Cost of living comparison

compared to

Puerto Vallarta vs. Wellington Cost of Living Summary

Puerto Vallarta is 25.6% cheaper than Wellington.

Restaurants: pay 18.9% less in Puerto Vallarta
Groceries: pay 1.4% more in Puerto Vallarta
Transportation: pay 17.0% less in Puerto Vallarta
Housing: pay 31.8% less in Puerto Vallarta
Childcare: pay 57.8% less in Puerto Vallarta
Entertainment and Sports: pay 32.1% less in Puerto Vallarta
Clothing: pay 23.3% less in Puerto Vallarta

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

Puerto Vallarta vs. Wellington Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Puerto Vallarta instead of Wellington, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 18.9% less for restaurants

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.42 NZ$24.97	$10.86 MX$197.31	-24.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.23 NZ$15.98	$9.17 MX$166.73	-0.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.46 NZ$4.26	$1.91 MX$34.65	-22.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$1.43 MX$25.92	-27.9%
Average			-18.9%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.4% more for groceries

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Bread 1 loaf	$1.98 NZ$3.42	$3.59 MX$65.25	+81.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.02 NZ$6.96	$5.78 MX$105.00	+43.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.79 NZ$11.75	$6.24 MX$113.48	-8.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.77 NZ$11.73	$2.09 MX$38.06	-69.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.77 NZ$8.26	$4.85 MX$88.23	+1.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 NZ$2.36	$1.10 MX$20.03	-19.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.01 NZ$1.75	$0.65 MX$11.84	-35.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.33 NZ$2.30	$0.76 MX$13.76	-43.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.32 NZ$4.01	$1.01 MX$18.41	-56.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.90 NZ$1.55	$1.02 MX$18.63	+14.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.68 NZ$1.17	$1.40 MX$25.38	+105.9%
Average			+1.4%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of groceries

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pay 17.0% less for transportation

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.14 NZ$10.63	$5.02 MX$91.31	-18.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$109.62 NZ$189.75	$16.28 MX$295.97	-85.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,154.21 NZ$53,928.03	$15,199.26 MX$276,240.46	-51.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.55 NZ$25.19	$27.14 MX$493.29	+86.5%
Average			-17.0%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of transportation

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pay 31.8% less for housing

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$48.75 NZ$84.39	$32.90 MX$597.86	-32.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,240.57 NZ$2,147.43	$990.97 MX$18,010.44	-20.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,099.37 NZ$1,903.02	$687.02 MX$12,486.27	-37.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$109.37 NZ$189.31	$68.93 MX$1,252.76	-37.0%
Average			-31.8%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of housing

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pay 57.8% less for childcare

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$768.47 NZ$1,330.22	$280.46 MX$5,097.29	-63.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,211.68 NZ$21,138.46	$5,862.57 MX$106,549.89	-52.0%
Average			-57.8%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of childcare

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pay 32.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.63 NZ$11.48	$2.44 MX$44.40	-63.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.54 NZ$6.13	$3.80 MX$69.06	+7.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$25.67 NZ$44.44	$4.29 MX$77.94	-83.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.12 NZ$59.06	$36.91 MX$670.87	+8.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.54 NZ$19.97	$8.14 MX$147.99	-29.4%
Average			-32.1%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 23.3% less for clothing

	Wellington	Puerto Vallarta
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.31 NZ$119.97	$54.28 MX$986.57	-21.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$46.64 NZ$80.73	$34.38 MX$624.83	-26.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$113.30 NZ$196.13	$101.78 MX$1,849.82	-10.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$146.23 NZ$253.12	$95.00 MX$1,726.50	-35.0%
Average			-23.3%

Wellington vs. Puerto Vallarta - 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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