Cost of living comparison

compared to

Vientiane vs. Dushanbe Cost of Living Summary

Vientiane is 58.9% more expensive than Dushanbe.

Restaurants: pay 19.4% less in Vientiane
Groceries: pay 51.3% more in Vientiane
Transportation: pay 2.9 times more in Vientiane
Housing: pay 76.1% more in Vientiane
Childcare: pay 2.2 times more in Vientiane
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.0% less in Vientiane
Clothing: pay 0.1% more in Vientiane

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

Vientiane vs. Dushanbe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Vientiane instead of Dushanbe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 19.4% less for restaurants

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.09 TJS55.86	$2.31 LAK49,962	-62.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.00 TJS82.58	$5.54 LAK119,908	-38.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 TJS5.51	$0.62 LAK13,417	+3.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.35 TJS3.19	$0.42 LAK8,993	+19.4%
Average			-19.4%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 51.3% more for groceries

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Bread 1 loaf	$0.59 TJS5.45	$1.17 LAK25,263	+96.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.82 TJS53.43	$13.94 LAK301,703	+139.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.96 TJS36.37	$7.32 LAK158,409	+84.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.76 TJS16.18	$1.81 LAK39,209	+2.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.05 TJS18.84	$2.99 LAK64,760	+45.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.77 TJS7.11	$0.90 LAK19,388	+15.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.34 TJS12.27	$0.50 LAK10,827	-62.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.92 TJS8.46	$0.94 LAK20,320	+1.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.57 TJS5.24	$0.61 LAK13,144	+6.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.31 TJS2.84	$0.74 LAK16,015	+139.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.24 TJS2.18	$0.47 LAK10,072	+95.7%
Average			+51.3%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.9 times more for transportation

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.12 TJS37.81	$5.18 LAK112,095	+25.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$10.59 TJS97.15	$50.18 LAK1,086,126	+373.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$11,647.15 TJS106,867.61	$28,736.24 LAK621,991,096	+146.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.60 TJS33.03	$10.86 LAK235,028	+201.6%
Average			+187.0%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 76.1% more for housing

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.59 TJS179.73	$11.39 LAK246,478	-41.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$432.36 TJS3,967.06	$866.78 LAK18,761,296	+100.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$249.58 TJS2,290.02	$784.74 LAK16,985,533	+214.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$42.01 TJS385.46	$55.21 LAK1,194,967	+31.4%
Average			+76.1%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.2 times more for childcare

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$105.88 TJS971.52	$338.54 LAK7,327,607	+219.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,623.59 TJS69,949.71	$9,334.55 LAK202,044,727	+22.4%
Average			+121.0%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 4.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.06 TJS9.72	$1.50 LAK32,475	+41.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.94 TJS17.81	$1.73 LAK37,470	-10.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.18 TJS29.15	$1.96 LAK42,468	-38.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$42.10 TJS386.30	$50.52 LAK1,093,567	+20.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$5.29 TJS48.58	$3.56 LAK77,021	-32.8%
Average			-4.0%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 0.1% more for clothing

	Dushanbe	Vientiane
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$32.43 TJS297.53	$27.70 LAK599,542	-14.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$40.87 TJS375.01	$69.25 LAK1,498,854	+69.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$79.41 TJS728.64	$58.22 LAK1,260,106	-26.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$58.24 TJS534.34	$42.19 LAK913,170	-27.6%
Average			+0.1%

Dushanbe vs. Vientiane - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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

More cost comparisons

Dushanbe vs.

Bangkok

Dushanbe vs.

Manila

Dushanbe vs.

Moscow

Dushanbe vs.

London

Dushanbe vs.

Reykjavik

Dushanbe vs.

Cairo

Dushanbe vs.

Madrid

Dushanbe vs.

Dublin

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Tajikistan vs. Laos. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Tajikistan and Laos.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Dushanbe

Add prices for Vientiane

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Vientiane or Dushanbe. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.