Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

New Zealand

Wellington vs. Fort Smith Cost of Living Summary

Wellington is 28.4% more expensive than Fort Smith.

Restaurants: pay 23.5% less in Wellington
Groceries: pay 23.1% more in Wellington
Transportation: pay 79.5% more in Wellington
Housing: pay 47.4% more in Wellington
Childcare: pay 20.2% less in Wellington
Entertainment and Sports: pay 12.8% more in Wellington
Clothing: pay 21.0% more in Wellington

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

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Wellington vs. Fort Smith Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Wellington instead of Fort Smith, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 23.5% less for restaurants

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$20.00	$13.73 NZ$24.27	-31.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.50	$9.02 NZ$15.95	-21.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.33	$2.42 NZ$4.28	+3.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.02	$1.71 NZ$3.02	-15.3%
Average			-23.5%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.1% more for groceries

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Bread 1 loaf	$3.35	$2.16 NZ$3.82	-35.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.74	$4.62 NZ$8.18	+23.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.69	$7.12 NZ$12.59	+92.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.94	$6.89 NZ$12.19	+134.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.92	$4.37 NZ$7.73	-11.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.22	$1.40 NZ$2.47	-37.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.65	$0.99 NZ$1.75	+52.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13	$1.37 NZ$2.42	+21.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.98	$2.93 NZ$5.18	+199.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.88	$0.95 NZ$1.69	+8.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.70	$0.57 NZ$1.01	-18.7%
Average			+23.1%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of groceries

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pay 79.5% more for transportation

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.94	$7.03 NZ$12.44	+138.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$35.00	$101.23 NZ$179.01	+189.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,000.00	$25,203.61 NZ$44,568.72	-3.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.75	$16.19 NZ$28.63	+27.0%
Average			+79.5%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of transportation

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pay 47.4% more for housing

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$68.50	$53.32 NZ$94.29	-22.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$679.75	$1,215.08 NZ$2,148.69	+78.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$656.25	$1,141.32 NZ$2,018.26	+73.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$213.32	$149.83 NZ$264.95	-29.8%
Average			+47.4%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of housing

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pay 20.2% less for childcare

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$900.00	$1,055.30 NZ$1,866.14	+17.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,729.17	$12,899.11 NZ$22,810.11	-45.6%
Average			-20.2%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of childcare

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pay 12.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$7.28 NZ$12.88	+21.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.26	$3.34 NZ$5.91	-36.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.21	$25.18 NZ$44.53	+206.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$26.67	$38.09 NZ$67.36	+42.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.50	$12.04 NZ$21.30	-10.8%
Average			+12.8%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.0% more for clothing

	Fort Smith	Wellington
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.80	$77.76 NZ$137.50	+44.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.20	$28.15 NZ$49.78	-31.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$93.33	$101.77 NZ$179.97	+9.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$76.66	$152.66 NZ$269.95	+99.1%
Average			+21.0%

Fort Smith vs. Wellington - 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

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