Cost of Living in Ho Chi Minh City

Summary of cost of living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:

Restaurants
Edit Range
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant 1.97 $ 1.38-3.94
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course 23.62 $ 17.71-43.30
McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) 4.72 $ 3.90-5.90
Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) 1.18 $ 0.59-2.76
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) 1.97 $ 1.38-3.15
Cappuccino (regular) 1.88 $ 0.79-3.15
Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) 0.50 $ 0.39-0.98
Water (12 oz small bottle) 0.30 $ 0.24-0.47
Markets
Edit
Milk (regular), (1 gallon) 5.58 $ 4.47-7.15
Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) 0.93 $ 0.36-1.61
Rice (white), (1 lb) 0.43 $ 0.30-0.54
Eggs (regular) (12) 1.47 $ 1.18-1.89
Local Cheese (1 lb) 5.29 $ 2.68-10.71
Chicken Fillets (1 lb) 1.68 $ 1.07-2.14
Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) 4.82 $ 3.21-5.80
Apples (1 lb) 1.29 $ 0.70-2.14
Banana (1 lb) 0.47 $ 0.27-0.89
Oranges (1 lb) 0.56 $ 0.21-1.29
Tomato (1 lb) 0.51 $ 0.27-0.71
Potato (1 lb) 0.56 $ 0.36-0.89
Onion (1 lb) 0.54 $ 0.36-0.80
Lettuce (1 head) 0.86 $ 0.59-1.57
Water (1.5 liter bottle) 0.50 $ 0.39-0.79
Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) 11.81 $ 3.94-19.68
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) 0.92 $ 0.59-1.19
Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) 1.49 $ 0.71-2.36
Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) 1.38 $ 0.98-1.57
Transportation
Edit
One-way Ticket (Local Transport) 0.28 $ 0.24-0.47
Monthly Pass (Regular Price) 11.81 $ 7.87-15.74
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) 0.67 $ 0.43-0.87
Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) 1.01 $ 0.76-1.27
Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) 3.15 $ 1.77-5.90
Gasoline (1 gallon) 3.52 $ 3.35-4.17
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) 38,575.08 $ 27,081.28-59,043.50
Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) 34,962.83 $ 31,489.86-39,362.33
Utilities (Monthly)
Edit
Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment 81.39 $ 51.17-121.67
Mobile Phone Monthly Plan with Calls and 10GB+ Data 6.15 $ 3.94-7.87
Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) 9.39 $ 7.20-11.81
Sports And Leisure
Edit
Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult 21.26 $ 11.81-43.30
Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) 8.54 $ 4.72-10.00
Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat 3.94 $ 3.15-5.90
Childcare
Edit
Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child 273.46 $ 118.09-472.35
International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child 14,115.14 $ 9,053.34-22,000.00
Clothing And Shoes
Edit
1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) 37.58 $ 15.74-78.72
1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) 26.77 $ 11.81-51.17
1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) 103.33 $ 47.23-157.45
1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes 73.56 $ 39.36-157.45
Rent Per Month
Edit
Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre 485.49 $ 334.58-787.25
Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre 294.26 $ 196.81-472.35
Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre 1,082.19 $ 669.16-1,771.30
Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre 600.01 $ 393.62-984.06
Buy Apartment Price
Edit
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre 407.38 $ 277.92-731.37
Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre 183.66 $ 127.99-314.49
Salaries And Financing
Edit
Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) 480.78 $
Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate 9.92 5.00-13.00

Prices in Ho Chi Minh City

This city had 2007 entries in the past 12 months by 183 different contributors.
Last update: December 2024
Sources and References
Distribution of Expenses Using Our Statistical Model:
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16 Comments so far
Anonymous on Nov 02, 2024:
Vietnam should be content with the territory China fought for independence before or else claiming China's historical territory in South China Sea would certainly cause Vietnam losing all of the territory China fought for Vietnam before.

It was China that gave independence to Vietnam so China is certainly capable of taking it back if she wanted to. France would be forever grateful to China if China helped France in restoring Vietnam unlike the god-damned ungrateful Vietnam communist party.

