Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Mexico

Monterrey vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Monterrey is 77.4% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 4.2 times more in Monterrey
Groceries: pay 63.4% more in Monterrey
Transportation: pay 47.3% more in Monterrey
Housing: pay 84.0% more in Monterrey
Childcare: pay 11.5% less in Monterrey
Entertainment and Sports: pay 85.1% more in Monterrey
Clothing: pay 28.9% more in Monterrey

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

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Monterrey vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 4.2 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$13.91 MX$257.20	+622.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$11.13 MX$205.76	+140.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$1.68 MX$30.99	+212.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$1.03 MX$19.03	+210.2%
Average			+315.7%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - Cost of restaurants

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pay 63.4% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$2.95 MX$54.63	+174.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$6.13 MX$113.44	+1.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$7.20 MX$133.19	+17.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$2.56 MX$47.39	+58.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$4.28 MX$79.19	+160.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$1.52 MX$28.05	+11.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$0.71 MX$13.19	+23.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$0.98 MX$18.19	+36.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$1.12 MX$20.72	+94.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$1.06 MX$19.52	+93.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$1.23 MX$22.77	+133.4%
Average			+63.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - Cost of groceries

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pay 47.3% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$5.91 MX$109.36	+66.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$32.04 MX$592.58	+177.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$21,528.95 MX$398K	-29.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$10.57 MX$195.47	+82.2%
Average			+47.3%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - Cost of transportation

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pay 84.0% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$26.79 MX$495.42	+156.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$981.90 MX$18,158.20	+67.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$685.94 MX$12,685.02	+130.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$91.91 MX$1,699.66	+16.0%
Average			+84.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - Cost of housing

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pay 11.5% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$703.26 MX$13,005.38	+60.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$11,496.80 MX$213K	-51.2%
Average			-11.5%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - Cost of childcare

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pay 85.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$2.36 MX$43.72	+128.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$4.04 MX$74.68	+122.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$4.90 MX$90.53	+297.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$31.22 MX$577.27	+20.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$5.29 MX$97.74	+52.6%
Average			+85.1%

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

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pay 28.9% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Monterrey
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$73.56 MX$1,360.29	+42.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$42.76 MX$790.75	+23.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$112.51 MX$2,080.57	+22.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$120.67 MX$2,231.48	+27.5%
Average			+28.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Monterrey - 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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