Cost of living comparison

compared to

Papua New Guinea vs. Northern Mariana Islands Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 8.7% more expensive than Northern Mariana Islands overall.

Restaurants: pay 23.4% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 7.4% less in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 15.5% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 2.3 times more in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 33.9% less in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.3% less in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 20.4% more in Papua New Guinea

The cost of housing and clothing in Papua New Guinea are more expensive than in Northern Mariana Islands. Expenses including childcare, restaurants, transportation, groceries, and entertainment and sports are lower in Papua New Guinea. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea vs. Northern Mariana Islands Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of Northern Mariana Islands, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 23.4% less for restaurants

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.50	$17.87 PGK76.59	+55.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$12.00	$5.92 PGK25.38	-50.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.67	$0.80 PGK3.44	-51.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.32	$0.70 PGK3.02	-46.5%
Average			-23.4%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 7.4% less for groceries

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$3.33	$1.55 PGK6.66	-53.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	??	$3.60 PGK15.44
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.44	$7.76 PGK33.26	-8.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.33	$4.00 PGK17.16	-36.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$6.00	$3.63 PGK15.56	-39.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.99	$1.99 PGK8.52	-33.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.00	$1.32 PGK5.66	+32.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.99	$2.73 PGK11.72	-8.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$1.62 PGK6.96
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.95	$1.58 PGK6.78	+67.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.03	$1.18 PGK5.06	+14.2%
Average			-7.4%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 15.5% less for transportation

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.49	$4.22 PGK18.07	-23.1%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$23.69 PGK101.54
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,999.00	$22,387.96 PGK95,952.53	-39.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$21.41	$24.88 PGK106.61	+16.2%
Average			-15.5%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.3 times more for housing

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$60.00	$165.84 PGK710.76	+176.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$625.00	$2,652.44 PGK11,368.07	+324.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$450.00	$758.54 PGK3,251.04	+68.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$254.42	$80.08 PGK343.20	-68.5%
Average			+125.2%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 33.9% less for childcare

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$631.76 PGK2,707.66
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,000.00	$3,968.24 PGK17,007.46	-33.9%
Average			-33.9%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 4.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$2.98 PGK12.75	-50.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.12	$2.56 PGK10.96	-50.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$6.96 PGK29.82
Monthly membership at local gym	$47.50	$73.52 PGK315.10	+54.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.00	$10.30 PGK44.14	+28.7%
Average			-4.3%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 20.4% more for clothing

	Northern Mariana Islands	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$30.00	$31.15 PGK133.52	+3.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$40.00	$36.48 PGK156.37	-8.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$70.00	$76.40 PGK327.46	+9.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$55.00	$97.73 PGK418.84	+77.7%
Average			+20.4%

Northern Mariana Islands 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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