Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

New Zealand

Queenstown vs. Traverse City Cost of Living Summary

Queenstown is 3.2% cheaper than Traverse City.

Restaurants: pay 26.1% less in Queenstown
Groceries: pay 7.0% less in Queenstown
Transportation: pay 61.0% more in Queenstown
Housing: pay 16.8% less in Queenstown
Childcare: pay 20.3% less in Queenstown
Entertainment and Sports: pay 12.7% more in Queenstown
Clothing: pay 10.7% more in Queenstown

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

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Queenstown vs. Traverse City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Queenstown instead of Traverse City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 26.1% less for restaurants

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$21.60	$14.01 NZ$24.77	-35.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.38	$8.96 NZ$15.85	-21.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.51	$2.07 NZ$3.67	-17.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.14	$2.04 NZ$3.62	-4.5%
Average			-26.1%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of restaurants

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pay 7.0% less for groceries

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Bread 1 loaf	$2.94	$1.96 NZ$3.46	-33.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.55	$4.17 NZ$7.37	-56.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$2.82	$8.05 NZ$14.24	+185.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.79	$5.77 NZ$10.21	+106.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$7.46	$4.50 NZ$7.96	-39.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.03	$1.34 NZ$2.36	-55.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.60	$1.05 NZ$1.86	+75.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.75	$1.70 NZ$3.01	-2.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$3.08	$2.44 NZ$4.32	-20.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.21	$1.56 NZ$2.77	+28.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.45	$0.82 NZ$1.45	-43.4%
Average			-7.0%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of groceries

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pay 61.0% more for transportation

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.76	$6.42 NZ$11.36	+70.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.00	$120.44 NZ$212.99	+301.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,866.37	$25,209.21 NZ$44,578.63	-29.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$17.47 NZ$30.89
Average			+61.0%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of transportation

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pay 16.8% less for housing

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$67.50	$51.87 NZ$91.73	-23.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,983.33	$1,488.74 NZ$2,632.62	-24.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,418.00	$1,267.18 NZ$2,240.82	-10.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$90.12	$84.02 NZ$148.58	-6.8%
Average			-16.8%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of housing

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pay 20.3% less for childcare

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,030.00	$964.30 NZ$1,705.22	-6.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,136.00	$7,562.76 NZ$13,373.59	-32.1%
Average			-20.3%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of childcare

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pay 12.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.00	$6.72 NZ$11.89	+34.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.67	$3.22 NZ$5.70	-31.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.00	$26.89 NZ$47.55	+348.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$63.33	$55.32 NZ$97.83	-12.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.50	$10.22 NZ$18.08	+7.6%
Average			+12.7%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 10.7% more for clothing

	Traverse City	Queenstown
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$59.33	$58.26 NZ$103.03	-1.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.67	$45.94 NZ$81.23	+10.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$101.67	$91.03 NZ$160.98	-10.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$86.67	$134.45 NZ$237.75	+55.1%
Average			+10.7%

Traverse City vs. Queenstown - 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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