Vietnam should know her place by giving up all of the China's historical territory in South China Sea immediately in order to restore permanent peace between China and Vietnam or else even terrorist US would not be able to help Vietnam because even the terrorist US is afraid of China's invincible hypersonic weapon unprecedentedly now.
Anonymous on Jan 05, 2024:
Are these prices still true in 2024 ? 1 bedroom rent is 350$ in major cities ?
Anonymous on Jan 04, 2024:
the rate is from 2000? or 2010? no more that low cost, apt, foods, restaurant? if you only choose to eat and buy at only local wet markets, or super market with total local foods/ fruits
John on Nov 03, 2023:
You're right that the apartment prices have gone up but it's still one of the cheapest places in the World/Asia for beer, cigarettes and food. Depends on your priorities I guess.
wb on Aug 29, 2021:
What's the low to average cost to cremation and burial cost in HCMC in 2021?
Anonymous on Mar 09, 2021:
You are Goofier Goober for quoting such ridiculous profits made.You must be married to one of those hybrid female monkeys living there.
Anonymous on Feb 23, 2021:
People aren't nice to foreigners anywhere in Vietnam I was an English teacher in Ho chi minh and other areas of Vietnam almost 13 years. The part about trash and rats is true.
Jimmy LI on Feb 20, 2021:
Ho Chi Minh is not bad to stay but not for permanent purpose. The people are nice here but the worst thing is there are too many mosquitoes and rats. People throw away everything and the whole place is full of garbage. There are not enough garbage bins on the roads and families just put their garbage outside without cover. You can see rats running around everywhere and government have no interest to control the rats. Restaurants are everywhere and that's the reason why so many rats here. The weather is quite nice. It is hot in the afternoon but temperature will drop a lot in the evening with mind wind. It is quite comfortable and real estates are getting expensive here now.
Lee on Feb 18, 2021:
Remember, VietNam is a communist country unlike free VietNam country prior to 1975. And u know what is the reputation of those communists! They always tried to rip u off anyway they can. So why bother, stick with Thailand, Malaysa, Cambodia, Indonesia, the free SEA countries.
Anonymous on Jan 25, 2021:
Ho chi minh isn't a good place to live. I tried it for 8 months. Even if you sign a lease for one year the rent can go up much higher and there's nothing the tenant can do about it for this reason. The Vietnamese government allows major rent increases even though a tenant signs an agreement. There are many sites promoting Vietnam but those promoters have never actually lived in Vietnam as I have.
Big Boi II on Jan 20, 2021:
This place is ridiculous. I just checked rentals again and they've gone up big time. For some weird reason everyone wants to move to Vietnam during the pandemic and teach ABCs to smot nosed rich brats so agents are marking up prices.

You really cant find an adequate basic room with a kitchenette for less than 10m + utilities/ management fees. It takes me a week at least to find something good. Plus most of these buildings are in crappy locations and you're stepping around dog feces and old ladies cutting veggies in puddle water when you leave your apartment. Like I said in my post below, 12m is really the sweet spot. And you need it bc it's such a hectic place...you need a good home to return to.

Just a year ago you could get a brand new room in a commercial building from 6.5ish. I'm not seeing any good deals anymore. Most cities in SEA other than Singapore are waaaay cheaper and have better value than hcmc.
Krisakaduh on Jan 11, 2021:
This is sooooooooo usefull for my students! Thank ch <3
Big Boi on Jan 09, 2021:
I think even pre-Covid, hcmc and by extension the rest of Vietnam isnt worth living in unless you're a destitute English teacher with no career prospects or one of those poor uppity Viet Kieu who come back to lord over the locals.

1. Cost of living has gone up 100X with the sharp influx of foreigners. Unless you like living in skinny communist style housing blocks and eating cheap gruel, you need $2500 a month minimum for a good quality life. Quality apartments in not crappy areas start at 500 + high utilities. Even local food now has seen quite the markup. An average snail place on the street for 2 will run you $30 to $40 bucks for tiny portions.

2. If you don't have money or look like you don't, Vietnamese treat you like dirt. They act as if every foreigner is an indigent layabout teacher or refugee.

3. Rampant scams from housing to visas to food and more will add a big deficit to your budget.

4. Vague visa laws. Laws change quite a bit here and if you arent working legally or are working online, expect to make a trek to Cambodia every 3 months to reset your visa. It's a time consuming embarrassing pain and can be costly if you mess it up.

In addition if you mistakenly use the wrong visa agents or spend too much time in the country you can easily be blacklisted for vague reasons which can cost $3000 to fix.

5. Boring materialistic culture.

This is just a small taste or primer of what you can expect in VN. If you go to Vietnam you better have money and better be self sufficient.

There are much better options for your discerning expat.
Anonymous on Jan 08, 2021:
Infected people are rising quickly throughout Vietnam over the past two weeks plan your visits carefully.
Milo Oblong on Jan 06, 2021:
Hcmc is waaay overpriced now especially for apartments.

Minimum is basically 10m VND + EVN electric + management fees + cleaning etc if you want to live in a midrange highrise or condo building. Basically $600++ for a studio condotel or a 1 bedroom depending on the building.

If you decide to go the serviced apartment route it can be slightly cheaper but greedy Viets will artificially jack up your utilities with a submeter. I remember paying nearly $100 for electric and water for a 25-30sqm room with 1 barely working AC and a crappy water heater.

Lot of incidental costs in Vietnam that jack up the cost of living like the visa runs or paying agents or whatnot.
Anonymous on Dec 09, 2020:
That's your fault COSTA DE VIDA FYI Vietnamese women don't like Latin men, never did for some reasons.But they love European U S and British men most definitely.