Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Fort Lauderdale Cost of Living Summary

Ho Chi Minh City is 69.0% cheaper than Fort Lauderdale.

Restaurants: pay 86.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Groceries: pay 56.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Transportation: pay 48.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Housing: pay 79.1% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Childcare: pay 50.8% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Entertainment and Sports: pay 76.4% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Clothing: pay 6.4% less in Ho Chi Minh City

Expenses including restaurants, housing, entertainment and sports, groceries, childcare, and transportation are lower in Ho Chi Minh City.

Planning a move to Vietnam? Get up to 5 free, no-obligation quotes from vetted international movers. Get free quotes →

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Fort Lauderdale Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Ho Chi Minh City instead of Fort Lauderdale, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 86.5% less for restaurants

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$30.00	$1.92 ₫49,735	-93.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.86	$4.62 ₫119K	-68.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.96	$0.54 ₫13,878	-81.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.12	$0.33 ₫8,573	-84.4%
Average			-86.5%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 56.5% less for groceries

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Bread 1 loaf	$4.91	$1.08 ₫27,789	-78.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.72	$6.05 ₫156K	-30.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.99	$6.13 ₫158K	+53.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.87	$1.62 ₫41,927	-66.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.75	$1.64 ₫42,487	-65.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.91	$1.36 ₫35,193	-53.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.90	$0.58 ₫14,924	-35.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.96	$0.72 ₫18,679	-63.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.48	$0.58 ₫14,889	-76.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.29	$0.54 ₫14,077	-57.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.48	$0.53 ₫13,636	-64.4%
Average			-56.5%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 48.5% less for transportation

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.95	$3.55 ₫91,772	-10.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$81.00	$11.55 ₫298K	-85.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,000.00	$30,715.02 ₫794M	-6.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.91	$5.80 ₫150K	-69.3%
Average			-48.5%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 79.1% less for housing

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$80.74	$10.46 ₫270K	-87.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$2,536.00	$585.86 ₫15M	-76.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$2,032.00	$297.81 ₫8M	-85.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$164.95	$79.24 ₫2M	-52.0%
Average			-79.1%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 50.8% less for childcare

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,020.00	$438.36 ₫11M	-57.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$41,914.29	$23,561.82 ₫609M	-43.8%
Average			-50.8%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 76.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$1.03 ₫26,710	-82.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.25	$1.81 ₫46,887	-65.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$11.50	$1.23 ₫31,830	-89.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$68.71	$25.91 ₫670K	-62.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$18.00	$3.46 ₫89,523	-80.8%
Average			-76.4%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 6.4% less for clothing

	Fort Lauderdale	Ho Chi Minh City
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.80	$51.59 ₫1M	+10.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.67	$34.61 ₫894K	-16.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.00	$91.59 ₫2M	+2.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$116.25	$94.62 ₫2M	-18.6%
Average			-6.4%

Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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: Fort Lauderdale vs. Ho Chi Minh City

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Ho Chi Minh City?

Size Comparison · See true size

Fort Lauderdale is about 75 times smaller than Ho Chi Minh City.

More cost comparisons

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Traverse City

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Lima

Fort Lauderdale vs.

London

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Dublin

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Madrid

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Berlin

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Shanghai

Fort Lauderdale vs.

Cairo

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in United States vs. Vietnam. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and Vietnam.

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 Fort Lauderdale

Add prices for Ho Chi Minh City

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Ho Chi Minh City or Fort Lauderdale. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.