Cost of living comparison

compared to

Wellington vs. Cedar Rapids Cost of Living Summary

Wellington is 15.9% more expensive than Cedar Rapids.

Restaurants: pay 8.8% more in Wellington
Groceries: pay 12.9% more in Wellington
Transportation: pay 83.4% more in Wellington
Housing: pay 1.6% less in Wellington
Childcare: pay 21.6% less in Wellington
Entertainment and Sports: pay 22.8% more in Wellington
Clothing: pay 6.4% more in Wellington

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

Wellington vs. Cedar Rapids Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Wellington instead of Cedar Rapids, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 8.8% more for restaurants

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$15.00	$14.42 NZ$24.85	-3.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.50	$9.23 NZ$15.90	-19.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92	$2.46 NZ$4.24	+28.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.52	$1.98 NZ$3.41	+30.4%
Average			+8.8%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.9% more for groceries

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Bread 1 loaf	$2.64	$1.98 NZ$3.41	-25.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.12	$4.02 NZ$6.93	-43.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.07	$6.79 NZ$11.70	+120.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.83	$6.77 NZ$11.67	+139.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.93	$4.77 NZ$8.22	-3.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.25	$1.36 NZ$2.35	-39.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.54	$1.01 NZ$1.74	+86.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.41	$1.33 NZ$2.29	-44.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.13	$2.32 NZ$3.99	+8.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16	$0.90 NZ$1.54	-22.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.04	$0.68 NZ$1.17	-34.7%
Average			+12.9%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of groceries

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pay 83.4% more for transportation

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.98	$6.14 NZ$10.58	+106.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.00	$109.62 NZ$188.86	+265.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,383.69	$31,154.21 NZ$53,677.18	-16.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.41	$14.55 NZ$25.07	-21.0%
Average			+83.4%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of transportation

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pay 1.6% less for housing

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$71.33	$48.75 NZ$83.99	-31.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,140.00	$1,240.57 NZ$2,137.45	+8.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$750.00	$1,099.37 NZ$1,894.16	+46.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$157.02	$109.37 NZ$188.43	-30.3%
Average			-1.6%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of housing

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pay 21.6% less for childcare

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$968.00	$768.47 NZ$1,324.04	-20.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$15,795.00	$12,211.68 NZ$21,040.13	-22.7%
Average			-21.6%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of childcare

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pay 22.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.50	$6.63 NZ$11.43	+47.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.46	$3.54 NZ$6.10	-35.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.26	$25.67 NZ$44.23	+177.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$100.50	$34.12 NZ$58.79	-66.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$12.75	$11.54 NZ$19.88	-9.5%
Average			+22.8%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 6.4% more for clothing

	Cedar Rapids	Wellington
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.47	$69.31 NZ$119.42	+10.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$63.33	$46.64 NZ$80.35	-26.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$128.26	$113.30 NZ$195.21	-11.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$95.67	$146.23 NZ$251.95	+52.9%
Average			+6.4%

Cedar Rapids vs. Wellington - 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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