What a month costs in Thailand

One basket — groceries, eating out, transport, utilities and a 1-bed outside the centre — priced in 297 cities. Chiang Rai runs $393 a month, Phuket $856.

Bar chart of monthly cost of living for six Thai cities against the global and US medians

One bar is one month for one person: groceries, eating out, transport, utilities and a 1-bed outside the centre. Not a lifestyle budget.

Download the chart (PNG) Download all 297 cities (CSV)

What the chart says

All 6 Thai cities carried sit below the median of all 297. The median city costs $925; the US median is $2,713.
The spread inside Thailand is 2.2×. Phuket at $856 against Chiang Rai at $393 — a bigger gap than most people allow for when they say “Thailand”.

All 297

Every city carrying a cost, cheapest first.

#	City	Market	Cost / mo	Net salary / mo	Safety index	Population
1	Kano	Nigeria	$168	—	43	4,458,489
2	Kochi	India	$248	$464	58	601,574
3	Kolkata	India	$250	$389	53	4,496,694
4	Dhaka	Bangladesh	$263	$276	38	18,113,283
5	Chennai	India	$267	$762	60	4,646,732
6	Jaipur	India	$269	$371	64	3,046,163
7	Panaji	India	$282	$188	64	40,017
8	Tabriz	Iran	$283	$233	66	1,558,693
9	Manado	Indonesia	$290	$213	65	451,916
10	Can Tho	Vietnam	$307	$160	78	1,236,000
11	Riobamba	Ecuador	$311	$334	34	260,882
12	Hyderabad	India	$311	$1,271	57	6,809,970
13	Delhi	India	$347	$546	41	16,787,941
14	Bandung	Indonesia	$356	$283	60	2,444,160
15	Yogyakarta	Indonesia	$366	$214	63	373,589
16	Pune	India	$370	$1,100	59	3,124,458
17	Denpasar	Indonesia	$371	$279	73	725,314
18	Surabaya	Indonesia	$383	$272	63	2,874,314
19	Machala	Ecuador	$388	$450	19	306,309
20	Chiang Rai	Thailand	$393	$595	88	200,000
21	Shiraz	Iran	$401	$233	52	1,565,572
22	Meknes	Morocco	$408	$490	40	526,000
23	Tripoli	Lebanon	$413	$244	—	243,833
24	Loja	Ecuador	$423	$491	75	250,028
25	Fez	Morocco	$425	$507	38	1,180,000
26	Chongqing	China	$425	$1,114	78	9,580,819
27	Xi'an	China	$426	$1,067	84	9,392,938
28	Tehran	Iran	$428	$221	—	8,693,706
29	Nakuru	Kenya	$432	—	53	570,674
30	Mombasa	Kenya	$435	$319	36	1,208,333
31	Hai Phong	Vietnam	$438	$494	44	2,088,000
32	Qingdao	China	$452	$1,199	88	6,165,279
33	Yangon	Myanmar	$454	$279	51	3,124,092
34	Kisumu	Kenya	$455	$775	89	397,957
35	Cusco	Peru	$456	$431	59	428,450
36	Battambang	Cambodia	$460	$200	—	151,827
37	Jakarta	Indonesia	$464	$429	47	10,562,088
38	Agadir	Morocco	$484	$545	64	504,768
39	Gaziantep	Turkey	$487	$1,135	50	2,222,415
40	Wuhan	China	$487	$1,106	—	10,494,879
41	Arequipa	Peru	$490	$655	57	1,142,900
42	Iloilo City	Philippines	$495	$206	60	457,626
43	Da Lat	Vietnam	$495	$422	72	406,000
44	Chengdu	China	$501	$1,264	80	13,568,357
45	Xiamen	China	$502	$1,132	79	4,617,251
46	Nha Trang	Vietnam	$511	$291	62	535,000
47	Ipoh	Malaysia	$517	$952	55	888,800
48	Gomel	Belarus	$520	$517	54	501,102
49	Zhuhai	China	$520	$1,052	—	2,207,090
50	Kota Kinabalu	Malaysia	$523	$584	56	500,400
51	Siem Reap	Cambodia	$525	$236	69	225,607
52	Hanoi	Vietnam	$528	$512	66	8,435,700
53	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	$532	$489	65	10,545,905
54	Manta	Ecuador	$534	$481	37	271,145
55	Davao City	Philippines	$550	$217	71	1,776,949
56	Essaouira	Morocco	$553	$267	68	77,966
57	Baguio City	Philippines	$558	$185	66	366,358
58	Chiang Mai	Thailand	$565	$589	76	1,260,000
59	Mogilev	Belarus	$565	$796	65	353,110
60	Guangzhou	China	$572	$1,281	72	16,096,724
61	Angeles City	Philippines	$578	$299	51	462,928
62	Nairobi	Kenya	$578	$433	41	4,397,073
63	Da Nang	Vietnam	$583	$352	78	1,346,940
64	Adana	Turkey	$592	$792	42	2,283,609
