Cost of living comparison

Samoa

compared to

New Zealand

New Zealand vs. Samoa Cost of Living Summary

New Zealand is 94.6% more expensive than Samoa overall.

Restaurants: pay 50.3% less in New Zealand
Groceries: pay 40.0% more in New Zealand
Transportation: pay 10.6% more in New Zealand
Housing: pay 4.6 times more in New Zealand
Entertainment and Sports: pay 65.9% more in New Zealand

The cost of housing, entertainment and sports, groceries, and transportation in New Zealand are more expensive than in Samoa. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in New Zealand.

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New Zealand vs. Samoa Cost Breakdown

If you lived in New Zealand instead of Samoa, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 50.3% less for restaurants

	Samoa	New Zealand
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$47.26 WST130.00	$13.26 NZ$23.46	-71.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.54 WST40.00	$8.99 NZ$15.90	-38.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.82 WST5.00	$2.04 NZ$3.61	+12.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.36 WST3.75	$1.83 NZ$3.24	+34.3%
Average			-50.3%

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of restaurants

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pay 40.0% more for groceries

	Samoa	New Zealand
Bread 1 loaf	$0.82 WST2.25	$1.73 NZ$3.05	+111.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$0.45 WST1.25	$3.78 NZ$6.69	+732.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.88 WST18.93	$6.47 NZ$11.45	-5.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.27 WST11.76	$5.79 NZ$10.24	+35.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.65 WST4.54	$3.83 NZ$6.77	+132.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.31 WST6.35	$1.22 NZ$2.15	-47.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.82 WST2.27	$0.94 NZ$1.67	+14.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 WST2.27	$1.32 NZ$2.33	+59.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.98 WST5.44	$2.20 NZ$3.89	+11.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.65 WST4.54	$0.89 NZ$1.57	-46.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 WST1.36	$0.67 NZ$1.18	+34.6%
Average			+40.0%

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.6% more for transportation

	Samoa	New Zealand
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.13 WST11.36	$6.34 NZ$11.21	+53.5%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$83.43 NZ$147.53
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$24,108.51 NZ$42,632.21
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$49.07 WST135.00	$17.20 NZ$30.41	-65.0%
Average			+10.6%

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.6 times more for housing

	Samoa	New Zealand
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$36.35 WST100.00	$49.30 NZ$87.18	+35.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	??	$976.74 NZ$1,727.21
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	??	$843.74 NZ$1,492.02
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$13.90 WST38.24	$95.64 NZ$169.12	+588.1%
Average			+358.5%

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Samoa	New Zealand
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$716.92 NZ$1,267.75
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$16,937.81 NZ$29,951.92

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of childcare

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pay 65.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Samoa	New Zealand
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.45 WST9.50	$5.70 NZ$10.07	+64.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.91 WST8.00	$3.26 NZ$5.77	+12.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.18 WST17.00	$22.75 NZ$40.22	+268.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	??	$39.17 NZ$69.26
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$10.27 NZ$18.16
Average			+65.9%

Samoa vs. New Zealand - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Samoa	New Zealand
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$63.30 NZ$111.94
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$33.63 NZ$59.46
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$91.48 NZ$161.76
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$114.46 NZ$202.41

Samoa vs. New Zealand - 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

Compare further: Samoa vs. New Zealand

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in New Zealand?

Quality of Life Comparison · 16 statistics

Make 8.4 times more money in New Zealand

Size Comparison · See true size

Samoa is about 95 times smaller than New Zealand.

Moving from Samoa to New Zealand · OECD 2023

2,994 people moved from Samoa to New Zealand.

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