Cost of living comparison

Brazil

compared to

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Recife Cost of Living Summary

Ho Chi Minh City is 9.4% cheaper than Recife.

Restaurants: pay 58.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Groceries: pay 11.1% more in Ho Chi Minh City
Transportation: pay 30.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Housing: pay 6.5% more in Ho Chi Minh City
Childcare: pay 76.6% more in Ho Chi Minh City
Entertainment and Sports: pay 30.6% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Clothing: pay 2.1% more in Ho Chi Minh City

The cost of childcare, groceries, housing, and clothing in Ho Chi Minh City are more expensive than in Recife. Expenses including restaurants, entertainment and sports, and transportation are lower in Ho Chi Minh City. Notably, childcare is significantly more expensive in Ho Chi Minh City.

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Ho Chi Minh City vs. Recife Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Ho Chi Minh City instead of Recife, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 58.5% less for restaurants

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.57 R$30.68	$1.92 ₫49,427	-65.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.95 R$54.79	$4.62 ₫119K	-53.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.07 R$5.89	$0.54 ₫13,793	-49.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 R$3.41	$0.33 ₫8,520	-46.4%
Average			-58.5%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of restaurants

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pay 11.1% more for groceries

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Bread 1 loaf	$1.64 R$9.05	$1.08 ₫27,617	-34.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.62 R$19.92	$6.05 ₫155K	+67.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.34 R$29.38	$6.13 ₫157K	+14.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.92 R$10.57	$1.62 ₫41,667	-15.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.05 R$11.31	$1.64 ₫42,224	-20.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.63 R$3.48	$1.36 ₫34,975	+115.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.62 R$3.40	$0.58 ₫14,832	-6.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.35 R$1.93	$0.72 ₫18,564	+106.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 R$3.11	$0.58 ₫14,797	+2.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.65 R$3.60	$0.54 ₫13,990	-16.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.50 R$2.73	$0.53 ₫13,552	+6.2%
Average			+11.1%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of groceries

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pay 30.5% less for transportation

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 R$27.56	$3.55 ₫91,204	-29.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$38.32 R$210.94	$11.55 ₫297K	-69.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,669.59 R$130K	$30,715.02 ₫789M	+29.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$7.26 R$39.94	$5.80 ₫149K	-20.0%
Average			-30.5%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of transportation

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pay 6.5% more for housing

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$17.62 R$96.98	$10.46 ₫269K	-40.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$514.89 R$2,833.94	$585.86 ₫15M	+13.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$260.56 R$1,434.09	$297.81 ₫8M	+14.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$88.28 R$485.89	$79.24 ₫2M	-10.2%
Average			+6.5%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of housing

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pay 76.6% more for childcare

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$278.72 R$1,534.08	$438.36 ₫11M	+57.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,885.56 R$65,417.54	$23,561.82 ₫605M	+98.2%
Average			+76.6%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of childcare

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pay 30.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.59 R$8.77	$1.03 ₫26,545	-35.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.54 R$13.99	$1.81 ₫46,596	-28.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.79 R$9.86	$1.23 ₫31,633	-31.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$21.24 R$116.88	$25.91 ₫665K	+22.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.46 R$46.57	$3.46 ₫88,969	-59.1%
Average			-30.6%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.1% more for clothing

	Recife	Ho Chi Minh City
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$45.39 R$249.84	$51.59 ₫1M	+13.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$50.07 R$275.59	$34.61 ₫889K	-30.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$76.05 R$418.58	$91.59 ₫2M	+20.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$82.46 R$453.83	$94.62 ₫2M	+14.8%
Average			+2.1%

Recife vs. Ho Chi Minh City - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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