Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City vs. San Mateo Cost of Living Summary

Ho Chi Minh City is 74.4% cheaper than San Mateo.

Restaurants: pay 83.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Groceries: pay 64.4% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Transportation: pay 58.4% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Housing: pay 83.9% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Childcare: pay 65.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Entertainment and Sports: pay 80.6% less in Ho Chi Minh City
Clothing: pay 24.5% less in Ho Chi Minh City

Expenses including housing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, childcare, groceries, and transportation are lower in Ho Chi Minh City.

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Ho Chi Minh City vs. San Mateo Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 83.5% less for restaurants

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$20.00	$1.92 ₫49,832	-90.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$13.00	$4.62 ₫120K	-64.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.02	$0.54 ₫13,905	-82.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.75	$0.33 ₫8,590	-87.9%
Average			-83.5%

San Mateo vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of restaurants

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pay 64.4% less for groceries

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Bread 1 loaf	$5.88	$1.08 ₫27,843	-81.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.80	$6.05 ₫157K	-11.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.12	$6.13 ₫159K	+0.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$7.39	$1.62 ₫42,008	-78.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.50	$1.64 ₫42,570	-80.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.73	$1.36 ₫35,261	-50.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.00	$0.58 ₫14,953	-42.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.83	$0.72 ₫18,715	-60.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$3.99	$0.58 ₫14,918	-85.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.98	$0.54 ₫14,104	-72.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.42	$0.53 ₫13,662	-62.7%
Average			-64.4%

San Mateo vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of groceries

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pay 58.4% less for transportation

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.75	$3.55 ₫91,950	-38.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$96.00	$11.55 ₫299K	-88.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,753.89	$30,715.02 ₫795M	-16.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.31	$5.80 ₫150K	-71.4%
Average			-58.4%

San Mateo vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of transportation

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pay 83.9% less for housing

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.24	$10.46 ₫271K	-82.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$3,458.33	$585.86 ₫15M	-83.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$2,743.00	$297.81 ₫8M	-89.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$204.90	$79.24 ₫2M	-61.3%
Average			-83.9%

San Mateo vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of housing

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pay 65.5% less for childcare

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$3,000.00	$438.36 ₫11M	-85.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$29,000.00	$23,561.82 ₫610M	-18.8%
Average			-65.5%

San Mateo vs. Ho Chi Minh City - Cost of childcare

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pay 80.6% less for entertainment and sports

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$8.25	$1.03 ₫26,762	-87.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.66	$1.81 ₫46,978	-67.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$11.71	$1.23 ₫31,892	-89.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$110.00	$25.91 ₫671K	-76.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$18.00	$3.46 ₫89,697	-80.8%
Average			-80.6%

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

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pay 24.5% less for clothing

	San Mateo	Ho Chi Minh City
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$63.17	$51.59 ₫1M	-18.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$46.63	$34.61 ₫896K	-25.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$118.50	$91.59 ₫2M	-22.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$136.50	$94.62 ₫2M	-30.7%
Average			-24.5%

San Mateo 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 October 2026). How we calculate this

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San Mateo is about 216 times smaller than Ho Chi Minh City.

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