Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Turkey

Istanbul vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Istanbul is 68.8% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 3.5 times more in Istanbul
Groceries: pay 5.8% less in Istanbul
Transportation: pay 2.2 times more in Istanbul
Housing: pay 68.9% more in Istanbul
Childcare: pay 60.4% more in Istanbul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.8 times more in Istanbul
Clothing: pay 6.9% more in Istanbul

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

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Istanbul vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 3.5 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,838	$12.19 TRY600.23	+533.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$9.35 TRY460.17	+102.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,907	$1.73 TRY85.20	+222.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,591	$0.58 TRY28.48	+74.4%
Average			+249.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 5.8% less for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,847	$0.92 TRY45.31	-14.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$5.28 TRY259.74	-12.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$4.69 TRY230.60	-23.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,014	$2.41 TRY118.68	+48.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,575	$2.54 TRY124.97	+54.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,266	$0.85 TRY41.91	-37.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,955	$1.03 TRY50.56	+77.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,718	$0.57 TRY28.17	-20.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,920	$0.84 TRY41.13	+45.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,106	$0.31 TRY15.27	-43.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,664	$0.29 TRY14.08	-45.8%
Average			-5.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.2 times more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,962	$5.43 TRY267.44	+53.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$67.03 TRY3,299.24	+480.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$50,810.11 TRY3M	+65.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$8.40 TRY413.64	+44.8%
Average			+117.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - Cost of transportation

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pay 68.9% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$16.15 TRY794.70	+54.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$996.85 TRY49,066.06	+70.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$647.83 TRY31,886.99	+117.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$68.87 TRY3,389.91	-13.1%
Average			+68.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - Cost of housing

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pay 60.4% more for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$1,021.62 TRY50,285.57	+133.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$25,999.20 TRY1M	+10.3%
Average			+60.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.8 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,765	$4.78 TRY235.09	+362.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,984	$4.31 TRY212.37	+137.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,896	$2.34 TRY115.04	+89.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$76.22 TRY3,751.41	+194.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,709	$8.13 TRY400.15	+134.7%
Average			+179.1%

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

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pay 6.9% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Istanbul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$53.35 TRY2,625.73	+3.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$39.62 TRY1,950.03	+14.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$99.91 TRY4,917.81	+9.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$95.52 TRY4,701.77	+1.0%
Average			+6.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Istanbul - 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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Ho Chi Minh City is about 1.3 times bigger than Istanbul.

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