65	Mumbai	India	$593	$776	56	12,442,373
66	Rabat	Morocco	$599	$733	66	516,000
67	Sanya	China	$609	$887	—	724,854
68	George Town	Malaysia	$614	$1,074	75	556,600
69	Marrakech	Morocco	$616	$513	55	1,150,000
70	Grodno	Belarus	$623	$767	73	361,115
71	Fortaleza	Brazil	$629	$474	24	2,428,708
72	Sihanoukville	Cambodia	$632	—	38	71,082
73	Quito	Ecuador	$640	$603	37	2,679,722
74	Hangzhou	China	$646	$1,449	85	9,236,032
75	Recife	Brazil	$659	$420	25	1,488,920
76	Portoviejo	Ecuador	$660	$325	44	322,925
77	Rosario	Argentina	$664	$700	25	948,312
78	Hua Hin	Thailand	$671	$464	68	85,000
79	Cuenca	Ecuador	$671	$546	54	596,101
80	Managua	Nicaragua	$676	$353	47	1,055,247
81	Johor Bahru	Malaysia	$678	$1,070	51	1,711,200
82	Tainan City	Taiwan	$681	$1,345	78	1,848,108
83	Cebu City	Philippines	$682	$347	51	964,169
84	Metro Manila	Philippines	$689	$469	35	11,637,949
85	Taichung City	Taiwan	$689	$1,389	86	2,867,468
86	Bangkok	Thailand	$690	$617	70	5,186,582
87	Tangier	Morocco	$690	$515	52	1,270,000
88	Tashkent	Uzbekistan	$693	$721	74	3,112,748
89	Pattaya	Thailand	$694	$461	55	120,000
90	Bishkek	Kyrgyzstan	$695	$490	—	1,120,827
91	Kaohsiung City	Taiwan	$696	$1,478	79	2,709,973
92	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	$698	$1,542	41	1,982,100
93	Casablanca	Morocco	$702	$600	45	3,230,000
94	Lima	Peru	$705	$634	30	10,004,000
95	Puerto Plata	Dominican Republic	$707	—	50	162,093
96	Cali	Colombia	$708	$571	29	2,228,000
97	Salvador	Brazil	$708	$385	23	2,417,678
98	San Miguel de Tucumán	Argentina	$710	—	23	605,767
99	Bursa	Turkey	$714	$998	71	3,263,011
100	Hsinchu City	Taiwan	$718	$2,446	87	455,755
101	Santiago de los Caballeros	Dominican Republic	$723	$566	40	771,748
102	Shenzhen	China	$723	$1,721	76	17,444,609
103	Vientiane	Laos	$727	$265	68	1,028,187
104	Taoyuan City	Taiwan	$728	$1,504	86	2,356,618
105	Antofagasta	Chile	$731	$722	40	401,096
106	Asunción	Paraguay	$741	$659	45	521,082
107	Phnom Penh	Cambodia	$742	$324	51	2,189,460
108	Niš	Serbia	$745	$892	72	249,501
109	La Plata	Argentina	$760	$665	30	772,618
110	Ruse	Bulgaria	$761	$998	64	136,112
111	East London	South Africa	$762	$1,640	—	975,249
112	Bucaramanga	Colombia	$783	$570	46	613,000
113	Oradea	Romania	$794	$938	79	213,622
114	La Serena	Chile	$796	$729	68	250,141
115	Lagos	Nigeria	$797	$118	31	12,941,672
116	Guayaquil	Ecuador	$800	$590	25	2,746,403
117	Bloemfontein	South Africa	$813	$1,300	—	811,421
118	Minsk	Belarus	$814	$939	51	1,992,862
119	Salta	Argentina	$823	$850	45	618,375
120	Temuco	Chile	$827	$546	39	292,518
121	Concepción	Chile	$837	$566	46	230,375
122	Viña del Mar	Chile	$850	$1,091	58	334,871
123	Barranquilla	Colombia	$852	$561	33	1,206,000
124	Subotica	Serbia	$854	$906	51	123,952
125	Phuket	Thailand	$856	$496	60	416,000
126	Durban	South Africa	$856	$1,206	—	4,239,851
127	Santo Domingo	Ecuador	$857	$614	33	441,583
128	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	$858	$615	33	1,029,110
129	Pereira	Colombia	$859	$570	59	470,000
130	Iquique	Chile	$860	$971	29	199,587
131	Incheon	South Korea	$870	$2,225	68	3,061,002
132	Abuja	Nigeria	$870	$167	44	3,102,803
133	Antalya	Turkey	$878	$952	71	2,777,677
134	Fukuoka	Japan	$883	$1,535	85	1,612,392
135	Izmir	Turkey	$883	$1,136	67	4,504,185
136	Suwon	South Korea	$885	$2,255	68	1,185,770
137	Sibiu	Romania	$886	$1,157	72	161,347
138	Liberia	Costa Rica	$886	$879	20	86,564
139	Kragujevac	Serbia	$888	$961	67	171,186
140	São Paulo	Brazil	$891	$855	30	11,451,999
141	Beijing	China	$891	$1,568	74	18,960,744
142	Shanghai	China	$892	$1,711	74	21,909,814
143	George	South Africa	$893	$1,340	—	294,923
