Cost of living comparison

compared to

Laos vs. Nicaragua Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 63.0% more expensive than Nicaragua overall.

Restaurants: pay 24.4% less in Laos
Groceries: pay 29.2% more in Laos
Transportation: pay 3.8 times more in Laos
Housing: pay 82.0% more in Laos
Childcare: pay 2.0 times more in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 0.4% less in Laos
Clothing: pay 24.8% less in Laos

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

Laos vs. Nicaragua Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 24.4% less for restaurants

	Nicaragua	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.57 NIO167.56	$2.08 LAK44,996	-54.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.80 NIO249.74	$5.54 LAK119,989	-18.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 NIO30.05	$0.76 LAK16,453	-7.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 NIO22.02	$0.50 LAK10,726	-17.5%
Average			-24.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 29.2% more for groceries

	Nicaragua	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.74 NIO64.00	$1.13 LAK24,579	-34.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.29 NIO120.89	$13.26 LAK287,223	+302.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.55 NIO166.93	$6.91 LAK149,696	+52.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.98 NIO72.60	$2.11 LAK45,613	+6.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.48 NIO90.84	$2.10 LAK45,399	-15.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.77 NIO64.96	$0.76 LAK16,415	-57.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.39 NIO14.44	$0.75 LAK16,248	+90.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 NIO29.96	$0.97 LAK20,998	+18.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.87 NIO32.04	$1.30 LAK28,239	+49.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.24 NIO45.67	$0.70 LAK15,270	-43.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.88 NIO32.12	$0.46 LAK9,913	-47.7%
Average			+29.2%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.8 times more for transportation

	Nicaragua	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.95 NIO181.66	$4.72 LAK102,292	-4.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$5.00 NIO183.64	$54.89 LAK1,188,824	+996.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,973.64 NIO843,132.43	$28,639.89 LAK620,324,112	+24.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.56 NIO204.21	$10.51 LAK227,584	+88.8%
Average			+276.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 82.0% more for housing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$36.35 NIO1,334.16	$9.16 LAK198,316	-74.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$326.67 NIO11,988.67	$1,004.64 LAK21,759,951	+207.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$283.96 NIO10,421.27	$817.42 LAK17,704,963	+187.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$55.87 NIO2,050.42	$59.90 LAK1,297,492	+7.2%
Average			+82.0%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 2.0 times more for childcare

	Nicaragua	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$118.12 NIO4,335.19	$296.67 LAK6,425,605	+151.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,000.00 NIO220,200.00	$9,267.93 LAK200,738,321	+54.5%
Average			+102.8%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

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pay 0.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Nicaragua	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.31 NIO47.93	$1.42 LAK30,745	+8.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 NIO79.31	$1.66 LAK35,871	-23.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.66 NIO97.60	$1.98 LAK42,910	-25.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.69 NIO1,236.59	$67.50 LAK1,462,021	+100.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.00 NIO293.60	$3.02 LAK65,469	-62.2%
Average			-0.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 24.8% less for clothing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$61.83 NIO2,269.02	$50.20 LAK1,087,403	-18.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$61.88 NIO2,270.81	$65.21 LAK1,412,374	+5.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$108.23 NIO3,972.16	$66.39 LAK1,437,906	-38.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$89.99 NIO3,302.80	$47.52 LAK1,029,342	-47.2%
Average			-24.8%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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