Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Taiwan

Tainan vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Tainan is 13.6% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 53.8% more in Tainan
Groceries: pay 2.0 times more in Tainan
Transportation: pay 45.1% more in Tainan
Housing: pay 34.8% less in Tainan
Childcare: pay 52.1% less in Tainan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.3 times more in Tainan
Clothing: pay 9.9% more in Tainan

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

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Tainan vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 53.8% more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$3.77 NT$122.24	+95.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$4.71 NT$152.81	+1.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$0.92 NT$29.80	+71.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$0.65 NT$21.18	+96.7%
Average			+53.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.0 times more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$1.76 NT$57.28	+64.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$9.85 NT$319.53	+62.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$11.54 NT$374.58	+88.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$2.72 NT$88.34	+67.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$4.45 NT$144.40	+170.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$2.23 NT$72.36	+63.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$1.29 NT$41.72	+122.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$1.38 NT$44.91	+91.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$2.02 NT$65.53	+250.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$1.25 NT$40.46	+128.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$1.04 NT$33.78	+97.3%
Average			+103.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - Cost of groceries

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pay 45.1% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$3.93 NT$127.46	+10.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$33.74 NT$1,095.10	+192.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$33,523.97 NT$1M	+9.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$8.87 NT$287.78	+52.8%
Average			+45.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - Cost of transportation

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pay 34.8% less for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$21.44 NT$695.94	+105.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$298.20 NT$9,677.67	-49.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$196.18 NT$6,366.89	-34.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$66.27 NT$2,150.71	-16.4%
Average			-34.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - Cost of housing

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pay 52.1% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$431.61 NT$14,007.15	-1.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$5,493.16 NT$178K	-76.7%
Average			-52.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.3 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$2.83 NT$91.68	+173.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$3.24 NT$105.27	+78.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$3.92 NT$127.34	+218.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$44.98 NT$1,459.80	+73.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$9.73 NT$315.80	+180.9%
Average			+129.2%

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

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pay 9.9% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tainan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$63.18 NT$2,050.48	+22.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$39.99 NT$1,297.67	+15.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$84.98 NT$2,757.77	-7.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$105.09 NT$3,410.39	+11.1%
Average			+9.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tainan - 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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