Cost of living comparison

Vanuatu

compared to

Thailand

Bangkok vs. Port Vila Cost of Living Summary

Bangkok is 52.0% cheaper than Port Vila.

Restaurants: pay 70.5% less in Bangkok
Groceries: pay 52.7% less in Bangkok
Transportation: pay 13.8% less in Bangkok
Housing: pay 70.8% less in Bangkok
Childcare: pay 47.8% more in Bangkok
Entertainment and Sports: pay 34.1% less in Bangkok
Clothing: pay 8.2% more in Bangkok

The cost of childcare and clothing in Bangkok are more expensive than in Port Vila. Expenses including housing, restaurants, groceries, entertainment and sports, and transportation are lower in Bangkok.

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Bangkok vs. Port Vila Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bangkok instead of Port Vila, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 70.5% less for restaurants

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$12.67 VUV1,500	$2.97 THB98.83	-76.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.35 VUV1,700	$6.98 THB232.24	-51.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.28 VUV270	$0.65 THB21.64	-71.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.36 VUV279	$0.35 THB11.72	-85.0%
Average			-70.5%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of restaurants

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pay 52.7% less for groceries

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Bread 1 loaf	$1.94 VUV230	$1.48 THB49.16	-23.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.86 VUV1,050	$8.63 THB287.02	-2.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$10.63 VUV1,259	$7.27 THB241.89	-31.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.23 VUV737	$2.56 THB85.32	-58.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$7.40 VUV877	$1.63 THB54.28	-78.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.24 VUV384	$1.77 THB58.85	-45.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.96 VUV113	$0.81 THB26.83	-15.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.78 VUV211	$1.24 THB41.35	-30.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$4.21 VUV499	$0.87 THB29.09	-79.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$4.02 VUV476	$0.78 THB26.00	-80.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.57 VUV186	$0.69 THB23.01	-55.9%
Average			-52.7%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of groceries

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pay 13.8% less for transportation

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.78 VUV803	$5.32 THB176.90	-21.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$67.55 VUV8,000	$34.98 THB1,163.67	-48.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,220.47 VUV3M	$31,193.83 THB1M	+34.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.29 VUV1,100	$10.55 THB350.83	+13.5%
Average			-13.8%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of transportation

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pay 70.8% less for housing

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$363.08 VUV43,000	$17.88 THB594.63	-95.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,579.90 VUV187K	$675.80 THB22,480.48	-57.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,131.05 VUV134K	$346.10 THB11,513.16	-69.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$484.28 VUV57,353	$82.03 THB2,728.64	-83.1%
Average			-70.8%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of housing

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pay 47.8% more for childcare

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$624.84 VUV74,000	$568.31 THB18,904.94	-9.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,873.26 VUV814K	$16,500.59 THB549K	+140.1%
Average			+47.8%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of childcare

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pay 34.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.07 VUV600	$2.67 THB88.94	-47.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.08 VUV483	$2.79 THB92.95	-31.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.29 VUV1,100	$4.60 THB153.18	-50.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$68.29 VUV8,088	$58.43 THB1,943.57	-14.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$7.58 THB252.00
Average			-34.1%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 8.2% more for clothing

	Port Vila	Bangkok
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$40.99 VUV4,854	$70.75 THB2,353.53	+72.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$67.55 VUV8,000	$42.94 THB1,428.36	-36.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$84.40 VUV9,995	$97.05 THB3,228.30	+15.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$101.28 VUV11,995	$109.92 THB3,656.54	+8.5%
Average			+8.2%

Port Vila vs. Bangkok - 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

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