South Tarawa vs Taichung - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	South Tarawa	Taichung
🚶 Cost of living one person	$538	$957
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1303	$2561
🏠 One person rent	$233	$348
🏘️ Family rent	$392	$601
🍽️ Food expenses	$226	$378
🚐 Transport expenses	$22.7	$116
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$164	$1411
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	1	85
😀 Quality of life	28	86
🏙️ Population	63.4K	2.87M

The cost of living in South Tarawa is 44% less expensive than in Taichung. Cities ranked 8474th and 5984th ($538 vs $957) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 5th in Kiribati and Taiwan, respectively. Check Kiribati vs Taiwan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.3 months in South Tarawa compared to 1.5 months in Taichung. South Tarawa ranked 1st best city to live in Kiribati vs Taichung ranked 7th in Taiwan, while ranked 8872nd and 409th 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 South Tarawa vs Taichung

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

	South Tarawa	Taichung
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4	$4.75
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$22.3	$31.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$5.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$1.58
☕ Cappuccino	$1.93	$2.9
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.63	$1.08
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$226	$335
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$151	$252
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$412	$593
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$464
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41	$58.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.8	$90.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$20.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.43%	2.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1374	$6960
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$845	$7979
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.41	$0.79
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.9	$31.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.47	$11.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$0.94
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.22	$3.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.76	$1.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$2.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$2.85
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$15.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.59	$7.76
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$16.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$4.31
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$1.83
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$1.84
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$2.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.23
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.96
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.76
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.24	$1.78
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8	$16
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.59
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.98	$3.91
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.96	$10.7
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.05	$6.81
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.6	$1.85
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.27	$2.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.1	$32
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.49	$10.5
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19.1	$47.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.22	$13.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$31.4	$79.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$65.8	$84.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$131	$343
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4200	$17495

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near South Tarawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
658 km or 409 mi	Majuro	$1507
661 km or 411 mi	Djarrit	$1510
706 km or 439 mi	Yaren	$783
1302 km or 809 mi	Vaiaku	$714
1302 km or 809 mi	Funafuti	$718
1768 km or 1099 mi	Auki	$1422
1879 km or 1167 mi	Honiara	$1422
1988 km or 1235 mi	Luganville	$2062
2172 km or 1349 mi	Lautoka	$633
2190 km or 1361 mi	Nadi	$1039
2190 km or 1361 mi	Port Vila	$2068
2248 km or 1397 mi	Nasinu	$857
2253 km or 1400 mi	Suva	$879
2310 km or 1435 mi	Manase	$790
2382 km or 1480 mi	Apia	$791
2712 km or 1685 mi	Dumbea	$1865
2713 km or 1686 mi	Paita	$1865
2725 km or 1693 mi	Noumea	$1928
2817 km or 1750 mi	Nukualofa	$1035
2825 km or 1756 mi	Mua	$1033
3022 km or 1878 mi	Lae	$558
3104 km or 1929 mi	Port Moresby	$572
3286 km or 2042 mi	London	$539
3357 km or 2086 mi	Saipan	$1415
3375 km or 2097 mi	Dededo	$2401
3383 km or 2102 mi	Hagatna	$3009
3611 km or 2244 mi	Cairns	$1695
3612 km or 2244 mi	Jayapura	$506
3658 km or 2273 mi	Gladstone	$1640
3665 km or 2277 mi	Townsville	$1839
3668 km or 2279 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
3672 km or 2282 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
3673 km or 2282 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
3762 km or 2338 mi	Kauai	$2821
3779 km or 2348 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
3788 km or 2354 mi	Caloundra	$1864
3822 km or 2375 mi	Caboolture	$1988
3851 km or 2393 mi	Waipahu	$2700
3854 km or 2395 mi	Brisbane	$2269
3855 km or 2396 mi	Pearl	$2610

Cities near Taichung

Distance	City	Cost of living
16 km or 10 mi	Changhua	$888
26 km or 16 mi	Nantou	$879
49 km or 31 mi	Miaoli	$709
51 km or 32 mi	Douliu	$889
78 km or 48 mi	Chiayi	$910
79 km or 49 mi	Hsinchu	$937
84 km or 52 mi	Zhubei	$882
96 km or 59 mi	Taoyuan	$941
124 km or 77 mi	New Taipei	$1108
129 km or 80 mi	Yilan	$796
133 km or 82 mi	Taipei	$1257
139 km or 86 mi	Tainan	$910
154 km or 96 mi	Keelung	$997
162 km or 101 mi	Taitung	$841
175 km or 108 mi	Kaohsiung	$999
220 km or 137 mi	Putian	$668
224 km or 139 mi	Jinjiang	$630
227 km or 141 mi	Quanzhou	$634
239 km or 149 mi	Kinmen	$903
255 km or 159 mi	Fuzhou	$656
264 km or 164 mi	Xiamen	$723
303 km or 188 mi	Ningde	$654
307 km or 191 mi	Zhangzhou	$696
354 km or 220 mi	Ishigaki	$1067
374 km or 232 mi	Nanping	$682
383 km or 238 mi	Longyan	$698
385 km or 239 mi	Sanming	$634
403 km or 251 mi	Rui'an	$705
413 km or 257 mi	Shantou	$602
414 km or 257 mi	Chaozhou	$465
428 km or 266 mi	Wenzhou	$763
442 km or 275 mi	Jieyang	$464
461 km or 287 mi	Meizhou	$673
467 km or 290 mi	Puning	$589
473 km or 294 mi	Miyakojima	$1064
476 km or 295 mi	Wenling	$677
480 km or 298 mi	Wuyishan	$610
484 km or 301 mi	Lishui	$697
525 km or 326 mi	Linhai	$661
548 km or 341 mi	Shangrao	$665