Cost of living comparison

compared to

Papua New Guinea vs. North Carolina Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 16.3% cheaper than North Carolina.

Restaurants: pay 41.2% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 1.0% less in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 7.0% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 31.7% more in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 66.9% less in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.6% less in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 16.4% less in Papua New Guinea

Expenses including childcare, restaurants, clothing, entertainment and sports, transportation, and groceries are lower in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea vs. North Carolina Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of North Carolina, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 41.2% less for restaurants

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.06	$17.87 PGK75.83	+4.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.47	$5.92 PGK25.13	-43.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.28	$0.80 PGK3.41	-64.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.82	$0.70 PGK2.99	-61.4%
Average			-41.2%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.0% less for groceries

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$3.79	$1.55 PGK6.59	-59.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.80	$3.60 PGK15.29	-47.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.73	$7.76 PGK32.93	+108.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.98	$4.00 PGK16.99	+0.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.20	$3.63 PGK15.41	-30.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.47	$1.99 PGK8.44	-19.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.71	$1.32 PGK5.61	+87.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.20	$2.73 PGK11.60	+24.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.38	$1.62 PGK6.89	-31.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.74	$1.58 PGK6.71	-9.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.80	$1.18 PGK5.01	-34.4%
Average			-1.0%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 7.0% less for transportation

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.98	$4.22 PGK17.89	+41.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$60.67	$23.69 PGK100.53	-60.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,588.64	$22,387.96 PGK94,999.61	-33.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.99	$24.88 PGK105.56	+24.4%
Average			-7.0%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 31.7% more for housing

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.77	$165.84 PGK703.70	+127.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,488.15	$2,652.44 PGK11,255.17	+78.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,261.77	$758.54 PGK3,218.75	-39.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$132.31	$80.08 PGK339.79	-39.5%
Average			+31.7%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 66.9% less for childcare

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,261.89	$631.76 PGK2,680.77	-49.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$24,633.15	$3,968.24 PGK16,838.56	-83.9%
Average			-66.9%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.6% less for entertainment and sports

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.12	$2.98 PGK12.63	-41.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.82	$2.56 PGK10.85	-46.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.77	$6.96 PGK29.52	-10.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$48.40	$73.52 PGK311.97	+51.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$12.98	$10.30 PGK43.71	-20.7%
Average			-13.6%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 16.4% less for clothing

	North Carolina	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$49.30	$31.15 PGK132.20	-36.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.76	$36.48 PGK154.81	-3.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.37	$76.40 PGK324.21	-13.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$111.01	$97.73 PGK414.68	-12.0%
Average			-16.4%

North Carolina vs. Papua New Guinea - 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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