Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

Laos

Laos vs. Thailand Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 20.4% more expensive than Thailand overall.

Restaurants: pay 16.6% less in Laos
Groceries: pay 1.7% more in Laos
Transportation: pay 8.9% more in Laos
Housing: pay 87.7% more in Laos
Childcare: pay 14.5% less in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 26.0% less in Laos
Clothing: pay 1.2% less in Laos

The cost of housing, transportation, and groceries in Laos are more expensive than in Thailand. Expenses including entertainment and sports, restaurants, childcare, and clothing are lower in Laos. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Laos.

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Laos vs. Thailand Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Laos instead of Thailand, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 16.6% less for restaurants

	Thailand	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.89 THB96.94	$2.23 LAK49,970	-22.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99 THB234.58	$5.35 LAK120K	-23.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 THB25.04	$0.79 LAK17,693	+5.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.37 THB12.30	$0.46 LAK10,388	+26.5%
Average			-16.6%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.7% more for groceries

	Thailand	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.34 THB44.84	$1.14 LAK25,613	-14.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.95 THB266.82	$12.87 LAK289K	+62.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 THB238.93	$6.94 LAK156K	-2.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.06 THB69.19	$1.87 LAK41,899	-9.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.37 THB45.94	$2.81 LAK63,026	+105.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 THB45.40	$0.84 LAK18,884	-37.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.57 THB19.17	$0.52 LAK11,606	-9.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.93 THB31.35	$1.19 LAK26,703	+27.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.82 THB27.63	$0.69 LAK15,564	-15.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB24.23	$0.66 LAK14,846	-8.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.57 THB19.05	$0.49 LAK10,942	-14.0%
Average			+1.7%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 8.9% more for transportation

	Thailand	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.07 THB170.06	$5.01 LAK112K	-1.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$32.87 THB1,103.68	$52.98 LAK1M	+61.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,201.01 THB980K	$27,872.00 LAK625M	-4.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.77 THB361.74	$9.14 LAK205K	-15.2%
Average			+8.9%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 87.7% more for housing

	Thailand	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.17 THB643.63	$9.51 LAK213K	-50.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$407.64 THB13,686.22	$885.68 LAK20M	+117.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$268.13 THB9,002.19	$631.74 LAK14M	+135.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$60.86 THB2,043.38	$65.79 LAK1M	+8.1%
Average			+87.7%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 14.5% less for childcare

	Thailand	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$515.68 THB17,313.53	$435.49 LAK10M	-15.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,528.28 THB387K	$9,982.68 LAK224M	-13.4%
Average			-14.5%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

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pay 26.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Thailand	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.10 THB70.51	$1.32 LAK29,669	-37.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 THB67.08	$1.66 LAK37,186	-17.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.15 THB139.35	$1.78 LAK39,976	-57.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.07 THB1,680.98	$64.54 LAK1M	+28.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.05 THB203.17	$3.32 LAK74,390	-45.2%
Average			-26.0%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 1.2% less for clothing

	Thailand	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$44.30 THB1,487.41	$48.46 LAK1M	+9.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$32.84 THB1,102.71	$62.95 LAK1M	+91.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$83.65 THB2,808.40	$64.36 LAK1M	-23.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.91 THB2,615.60	$46.02 LAK1M	-40.9%
Average			-1.2%

Thailand vs. Laos - 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: Thailand vs. Laos

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Laos?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Be 2.8 times more likely to live below the poverty line in Laos

Size Comparison · See true size

Thailand is about 2.2 times bigger than Laos.

Moving from Thailand to Laos · UN DESA 2020

3,522 people born in Thailand live in Laos.

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