Cost of living comparison

Nicaragua

compared to

Laos

Laos vs. Nicaragua Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 27.3% more expensive than Nicaragua overall.

Restaurants: pay 47.7% less in Laos
Groceries: pay 6.6% less in Laos
Transportation: pay 75.2% more in Laos
Housing: pay 2.1 times more in Laos
Childcare: pay 74.4% more in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.9% less in Laos
Clothing: pay 39.9% less in Laos

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

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Laos vs. Nicaragua Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 47.7% less for restaurants

	Nicaragua	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.07 NIO260.53	$2.23 LAK50,211	-68.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.94 NIO255.89	$5.35 LAK121K	-23.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.86 NIO31.77	$0.79 LAK17,779	-8.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 NIO22.88	$0.46 LAK10,439	-25.4%
Average			-47.7%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 6.6% less for groceries

	Nicaragua	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.71 NIO62.93	$1.14 LAK25,737	-33.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.70 NIO136.25	$12.87 LAK290K	+248.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.65 NIO171.26	$6.94 LAK156K	+49.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.34 NIO86.37	$1.87 LAK42,101	-20.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.55 NIO93.99	$2.81 LAK63,330	+10.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.82 NIO67.08	$0.84 LAK18,975	-53.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.27 NIO10.03	$0.52 LAK11,662	+90.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 NIO30.09	$1.19 LAK26,832	+45.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.11 NIO40.73	$0.69 LAK15,639	-37.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.68 NIO61.77	$0.66 LAK14,918	-60.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.01 NIO37.13	$0.49 LAK10,995	-51.6%
Average			-6.6%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 75.2% more for transportation

	Nicaragua	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.05 NIO186.17	$5.01 LAK113K	-0.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$6.01 NIO221.41	$52.98 LAK1M	+781.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,973.64 NIO847K	$27,872.00 LAK628M	+21.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$13.49 NIO497.29	$9.14 LAK206K	-32.3%
Average			+75.2%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.1 times more for housing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$32.47 NIO1,196.57	$9.51 LAK214K	-70.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$293.80 NIO10,827.86	$885.68 LAK20M	+201.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$247.83 NIO9,133.78	$631.74 LAK14M	+154.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$69.20 NIO2,550.23	$65.79 LAK1M	-4.9%
Average			+111.0%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 74.4% more for childcare

	Nicaragua	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$235.82 NIO8,690.94	$435.49 LAK10M	+84.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,060.00 NIO223K	$9,982.68 LAK225M	+64.7%
Average			+74.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Nicaragua	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.40 NIO51.60	$1.32 LAK29,812	-5.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.60 NIO95.82	$1.66 LAK37,366	-36.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.73 NIO100.51	$1.78 LAK40,169	-34.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$32.54 NIO1,199.31	$64.54 LAK1M	+98.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.00 NIO331.69	$3.32 LAK74,750	-63.1%
Average			-19.9%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 39.9% less for clothing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$59.88 NIO2,206.90	$48.46 LAK1M	-19.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$65.00 NIO2,395.54	$62.95 LAK1M	-3.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$122.64 NIO4,519.99	$64.36 LAK1M	-47.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$144.83 NIO5,337.49	$46.02 LAK1M	-68.2%
Average			-39.9%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - 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: Nicaragua vs. Laos

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 16 statistics

Be 76.4% less likely to be unemployed in Laos

Size Comparison · See true size

Nicaragua is about 1.8 times smaller than Laos.

Moving from Nicaragua to Laos · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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