Cost of living comparison

compared to

Chiang Mai vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Chiang Mai is 11.8% cheaper than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 0.8% less in Chiang Mai
Groceries: pay 11.2% less in Chiang Mai
Transportation: pay 20.7% less in Chiang Mai
Housing: pay 17.1% less in Chiang Mai
Childcare: pay 9.9% more in Chiang Mai
Entertainment and Sports: pay 22.6% less in Chiang Mai
Clothing: pay 19.9% less in Chiang Mai

Expenses including entertainment and sports, transportation, clothing, housing, groceries, and restaurants are lower in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Chiang Mai instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 0.8% less for restaurants

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.10 THB99.13	$2.02 THB64.44	-35.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 THB198.27	$8.05 THB257.25	+29.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 THB25.31	$0.79 THB25.35	+0.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 THB10.66	$0.34 THB10.86	+1.9%
Average			-0.8%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of restaurants

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pay 11.2% less for groceries

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Bread 1 loaf	$1.44 THB46.04	$1.58 THB50.56	+9.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.50 THB271.92	$8.36 THB267.44	-1.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.23 THB231.14	$6.70 THB214.21	-7.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.28 THB73.03	$2.07 THB66.09	-9.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.38 THB44.12	$1.36 THB43.52	-1.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.59 THB50.86	$1.33 THB42.59	-16.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 THB26.11	$0.53 THB16.82	-35.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB32.72	$0.79 THB25.34	-22.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 THB27.27	$0.74 THB23.80	-12.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB23.03	$0.64 THB20.57	-10.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.65 THB20.76	$0.55 THB17.50	-15.7%
Average			-11.2%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of groceries

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pay 20.7% less for transportation

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.69 THB150.03	$4.83 THB154.45	+2.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.21 THB1,189.60	$19.14 THB612.04	-48.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,206.42 THB1,189,604.53	$22,478.88 THB718,719.40	-39.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.63 THB371.75	$11.94 THB381.66	+2.7%
Average			-20.7%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of transportation

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pay 17.1% less for housing

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.91 THB540.54	$19.34 THB618.28	+14.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.06 THB21,583.67	$440.41 THB14,081.17	-34.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$321.97 THB10,294.25	$249.32 THB7,971.52	-22.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$68.69 THB2,196.14	$51.23 THB1,638.07	-25.4%
Average			-17.1%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of housing

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pay 9.9% more for childcare

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$609.37 THB19,483.59	$644.65 THB20,611.55	+5.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$13,346.39 THB426,725.56	$15,231.38 THB486,994.35	+14.1%
Average			+9.9%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of childcare

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pay 22.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.79 THB89.22	$2.25 THB71.87	-19.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 THB81.22	$1.90 THB60.90	-25.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.40 THB140.52	$4.34 THB138.79	-1.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.03 THB1,631.73	$35.28 THB1,127.89	-30.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.06 THB257.75	$5.12 THB163.57	-36.5%
Average			-22.6%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 19.9% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Chiang Mai
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.81 THB1,880.18	$62.01 THB1,982.67	+5.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.03 THB1,216.03	$19.90 THB636.11	-47.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.24 THB3,332.78	$93.02 THB2,974.01	-10.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.47 THB2,924.44	$67.18 THB2,147.90	-26.6%
Average			-19.9%

Bangkok vs. Chiang Mai - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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