Cost of living comparison

Cook Islands

compared to

New Zealand

New Zealand vs. Cook Islands Cost of Living Summary

New Zealand is 29.3% more expensive than Cook Islands overall.

Restaurants: pay 11.8% more in New Zealand
Groceries: pay 21.8% less in New Zealand
Transportation: pay 41.9% more in New Zealand
Housing: pay 75.8% more in New Zealand
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.5% more in New Zealand

The cost of housing, transportation, entertainment and sports, and restaurants in New Zealand are more expensive than in Cook Islands. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in New Zealand.

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New Zealand vs. Cook Islands Cost Breakdown

If you lived in New Zealand instead of Cook Islands, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 11.8% more for restaurants

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.01 NZ$24.77	$13.26 NZ$23.46	-5.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.60 NZ$9.91	$8.99 NZ$15.90	+60.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.24 NZ$3.96	$2.04 NZ$3.61	-8.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.24 NZ$3.96	$1.83 NZ$3.24	-18.3%
Average			+11.8%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.8% less for groceries

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Bread 1 loaf	$2.80 NZ$4.95	$1.73 NZ$3.05	-38.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.64 NZ$6.44	$3.78 NZ$6.69	+3.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$10.60 NZ$18.75	$6.47 NZ$11.45	-38.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.05 NZ$10.70	$5.79 NZ$10.24	-4.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	??	$3.83 NZ$6.77
Apples (1 lb)	??	$1.22 NZ$2.15
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$0.94 NZ$1.67
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$1.32 NZ$2.33
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$2.20 NZ$3.89
Potatoes (1 lb)	??	$0.89 NZ$1.57
Onions (1 lb)	??	$0.67 NZ$1.18
Average			-21.8%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of groceries

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pay 41.9% more for transportation

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.38 NZ$11.29	$6.34 NZ$11.21	-0.7%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$83.43 NZ$147.53
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$11,204.09 NZ$19,812.72	$24,108.51 NZ$42,632.21	+115.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$17.20 NZ$30.41
Average			+41.9%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of transportation

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pay 75.8% more for housing

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$102.89 NZ$181.95	$49.30 NZ$87.18	-52.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$448.16 NZ$792.51	$976.74 NZ$1,727.21	+117.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$448.16 NZ$792.51	$843.74 NZ$1,492.02	+88.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$74.97 NZ$132.57	$95.64 NZ$169.12	+27.6%
Average			+75.8%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$716.92 NZ$1,267.75
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$16,937.81 NZ$29,951.92

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.04 NZ$8.92	$5.70 NZ$10.07	+13.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.36 NZ$5.94	$3.26 NZ$5.77	-3.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$11.20 NZ$19.81	$22.75 NZ$40.22	+103.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$39.17 NZ$69.26
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$10.27 NZ$18.16
Average			+19.5%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$63.30 NZ$111.94
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$33.63 NZ$59.46
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$91.48 NZ$161.76
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$114.46 NZ$202.41

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - 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

Compare further: Cook Islands vs. New Zealand

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 10 statistics

Be 44.3% more likely to have internet access in New Zealand

Size Comparison · See true size

Cook Islands is about 1,139 times smaller than New Zealand.

Moving from Cook Islands to New Zealand · UN DESA 2020

12,309 people born in Cook Islands live in New Zealand.

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