Cost of living comparison

United States

compared to

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea vs. United States Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 30.4% cheaper than United States overall.

Restaurants: pay 59.9% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 3.1% less in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 14.4% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 36.9% less in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 61.6% less in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 33.2% less in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 0.4% more in Papua New Guinea

Expenses including childcare, restaurants, housing, entertainment and sports, transportation, and groceries are lower in Papua New Guinea.

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Papua New Guinea vs. United States Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of United States, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 59.9% less for restaurants

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.86	$7.78 PGK35.37	-60.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.42	$5.56 PGK25.27	-51.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.67	$0.75 PGK3.41	-71.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.05	$0.67 PGK3.03	-67.5%
Average			-59.9%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.1% less for groceries

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$3.63	$1.52 PGK6.91	-58.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.52	$4.32 PGK19.64	-33.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.98	$7.10 PGK32.28	+78.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.30	$3.69 PGK16.78	-14.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.46	$2.58 PGK11.75	-52.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.34	$1.95 PGK8.88	-16.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.80	$1.44 PGK6.57	+81.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.02	$3.29 PGK14.97	+63.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.19	$2.92 PGK13.29	+33.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.34	$1.51 PGK6.88	+12.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.39	$1.31 PGK5.96	-5.5%
Average			-3.1%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 14.4% less for transportation

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.01	$3.78 PGK17.18	-5.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$66.70	$22.22 PGK101.06	-66.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$34,164.82	$50,004.77 PGK227K	+46.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.02	$23.34 PGK106.12	+29.5%
Average			-14.4%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 36.9% less for housing

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$70.22	$91.68 PGK416.89	+30.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,681.01	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	-4.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,404.28	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	-60.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$157.64	$89.65 PGK407.67	-43.1%
Average			-36.9%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 61.6% less for childcare

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,450.99	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	-41.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$24,361.50	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	-74.6%
Average			-61.6%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 33.2% less for entertainment and sports

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$3.00 PGK13.64	-50.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.31	$2.47 PGK11.24	-53.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.42	$6.45 PGK29.31	-38.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.68	$61.49 PGK279.61	+21.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.95	$8.89 PGK40.43	-36.3%
Average			-33.2%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 0.4% more for clothing

	United States	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.15	$32.73 PGK148.82	-38.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.88	$31.67 PGK144.02	-24.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.76	$136.12 PGK619.02	+51.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$114.01	$163.90 PGK745.35	+43.8%
Average			+0.4%

United States vs. Papua New Guinea - 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: United States vs. Papua New Guinea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Papua New Guinea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 96.6% less money in Papua New Guinea

Size Comparison · See true size

United States is about 21 times bigger than Papua New Guinea.

Moving from United States to Papua New Guinea · UN DESA 2020

733 people born in United States live in Papua New Guinea.

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