Cost of living comparison

compared to

Laos vs. Thailand Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 12.8% more expensive than Thailand overall.

Restaurants: pay 0.5% less in Laos
Groceries: pay 12.1% more in Laos
Transportation: pay 21.7% more in Laos
Housing: pay 74.3% more in Laos
Childcare: pay 16.9% less in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 26.0% less in Laos
Clothing: pay 24.6% more in Laos

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

Laos vs. Thailand Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 0.5% less for restaurants

	Thailand	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.67 THB84.02	$2.08 LAK44,966	-22.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99 THB219.93	$5.54 LAK119,908	-20.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.73 THB23.10	$0.76 LAK16,442	+3.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.36 THB11.32	$0.50 LAK10,718	+37.6%
Average			-0.5%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.1% more for groceries

	Thailand	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.41 THB44.29	$1.13 LAK24,563	-19.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 THB247.88	$13.26 LAK287,030	+68.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.17 THB225.32	$6.91 LAK149,595	-3.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.07 THB65.09	$2.11 LAK45,582	+1.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.41 THB44.40	$2.10 LAK45,369	+48.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.33 THB41.77	$0.76 LAK16,404	-42.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.59 THB18.64	$0.75 LAK16,237	+26.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 THB28.24	$0.97 LAK20,984	+7.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.75 THB23.68	$1.30 LAK28,220	+73.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 THB22.39	$0.70 LAK15,259	-1.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.62 THB19.40	$0.46 LAK9,907	-25.8%
Average			+12.1%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 21.7% more for transportation

	Thailand	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.83 THB151.95	$4.72 LAK102,223	-2.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$28.12 THB884.22	$54.89 LAK1,188,021	+95.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,471.21 THB958,148.24	$28,639.89 LAK619,905,563	-6.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.53 THB331.09	$10.51 LAK227,430	-0.2%
Average			+21.7%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 74.3% more for housing

	Thailand	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$18.52 THB582.41	$9.16 LAK198,182	-50.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$414.60 THB13,036.92	$1,004.64 LAK21,745,269	+142.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$266.86 THB8,391.23	$817.42 LAK17,693,017	+206.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$60.46 THB1,901.13	$59.90 LAK1,296,616	-0.9%
Average			+74.3%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 16.9% less for childcare

	Thailand	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$359.13 THB11,292.60	$296.67 LAK6,421,270	-17.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,104.31 THB349,168.15	$9,267.93 LAK200,602,878	-16.5%
Average			-16.9%

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)	$2.15 THB67.74	$1.42 LAK30,724	-34.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.97 THB61.97	$1.66 LAK35,847	-16.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.31 THB135.66	$1.98 LAK42,881	-54.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.45 THB1,680.82	$67.50 LAK1,461,034	+26.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.32 THB198.64	$3.02 LAK65,425	-52.2%
Average			-26.0%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 24.6% more for clothing

	Thailand	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$37.08 THB1,165.97	$50.20 LAK1,086,669	+35.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$29.48 THB926.97	$65.21 LAK1,411,421	+121.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.15 THB2,866.15	$66.39 LAK1,436,936	-27.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$69.13 THB2,173.61	$47.52 LAK1,028,648	-31.2%
Average			+24.6%

Thailand vs. Laos - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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