Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Latvia

Riga vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Riga is 64.2% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 4.3 times more in Riga
Groceries: pay 23.9% more in Riga
Transportation: pay 77.3% more in Riga
Housing: pay 38.6% more in Riga
Childcare: pay 5.0% more in Riga
Entertainment and Sports: pay 3.0 times more in Riga
Clothing: pay 27.9% more in Riga

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

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Riga vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 4.3 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$16.80 €14.95	+772.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$9.24 €8.22	+100.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$1.61 €1.44	+200.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$1.18 €1.05	+255.2%
Average			+328.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.9% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$1.43 €1.27	+32.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$5.22 €4.65	-13.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$4.41 €3.92	-28.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$3.76 €3.34	+131.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$3.91 €3.48	+137.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$1.00 €0.89	-26.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$0.83 €0.73	+43.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$1.13 €1.00	+56.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$1.40 €1.24	+142.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$0.40 €0.36	-26.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$0.42 €0.37	-20.3%
Average			+23.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - Cost of groceries

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pay 77.3% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$7.75 €6.90	+118.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$33.59 €29.90	+190.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$27,308.11 €24,305.20	-11.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$11.42 €10.17	+96.8%
Average			+77.3%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - Cost of transportation

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pay 38.6% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$20.41 €18.17	+95.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$582.45 €518.40	-0.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$385.02 €342.68	+29.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$286.52 €255.02	+261.6%
Average			+38.6%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - Cost of housing

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pay 5.0% more for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$645.25 €574.29	+47.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$17,635.84 €15,696.53	-25.2%
Average			+5.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - Cost of childcare

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pay 3.0 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$5.60 €4.98	+441.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$3.72 €3.31	+105.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$6.72 €5.98	+445.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$49.91 €44.42	+92.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$10.75 €9.57	+210.3%
Average			+199.9%

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

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pay 27.9% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Riga
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$69.42 €61.79	+34.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$50.39 €44.85	+45.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$85.85 €76.41	-6.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$138.10 €122.91	+46.0%
Average			+27.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Riga - 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 22 times bigger than Riga.

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