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 NIO167.54	$2.08 LAK44,969	-54.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.80 NIO249.70	$5.54 LAK119,918	-18.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 NIO30.05	$0.76 LAK16,444	-7.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.60 NIO22.01	$0.50 LAK10,719	-17.5%
Average			-24.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 29.2% more for groceries

	Nicaragua	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.74 NIO63.99	$1.13 LAK24,565	-34.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.29 NIO120.87	$13.26 LAK287,052	+302.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.55 NIO166.90	$6.91 LAK149,607	+52.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.98 NIO72.59	$2.11 LAK45,585	+6.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.48 NIO90.82	$2.10 LAK45,372	-15.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.77 NIO64.95	$0.76 LAK16,405	-57.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.39 NIO14.44	$0.75 LAK16,239	+90.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 NIO29.96	$0.97 LAK20,985	+18.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.87 NIO32.04	$1.30 LAK28,222	+49.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.24 NIO45.67	$0.70 LAK15,261	-43.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.88 NIO32.12	$0.46 LAK9,907	-47.7%
Average			+29.2%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 3.8 times more for transportation

	Nicaragua	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.95 NIO181.64	$4.72 LAK102,231	-4.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$5.00 NIO183.61	$54.89 LAK1,188,115	+996.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,973.64 NIO843,003.80	$28,639.89 LAK619,954,342	+24.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.56 NIO204.17	$10.51 LAK227,448	+88.8%
Average			+276.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 82.0% more for housing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$36.35 NIO1,333.96	$9.16 LAK198,197	-74.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$326.67 NIO11,986.84	$1,004.64 LAK21,746,980	+207.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$283.96 NIO10,419.68	$817.42 LAK17,694,410	+187.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$55.87 NIO2,050.11	$59.90 LAK1,296,718	+7.2%
Average			+82.0%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.0 times more for childcare

	Nicaragua	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$118.12 NIO4,334.53	$296.67 LAK6,421,775	+151.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,000.00 NIO220,166.41	$9,267.93 LAK200,618,663	+54.5%
Average			+102.8%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 0.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Nicaragua	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.31 NIO47.93	$1.42 LAK30,727	+8.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 NIO79.30	$1.66 LAK35,850	-23.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.66 NIO97.58	$1.98 LAK42,885	-25.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.69 NIO1,236.40	$67.50 LAK1,461,149	+100.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.00 NIO293.56	$3.02 LAK65,430	-62.2%
Average			-0.4%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 24.8% less for clothing

	Nicaragua	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$61.83 NIO2,268.67	$50.20 LAK1,086,754	-18.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$61.88 NIO2,270.47	$65.21 LAK1,411,532	+5.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$108.23 NIO3,971.55	$66.39 LAK1,437,049	-38.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$89.99 NIO3,302.29	$47.52 LAK1,028,728	-47.2%
Average			-24.8%

Nicaragua vs. Laos - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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

More cost comparisons

Nicaragua vs.

Germany

Nicaragua vs.

Egypt

Nicaragua vs.

United Kingdom

Nicaragua vs.

Spain

Nicaragua vs.

Iceland

Nicaragua vs.

Canada

Nicaragua vs.

Austria

Nicaragua vs.

Peru

Share this

Compare by city

For example, try comparing the cost of living in Managua vs. Vientiane

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Nicaragua

Add prices for Laos

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Laos or Nicaragua. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.