Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

Turkey

Istanbul vs. Bangkok Cost of Living Summary

Istanbul is 25.1% more expensive than Bangkok.

Restaurants: pay 2.4 times more in Istanbul
Groceries: pay 31.4% less in Istanbul
Transportation: pay 34.1% more in Istanbul
Housing: pay 45.5% more in Istanbul
Childcare: pay 68.3% more in Istanbul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 24.5% more in Istanbul
Clothing: pay 11.2% less in Istanbul

The cost of restaurants, childcare, housing, transportation, and entertainment and sports in Istanbul are more expensive than in Bangkok. Expenses including groceries and clothing are lower in Istanbul. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Istanbul.

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Istanbul vs. Bangkok Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Istanbul instead of Bangkok, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.4 times more for restaurants

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.97 THB98.83	$12.19 TRY603.79	+310.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.98 THB232.24	$9.35 TRY462.91	+33.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.65 THB21.64	$1.73 TRY85.71	+166.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.35 THB11.72	$0.58 TRY28.65	+64.2%
Average			+142.3%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 31.4% less for groceries

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.48 THB49.16	$0.92 TRY45.58	-37.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.63 THB287.02	$5.28 TRY261.28	-38.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.27 THB241.89	$4.69 TRY231.97	-35.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.56 THB85.32	$2.41 TRY119.39	-6.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.63 THB54.28	$2.54 TRY125.71	+55.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.77 THB58.85	$0.85 TRY42.16	-51.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 THB26.83	$1.03 TRY50.86	+27.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.24 THB41.35	$0.57 TRY28.34	-54.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.87 THB29.09	$0.84 TRY41.37	-4.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.78 THB26.00	$0.31 TRY15.36	-60.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.69 THB23.01	$0.29 TRY14.17	-58.6%
Average			-31.4%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of groceries

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pay 34.1% more for transportation

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.32 THB176.90	$5.43 TRY269.03	+2.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$34.98 THB1,163.67	$67.03 TRY3,318.85	+91.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,193.83 THB1M	$50,810.11 TRY3M	+62.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.55 THB350.83	$8.40 TRY416.09	-20.3%
Average			+34.1%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of transportation

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pay 45.5% more for housing

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$17.88 THB594.63	$16.15 TRY799.42	-9.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$675.80 THB22,480.48	$996.85 TRY49,357.64	+47.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$346.10 THB11,513.16	$647.83 TRY32,076.47	+87.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$82.03 THB2,728.64	$68.87 TRY3,410.06	-16.0%
Average			+45.5%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of housing

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pay 68.3% more for childcare

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$568.31 THB18,904.94	$1,021.62 TRY50,584.39	+79.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,500.59 THB549K	$25,999.20 TRY1M	+57.6%
Average			+68.3%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of childcare

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pay 24.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.67 THB88.94	$4.78 TRY236.49	+78.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.79 THB92.95	$4.31 TRY213.63	+54.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.60 THB153.18	$2.34 TRY115.73	-49.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$58.43 THB1,943.57	$76.22 TRY3,773.70	+30.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.58 THB252.00	$8.13 TRY402.53	+7.3%
Average			+24.5%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 11.2% less for clothing

	Bangkok	Istanbul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$70.75 THB2,353.53	$53.35 TRY2,641.33	-24.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$42.94 THB1,428.36	$39.62 TRY1,961.62	-7.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.05 THB3,228.30	$99.91 TRY4,947.03	+3.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$109.92 THB3,656.54	$95.52 TRY4,729.71	-13.1%
Average			-11.2%

Bangkok vs. Istanbul - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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Size Comparison · See true size

Bangkok is about 3.4 times smaller than Istanbul.

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