Cost of living comparison

Laos

compared to

Thailand

Thailand vs. Laos Cost of Living Summary

Thailand is 17.0% cheaper than Laos overall.

Restaurants: pay 19.8% more in Thailand
Groceries: pay 1.7% less in Thailand
Transportation: pay 8.2% less in Thailand
Housing: pay 46.7% less in Thailand
Childcare: pay 16.9% more in Thailand
Entertainment and Sports: pay 35.1% more in Thailand
Clothing: pay 1.2% more in Thailand

The cost of entertainment and sports, restaurants, childcare, and clothing in Thailand are more expensive than in Laos. Expenses including housing, transportation, and groceries are lower in Thailand.

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Thailand vs. Laos Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Thailand instead of Laos, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 19.8% more for restaurants

	Laos	Thailand
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.23 LAK50,211	$2.89 THB96.05	+29.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.35 LAK121K	$6.99 THB232.42	+30.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 LAK17,779	$0.75 THB24.81	-5.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.46 LAK10,439	$0.37 THB12.19	-20.9%
Average			+19.8%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.7% less for groceries

	Laos	Thailand
Bread 1 loaf	$1.14 LAK25,737	$1.34 THB44.43	+16.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$12.87 LAK290K	$7.95 THB264.36	-38.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.94 LAK156K	$7.12 THB236.74	+2.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.87 LAK42,101	$2.06 THB68.55	+10.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.81 LAK63,330	$1.37 THB45.52	-51.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.84 LAK18,975	$1.35 THB44.98	+60.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.52 LAK11,662	$0.57 THB18.99	+10.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 LAK26,832	$0.93 THB31.07	-21.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 LAK15,639	$0.82 THB27.38	+18.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.66 LAK14,918	$0.72 THB24.01	+9.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 LAK10,995	$0.57 THB18.88	+16.3%
Average			-1.7%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of groceries

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pay 8.2% less for transportation

	Laos	Thailand
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 LAK113K	$5.07 THB168.49	+1.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$52.98 LAK1M	$32.87 THB1,093.53	-38.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,872.00 LAK628M	$29,201.01 THB971K	+4.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.14 LAK206K	$10.77 THB358.41	+17.9%
Average			-8.2%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of transportation

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pay 46.7% less for housing

	Laos	Thailand
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.51 LAK214K	$19.17 THB637.71	+101.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$885.68 LAK20M	$407.64 THB13,560.34	-54.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$631.74 LAK14M	$268.13 THB8,919.39	-57.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$65.79 LAK1M	$60.86 THB2,024.59	-7.5%
Average			-46.7%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of housing

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pay 16.9% more for childcare

	Laos	Thailand
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$435.49 LAK10M	$515.68 THB17,154.28	+18.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,982.68 LAK225M	$11,528.28 THB383K	+15.5%
Average			+16.9%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of childcare

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pay 35.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Laos	Thailand
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.32 LAK29,812	$2.10 THB69.86	+58.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.66 LAK37,366	$2.00 THB66.47	+20.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.78 LAK40,169	$4.15 THB138.07	+132.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$64.54 LAK1M	$50.07 THB1,665.52	-22.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.32 LAK74,750	$6.05 THB201.30	+82.4%
Average			+35.1%

Laos vs. Thailand - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 1.2% more for clothing

	Laos	Thailand
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$48.46 LAK1M	$44.30 THB1,473.73	-8.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.95 LAK1M	$32.84 THB1,092.57	-47.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$64.36 LAK1M	$83.65 THB2,782.57	+30.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$46.02 LAK1M	$77.91 THB2,591.55	+69.3%
Average			+1.2%

Laos vs. Thailand - 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

Compare further: Laos vs. Thailand

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Thailand?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 3.5 times more money in Thailand

Size Comparison · See true size

Laos is about 2.2 times smaller than Thailand.

Moving from Laos to Thailand · UN DESA 2020

941,309 people born in Laos live in Thailand.

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