$11.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.6	$9.58
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.5	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.3	$3.13
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.24	$2.32
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.79	$3.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.72	$5.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.21	$2.24
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.96	$1.21
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.67	$0.84
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.57	$2.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$19.7	$11.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.61	$3.59
🚬 Cigarette pack	$18.5	$25
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$23.4	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$14	$4.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$8.02	$2.06
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.86	$2.45
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$132	$37.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$21.7	$11.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$159	$35.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$40.5	$17.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.1	$81.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$115	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$2095	$1020
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$21713	$13757

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near New York City

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.6 mi	Astoria	$2940
11 km or 6.8 mi	Hoboken	$3729
11 km or 7.1 mi	Jersey	$3110
13 km or 8.3 mi	Union	$3145
14 km or 8.8 mi	West New York	$2842
14 km or 8.9 mi	Bayonne	$3304
15 km or 9.6 mi	North Bergen	$2840
17 km or 10 mi	Secaucus	$2917
17 km or 11 mi	Cliffside Park	$2795
18 km or 11 mi	Kearny	$2791
20 km or 12 mi	Valley Stream	$2820
20 km or 13 mi	Fort Lee	$2821
20 km or 13 mi	Lyndhurst	$2707
22 km or 14 mi	Newark	$2797
23 km or 14 mi	Elizabeth	$2805
23 km or 14 mi	Belleville	$2545
25 km or 15 mi	Hillside	$2725
25 km or 15 mi	Long Beach	$2823
25 km or 15 mi	Nutley	$2540
25 km or 16 mi	East Orange	$2557
25 km or 16 mi	Irvington	$2665
26 km or 16 mi	Rockville Centre	$2700
26 km or 16 mi	Linden	$2791
26 km or 16 mi	Hackensack	$2692
26 km or 16 mi	Bloomfield	$2485
26 km or 16 mi	Teaneck	$2697
26 km or 16 mi	Carteret	$2775
26 km or 16 mi	Passaic	$2614
27 km or 17 mi	Roselle	$2779
27 km or 17 mi	Hempstead	$2710
28 km or 17 mi	Union Township	$2729
28 km or 18 mi	Clifton	$2669
28 km or 18 mi	Maplewood	$2634
29 km or 18 mi	Montclair	$2450
29 km or 18 mi	Bergenfield	$2713
29 km or 18 mi	Mount Vernon	$2863
30 km or 18 mi	Rahway	$2762
30 km or 18 mi	Uniondale	$2694
30 km or 18 mi	West Orange	$2488
30 km or 18 mi	New Rochelle	$3192

Cities near Wellington

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.8 mi	Lower Hutt	$1869
18 km or 11 mi	Porirua	$1803
29 km or 18 mi	Upper Hutt	$1751
46 km or 29 mi	Paraparaumu	$1709
73 km or 46 mi	Blenheim	$1248
81 km or 51 mi	Masterton	$1440
125 km or 78 mi	Palmerston North	$1395
129 km or 80 mi	Nelson	$1469
152 km or 95 mi	Whanganui	$1400
252 km or 157 mi	Hastings	$1503
255 km or 159 mi	New Plymouth	$1261
270 km or 168 mi	Napier	$1653
305 km or 190 mi	Christchurch	$1705
310 km or 192 mi	Taupo	$1475
372 km or 231 mi	Rotorua	$1259
392 km or 244 mi	Hamilton	$1424
402 km or 250 mi	Gisborne	$1647
418 km or 260 mi	Tauranga	$1660
450 km or 279 mi	Timaru	$1800
455 km or 283 mi	Pukekohe	$1530
479 km or 298 mi	Manukau	$1553
486 km or 302 mi	Waitakere	$1752
494 km or 307 mi	Auckland	$2100
521 km or 324 mi	Hibiscus Coast	$1745
596 km or 371 mi	Wanaka	$1567
614 km or 382 mi	Dunedin	$1507
620 km or 385 mi	Whangarei	$1239
647 km or 402 mi	Queenstown	$2232
768 km or 477 mi	Invercargill	$1282
2223 km or 1381 mi	Wollongong	$1695
2226 km or 1383 mi	Dee Why	$2354
2227 km or 1384 mi	Sydney	$2844
2235 km or 1389 mi	Newcastle	$1995
2235 km or 1389 mi	Port Macquarie	$1786
2246 km or 1395 mi	Parramatta	$2481
2254 km or 1401 mi	Noumea	$1911
2255 km or 1401 mi	Kellyville	$2040
2256 km or 1402 mi	Blacktown	$1709
2263 km or 1406 mi	Hobart	$2364
2266 km or 1408 mi	Dumbea	$1844