Cost of living comparison

compared to

Taiwan vs. United States Cost of Living Summary

Taiwan is 35.1% cheaper than United States overall.

Restaurants: pay 64.3% less in Taiwan
Groceries: pay 2.5% more in Taiwan
Transportation: pay 18.7% less in Taiwan
Housing: pay 71.5% less in Taiwan
Childcare: pay 45.4% less in Taiwan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 43.1% less in Taiwan
Clothing: pay 5.3% less in Taiwan

Expenses including housing, restaurants, childcare, entertainment and sports, transportation, and clothing are lower in Taiwan.

Taiwan vs. United States Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Taiwan instead of United States, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 64.3% less for restaurants

	United States	Taiwan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.45	$4.82 NT$151.22	-75.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.12	$5.16 NT$161.99	-53.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.56	$0.98 NT$30.70	-61.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.00	$0.67 NT$21.02	-66.6%
Average			-64.3%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.5% more for groceries

	United States	Taiwan
Bread 1 loaf	$3.56	$1.77 NT$55.47	-50.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.50	$9.29 NT$291.60	+42.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.97	$11.90 NT$373.42	+199.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.27	$2.61 NT$82.06	-38.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.41	$3.56 NT$111.70	-34.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.37	$2.03 NT$63.63	-14.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.78	$1.00 NT$31.34	+27.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.04	$1.25 NT$39.17	-38.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.21	$1.55 NT$48.61	-30.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.34	$1.20 NT$37.82	-10.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.38	$1.03 NT$32.24	-25.8%
Average			+2.5%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.7% less for transportation

	United States	Taiwan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.41	$3.78 NT$118.78	+10.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$65.85	$34.06 NT$1,069.33	-48.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,336.38	$35,728.87 NT$1,121,597.24	+10.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.61	$9.18 NT$288.18	-47.9%
Average			-18.7%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of transportation

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pay 71.5% less for housing

	United States	Taiwan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$68.97	$21.10 NT$662.43	-69.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,664.59	$429.29 NT$13,476.23	-74.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,416.15	$295.73 NT$9,283.44	-79.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$150.19	$54.85 NT$1,721.85	-63.5%
Average			-71.5%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of housing

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pay 45.4% less for childcare

	United States	Taiwan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,387.27	$519.45 NT$16,306.62	-62.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,196.46	$16,665.76 NT$523,169.72	-28.2%
Average			-45.4%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of childcare

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pay 43.1% less for entertainment and sports

	United States	Taiwan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.84	$1.97 NT$61.79	-66.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.15	$3.00 NT$94.24	-41.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.90	$4.54 NT$142.65	-54.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$51.45	$37.49 NT$1,176.73	-27.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.64	$10.04 NT$315.31	-26.3%
Average			-43.1%

United States vs. Taiwan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.3% less for clothing

	United States	Taiwan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.08	$65.08 NT$2,043.13	+27.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.81	$31.24 NT$980.69	-25.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$87.56	$79.60 NT$2,498.69	-9.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$112.04	$96.29 NT$3,022.88	-14.1%
Average			-5.3%

United States vs. Taiwan - 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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