Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Ulaanbaatar is 24.1% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 90.8% more in Ulaanbaatar
Groceries: pay 21.9% more in Ulaanbaatar
Transportation: pay 10.8% more in Ulaanbaatar
Housing: pay 11.1% more in Ulaanbaatar
Childcare: pay 19.1% less in Ulaanbaatar
Entertainment and Sports: pay 71.6% more in Ulaanbaatar
Clothing: pay 46.7% more in Ulaanbaatar

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

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Ulaanbaatar vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 90.8% more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,735	$5.56 MNT20,000.00	+188.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫119K	$5.56 MNT20,000.00	+20.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,878	$0.86 MNT3,083.33	+59.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,573	$0.59 MNT2,125.00	+78.0%
Average			+90.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.9% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,789	$1.00 MNT3,588.33	-7.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫156K	$6.18 MNT22,248.75	+2.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫158K	$5.49 MNT19,758.34	-10.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫41,927	$2.10 MNT7,573.96	+29.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,487	$2.22 MNT7,975.68	+34.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,193	$1.39 MNT5,003.76	+2.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,924	$1.09 MNT3,926.41	+88.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,679	$1.69 MNT6,091.75	+134.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,889	$1.37 MNT4,944.16	+138.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,077	$0.33 MNT1,188.41	-39.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,636	$0.48 MNT1,730.24	-8.9%
Average			+21.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.8% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,772	$4.32 MNT15,549.41	+21.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫298K	$16.67 MNT60,000.00	+44.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫794M	$26,896.36 MNT97M	-12.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$4.86 MNT17,500.00	-16.2%
Average			+10.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of transportation

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pay 11.1% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫270K	$13.63 MNT49,062.50	+30.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$569.30 MNT2M	-2.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$444.50 MNT2M	+49.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$54.38 MNT196K	-31.4%
Average			+11.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of housing

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pay 19.1% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$817.79 MNT3M	+86.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫609M	$8,262.71 MNT30M	-64.9%
Average			-19.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of childcare

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pay 71.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,710	$2.36 MNT8,500.00	+128.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,887	$2.42 MNT8,692.31	+33.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,830	$1.68 MNT6,044.89	+36.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫670K	$67.73 MNT244K	+161.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,523	$4.17 MNT15,000.00	+20.3%
Average			+71.6%

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

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pay 46.7% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Ulaanbaatar
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$81.73 MNT294K	+58.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫894K	$45.38 MNT163K	+31.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$102.93 MNT370K	+12.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$187.55 MNT675K	+98.2%
Average			+46.7%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Ulaanbaatar - 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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