Cost of living comparison

New Zealand

compared to

Thailand

Thailand vs. New Zealand Cost of Living Summary

Thailand is 45.8% cheaper than New Zealand overall.

Restaurants: pay 64.5% less in Thailand
Groceries: pay 27.8% less in Thailand
Transportation: pay 26.0% less in Thailand
Housing: pay 60.3% less in Thailand
Childcare: pay 30.0% less in Thailand
Entertainment and Sports: pay 41.6% less in Thailand
Clothing: pay 19.2% less in Thailand

Expenses including restaurants, housing, entertainment and sports, childcare, groceries, and transportation are lower in Thailand.

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Thailand vs. New Zealand Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Thailand instead of New Zealand, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 64.5% less for restaurants

	New Zealand	Thailand
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$13.26 NZ$23.91	$2.89 THB96.78	-78.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.99 NZ$16.20	$6.99 THB234.19	-22.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.04 NZ$3.68	$0.75 THB24.99	-63.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.83 NZ$3.30	$0.37 THB12.28	-80.0%
Average			-64.5%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of restaurants

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pay 27.8% less for groceries

	New Zealand	Thailand
Bread 1 loaf	$1.73 NZ$3.11	$1.34 THB44.77	-22.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.78 NZ$6.82	$7.95 THB266.38	+110.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.47 NZ$11.67	$7.12 THB238.54	+9.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.79 NZ$10.44	$2.06 THB69.07	-64.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.83 NZ$6.90	$1.37 THB45.86	-64.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.22 NZ$2.19	$1.35 THB45.32	+11.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.94 NZ$1.70	$0.57 THB19.13	-39.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.32 NZ$2.38	$0.93 THB31.30	-29.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.20 NZ$3.96	$0.82 THB27.59	-62.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.89 NZ$1.60	$0.72 THB24.19	-18.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.67 NZ$1.20	$0.57 THB19.02	-14.8%
Average			-27.8%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of groceries

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pay 26.0% less for transportation

	New Zealand	Thailand
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.34 NZ$11.42	$5.07 THB169.78	-20.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$83.43 NZ$150.36	$32.87 THB1,101.86	-60.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,108.51 NZ$43,450.50	$29,201.01 THB979K	+21.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.20 NZ$30.99	$10.77 THB361.14	-37.3%
Average			-26.0%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of transportation

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pay 60.3% less for housing

	New Zealand	Thailand
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$49.30 NZ$88.85	$19.17 THB642.57	-61.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$976.74 NZ$1,760.36	$407.64 THB13,663.69	-58.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$843.74 NZ$1,520.66	$268.13 THB8,987.37	-68.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$95.64 NZ$172.37	$60.86 THB2,040.02	-36.4%
Average			-60.3%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of housing

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pay 30.0% less for childcare

	New Zealand	Thailand
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$716.92 NZ$1,292.09	$515.68 THB17,285.02	-28.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,937.81 NZ$30,526.82	$11,528.28 THB386K	-31.9%
Average			-30.0%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of childcare

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pay 41.6% less for entertainment and sports

	New Zealand	Thailand
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.70 NZ$10.26	$2.10 THB70.39	-63.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.26 NZ$5.88	$2.00 THB66.97	-38.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$22.75 NZ$40.99	$4.15 THB139.12	-81.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.17 NZ$70.59	$50.07 THB1,678.21	+27.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.27 NZ$18.51	$6.05 THB202.84	-41.1%
Average			-41.6%

New Zealand vs. Thailand - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 19.2% less for clothing

	New Zealand	Thailand
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$63.30 NZ$114.09	$44.30 THB1,484.96	-30.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$33.63 NZ$60.60	$32.84 THB1,100.90	-2.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.48 NZ$164.87	$83.65 THB2,803.78	-8.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$114.46 NZ$206.29	$77.91 THB2,611.30	-31.9%
Average			-19.2%

New Zealand 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: New Zealand vs. Thailand

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

New Zealand is about 1.9 times smaller than Thailand.

Moving from New Zealand to Thailand · UN DESA 2020

1,869 people born in New Zealand live in Thailand.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Auckland vs Bangkok

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