Cost of living comparison

compared to

Wellington vs. Chapel Hill Cost of Living Summary

Wellington is 5.6% more expensive than Chapel Hill.

Restaurants: pay 0.1% less in Wellington
Groceries: pay 18.9% less in Wellington
Transportation: pay 46.5% more in Wellington
Housing: pay 18.5% less in Wellington
Childcare: pay 41.7% less in Wellington
Entertainment and Sports: pay 27.2% more in Wellington
Clothing: pay 44.9% more in Wellington

The cost of transportation, clothing, and entertainment and sports in Wellington are more expensive than in Chapel Hill. Expenses including childcare, groceries, housing, and restaurants are lower in Wellington.

Wellington vs. Chapel Hill Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Wellington instead of Chapel Hill, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 0.1% less for restaurants

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$15.00	$14.42 NZ$24.97	-3.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.00	$9.23 NZ$15.98	-7.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.17	$2.46 NZ$4.26	+13.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.02	$1.98 NZ$3.42	-2.3%
Average			-0.1%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of restaurants

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pay 18.9% less for groceries

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Bread 1 loaf	$4.04	$1.98 NZ$3.42	-51.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.37	$4.02 NZ$6.96	-57.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.35	$6.79 NZ$11.75	+56.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.67	$6.77 NZ$11.73	+45.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$6.89	$4.77 NZ$8.26	-30.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$4.00	$1.36 NZ$2.36	-65.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.57	$1.01 NZ$1.75	+77.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.53	$1.33 NZ$2.30	-47.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.50	$2.32 NZ$4.01	-7.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$2.83	$0.90 NZ$1.55	-68.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.65	$0.68 NZ$1.17	-58.9%
Average			-18.9%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of groceries

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pay 46.5% more for transportation

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.01	$6.14 NZ$10.63	+103.9%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$109.62 NZ$189.75
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,000.00	$31,154.21 NZ$53,928.03	-11.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$14.55 NZ$25.19
Average			+46.5%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of transportation

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pay 18.5% less for housing

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$69.00	$48.75 NZ$84.39	-29.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,320.00	$1,240.57 NZ$2,147.43	-6.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,475.00	$1,099.37 NZ$1,903.02	-25.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$126.18	$109.37 NZ$189.31	-13.3%
Average			-18.5%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of housing

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pay 41.7% less for childcare

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,318.67	$768.47 NZ$1,330.22	-41.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$12,211.68 NZ$21,138.46
Average			-41.7%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of childcare

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pay 27.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$6.63 NZ$11.48	+10.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.46	$3.54 NZ$6.13	-20.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.99	$25.67 NZ$44.44	+185.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$61.33	$34.12 NZ$59.06	-44.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.00	$11.54 NZ$19.97	+4.9%
Average			+27.2%

Chapel Hill vs. Wellington - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 44.9% more for clothing

	Chapel Hill	Wellington
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$52.67	$69.31 NZ$119.97	+31.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.00	$46.64 NZ$80.73	+55.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$98.33	$113.30 NZ$196.13	+15.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$82.50	$146.23 NZ$253.12	+77.2%
Average			+44.9%

Chapel Hill 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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