South Tarawa vs Wellington - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	South Tarawa	Wellington
🚶 Cost of living one person	$538	$2037
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1303	$4310
🏠 One person rent	$233	$1265
🏘️ Family rent	$392	$1894
🍽️ Food expenses	$226	$542
🚐 Transport expenses	$22.7	$105
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$164	$3197
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	20 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	1	18
😀 Quality of life	28	85
🏙️ Population	63.4K	216K

The cost of living in South Tarawa is 74% less expensive than in Wellington. Cities ranked 8474th and 1932nd ($538 vs $2037) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 3rd in Kiribati and New Zealand, respectively. Check Kiribati vs New Zealand 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 Wellington. South Tarawa ranked 1st best city to live in Kiribati vs Wellington ranked 3rd in New Zealand, while ranked 8872nd and 484th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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/south-tarawa/wellington.jpg" alt="Cost of living in South Tarawa vs Wellington infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/south-tarawa/wellington" target="_blank">South Tarawa vs Wellington - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in South Tarawa vs Wellington

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

	South Tarawa	Wellington
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4	$13.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$22.3	$62.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.15	$9.76
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.82	$7.35
☕ Cappuccino	$1.93	$3.64
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.63	$2.64
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$226	$1167
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$151	$1103
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$412	$2025
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$274	$1611
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41	$96.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.8	$148
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$26.1	$53.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.43%	5.94%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1374	$6316
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$845	$4074
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.41	$3.04
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$15.9	$115
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$7.47	$17
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.01	$1.68
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.22	$1.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.76	$2.12
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.21	$1.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.73	$7.19
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$10.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.59	$10.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.22	$14.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$3.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.25	$2.37
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.67	$3.15
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.16	$5.28
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$2.16
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.04	$1.4
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.79
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.24	$2.18
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8	$10.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.46	$3.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.98	$26
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$3.96	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.05	$4.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.6	$2.14
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.27	$2.53
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$24.1	$37
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.49	$11.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$19.1	$38.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.22	$17.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$31.4	$76.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$65.8	$113
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$131	$880
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4200	$13419

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 Wellington

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.8 mi	Lower Hutt	$1920
18 km or 11 mi	Porirua	$1788
29 km or 18 mi	Upper Hutt	$1803
46 km or 29 mi	Paraparaumu	$1741
73 km or 46 mi	Blenheim	$1325
81 km or 51 mi	Masterton	$1359
125 km or 78 mi	Palmerston North	$1458
129 km or 80 mi	Nelson	$1533
152 km or 95 mi	Whanganui	$1528
252 km or 157 mi	Hastings	$1518
255 km or 159 mi	New Plymouth	$1304
270 km or 168 mi	Napier	$1605
305 km or 190 mi	Christchurch	$1787
310 km or 192 mi	Taupo	$1523
372 km or 231 mi	Rotorua	$1393
392 km or 244 mi	Hamilton	$1474
402 km or 250 mi	Gisborne	$1696
418 km or 260 mi	Tauranga	$1740
450 km or 279 mi	Timaru	$1894
455 km or 283 mi	Pukekohe	$1527
479 km or 298 mi	Manukau	$1646
486 km or 302 mi	Waitakere	$1778
494 km or 307 mi	Auckland	$2156
521 km or 324 mi	Hibiscus Coast	$1782
596 km or 371 mi	Wanaka	$1623
614 km or 382 mi	Dunedin	$1579
620 km or 385 mi	Whangarei	$1261
647 km or 402 mi	Queenstown	$2303
768 km or 477 mi	Invercargill	$1318
2223 km or 1381 mi	Wollongong	$1695
2226 km or 1383 mi	Dee Why	$2379
2227 km or 1384 mi	Sydney	$2844
2235 km or 1389 mi	Newcastle	$1997
2235 km or 1389 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
2246 km or 1395 mi	Parramatta	$2482
2254 km or 1401 mi	Noumea	$1928
2255 km or 1401 mi	Kellyville	$2050
2256 km or 1402 mi	Blacktown	$1710
2263 km or 1406 mi	Hobart	$2308
2266 km or 1408 mi	Dumbea	$1865