South Tarawa vs Tainan - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	South Tarawa	Tainan
🚶 Cost of living one person	$538	$910
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1303	$2373
🏠 One person rent	$233	$264
🏘️ Family rent	$392	$439
🍽️ Food expenses	$226	$433
🚐 Transport expenses	$22.7	$90.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$164	$1446
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	4 km
🎓 Higher education	1	73
😀 Quality of life	28	72
🏙️ Population	63.4K	1.85M

The cost of living in South Tarawa is 41% less expensive than in Tainan. Cities ranked 8474th and 6264th ($538 vs $910) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 8th 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 1.6 months in Tainan. South Tarawa ranked 1st best city to live in Kiribati vs Tainan ranked 10th in Taiwan, while ranked 8872nd and 2963rd 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 Tainan

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

	South Tarawa	Tainan
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4	$5.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$22.3	$25.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$4.79
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$3.22
☕ Cappuccino	$1.93	$3.38
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.63	$1.29
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$226	$277
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$151	$165
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$412	$489
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$294
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41	$54.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.8	$84.3
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$21.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.43%	2.12%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1374	$3159
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$845	$2827
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.41	$0.58
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.9	$24.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.47	$10.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.22	$3.16
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.76	$1.78
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$2.83
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$3.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$21.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.59	$10.9
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$21.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$3.61
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.86
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$3.45
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$3.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$2.19
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.8
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.24	$1.78
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8	$14.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$1.81
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.98	$4
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.96	$12.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.05	$5.33
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.6	$2.21
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.27	$2.26
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.1	$36.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.49	$10.3
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19.1	$65.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.22	$9.64
👖 Brand Jeans	$31.4	$76.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$65.8	$100
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$131	$298
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4200	$5587

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 Tainan

Distance	City	Cost of living
42 km or 26 mi	Kaohsiung	$999
62 km or 38 mi	Chiayi	$910
89 km or 55 mi	Douliu	$889
102 km or 63 mi	Taitung	$841
116 km or 72 mi	Nantou	$879
126 km or 78 mi	Changhua	$888
139 km or 86 mi	Taichung	$957
188 km or 117 mi	Miaoli	$709
218 km or 135 mi	Hsinchu	$937
222 km or 138 mi	Zhubei	$882
233 km or 145 mi	Taoyuan	$941
249 km or 155 mi	Kinmen	$903
254 km or 158 mi	Yilan	$796
259 km or 161 mi	New Taipei	$1108
261 km or 162 mi	Jinjiang	$630
267 km or 166 mi	Taipei	$1257
269 km or 167 mi	Quanzhou	$634
271 km or 168 mi	Xiamen	$723
286 km or 178 mi	Keelung	$997
298 km or 185 mi	Putian	$668
308 km or 191 mi	Zhangzhou	$696
356 km or 221 mi	Fuzhou	$656
359 km or 223 mi	Shantou	$602
371 km or 230 mi	Chaozhou	$465
395 km or 246 mi	Jieyang	$464
397 km or 247 mi	Longyan	$698
412 km or 256 mi	Puning	$589
415 km or 258 mi	Ningde	$654
431 km or 268 mi	Ishigaki	$1067
439 km or 273 mi	Meizhou	$673
446 km or 277 mi	Sanming	$634
455 km or 283 mi	Nanping	$682
497 km or 309 mi	Shanwei	$943
535 km or 333 mi	Rui'an	$705
556 km or 346 mi	Miyakojima	$1064
560 km or 348 mi	Wenzhou	$763
567 km or 352 mi	Heyuan	$765
573 km or 356 mi	Wuyishan	$610
590 km or 367 mi	Huizhou	$621
608 km or 378 mi	Lishui	$697