Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Mexico

Cancun vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Cancun is 52.3% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 3.6 times more in Cancun
Groceries: pay 52.7% more in Cancun
Transportation: pay 56.5% more in Cancun
Housing: pay 43.9% more in Cancun
Childcare: pay 66.5% less in Cancun
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in Cancun
Clothing: pay 9.5% more in Cancun

The cost of restaurants, entertainment and sports, transportation, groceries, housing, and clothing in Cancun are more expensive than in Ho Chi Minh City. Notably, restaurants and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in Cancun.

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Cancun vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 3.6 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,658	$11.13 MX$209.02	+478.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫119K	$11.52 MX$216.51	+149.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,857	$1.34 MX$25.23	+150.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,560	$0.82 MX$15.50	+148.7%
Average			+264.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - Cost of restaurants

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pay 52.7% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,746	$2.66 MX$49.94	+147.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫156K	$4.94 MX$92.83	-18.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫158K	$6.40 MX$120.23	+4.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫41,862	$2.75 MX$51.70	+69.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,421	$4.02 MX$75.45	+144.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,138	$1.31 MX$24.56	-4.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,901	$0.75 MX$14.07	+29.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,650	$1.42 MX$26.62	+96.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,866	$1.01 MX$19.01	+75.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,055	$0.91 MX$17.09	+67.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,615	$0.89 MX$16.73	+68.7%
Average			+52.7%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - Cost of groceries

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pay 56.5% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,630	$5.72 MX$107.40	+61.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫298K	$29.03 MX$545.27	+151.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫793M	$21,528.95 MX$404K	-29.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$27.96 MX$525.20	+381.8%
Average			+56.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - Cost of transportation

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pay 43.9% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫270K	$38.80 MX$728.96	+270.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$663.13 MX$12,457.68	+13.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$460.19 MX$8,645.13	+54.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$130.28 MX$2,447.55	+64.4%
Average			+43.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - Cost of housing

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pay 66.5% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$210.01 MX$3,945.28	-52.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫608M	$5,507.55 MX$103K	-76.6%
Average			-66.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,669	$3.17 MX$59.53	+206.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,814	$3.84 MX$72.12	+111.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,781	$4.45 MX$83.61	+261.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫668K	$33.38 MX$627.06	+28.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,385	$7.51 MX$141.09	+116.8%
Average			+113.7%

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

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pay 9.5% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Cancun
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$55.63 MX$1,045.11	+7.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫893K	$55.63 MX$1,045.11	+60.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$76.03 MX$1,428.31	-17.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$94.57 MX$1,776.68
Average			+9.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Cancun - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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