144	Mar del Plata	Argentina	$900	$611	41	682,605
145	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	$901	$1,142	76	333,994
146	Mendoza	Argentina	$907	$733	34	115,041
147	Valparaíso	Chile	$915	$771	32	284,938
148	Timisoara	Romania	$918	$1,222	74	296,936
149	Szeged	Hungary	$925	$1,313	76	158,797
150	Santa Marta	Colombia	$928	$527	44	515,000
151	Florianópolis	Brazil	$931	$931	55	537,211
152	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	$936	$602	21	845,588
153	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	$942	$596	25	6,211,223
154	Playa del Carmen	Mexico	$948	$662	54	396,286
155	Boca Chica	Dominican Republic	$951	—	37	167,040
156	Bogota	Colombia	$960	$741	48	7,945,996
157	Sapporo	Japan	$968	$1,724	93	1,973,395
158	Ankara	Turkey	$970	$1,132	61	5,910,320
159	Daegu	South Korea	$973	$2,225	71	2,348,165
160	Santiago	Chile	$974	$782	36	438,856
161	León	Nicaragua	$974	$559	31	211,278
162	Tegucigalpa	Honduras	$976	$616	26	1,342,325
163	Taipei City	Taiwan	$977	$1,704	83	2,425,964
164	Busan	South Korea	$982	$2,572	68	3,232,370
165	Burgas	Bulgaria	$989	$1,016	63	195,912
166	Almaty	Kazakhstan	$990	$799	47	2,292,055
167	Osaka	Japan	$995	$1,883	67	2,752,412
168	Córdoba	Argentina	$1,001	$667	40	1,565,112
169	Iasi	Romania	$1,004	$1,167	65	379,371
170	Liepaja	Latvia	$1,016	$1,117	57	66,746
171	Guatemala City	Guatemala	$1,024	$852	38	1,229,215
172	Gyor	Hungary	$1,028	$1,401	71	127,599
173	Guadalajara	Mexico	$1,065	$785	38	1,386,883
174	Varna	Bulgaria	$1,075	$1,208	66	331,260
175	Pretoria	South Africa	$1,075	$1,451	—	4,039,962
176	Pecs	Hungary	$1,086	$1,097	72	139,330
177	Merida	Mexico	$1,094	$612	78	1,020,794
178	Antigua Guatemala	Guatemala	$1,095	$546	58	61,360
179	Brasov	Romania	$1,096	$1,120	75	283,043
180	Constanta	Romania	$1,099	$986	54	295,767
181	Brest	Belarus	$1,099	$2,653	41	344,470
182	Novi Sad	Serbia	$1,100	$1,064	62	368,967
183	Bucharest	Romania	$1,108	$1,427	72	2,124,150
184	Cartagena	Colombia	$1,110	$462	48	1,028,000
185	Debrecen	Hungary	$1,128	$1,273	76	199,858
186	Johannesburg	South Africa	$1,130	$1,694	—	4,803,109
187	Istanbul	Turkey	$1,142	$1,240	52	15,754,053
188	Boquete	Panama	$1,143	$800	62	19,000
189	Medellin	Colombia	$1,178	$619	54	2,526,795
190	Cluj-Napoca	Romania	$1,193	$1,348	77	325,408
191	Ostrava	Czechia	$1,194	$1,731	70	279,530
192	Liberec	Czechia	$1,202	$1,570	71	104,802
193	Seoul	South Korea	$1,215	$3,180	75	9,289,813
194	Beirut	Lebanon	$1,221	$704	—	341,725
195	Łódź	Poland	$1,230	$1,667	62	625,040
196	Mexico City	Mexico	$1,250	$1,048	50	9,020,812
197	Olomouc	Czechia	$1,253	$1,564	82	100,523
198	Coimbra	Portugal	$1,263	$1,356	77	140,816
199	Cape Town	South Africa	$1,265	$1,591	—	4,772,355
200	Seville	Spain	$1,289	$1,790	63	688,714
201	Bariloche	Argentina	$1,294	$958	43	135,755
202	Sofia	Bulgaria	$1,301	$1,707	61	1,303,813
203	San Salvador	El Salvador	$1,303	$380	46	334,416
204	Tokyo	Japan	$1,306	$2,308	76	9,733,276
205	Braga	Portugal	$1,319	$1,275	60	193,324
206	Poznań	Poland	$1,321	$1,771	72	526,051
207	Buenos Aires	Argentina	$1,325	$842	37	3,119,304
208	Colonia del Sacramento	Uruguay	$1,326	—	67	32,174
209	Monterrey	Mexico	$1,334	$1,120	52	1,168,978
210	Riga	Latvia	$1,335	$1,521	63	588,911
211	Budapest	Hungary	$1,345	$1,743	66	1,685,342
212	Heredia	Costa Rica	$1,370	$1,354	49	133,143
213	Granada	Nicaragua	$1,374	$1,886	63	132,054
214	Plzen	Czechia	$1,384	$1,928	71	175,219
215	Puerto Vallarta	Mexico	$1,395	$919	66	308,300
216	Al Ain	United Arab Emirates	$1,398	$2,836	90	690,000
217	Montevideo	Uruguay	$1,436	$1,275	43	1,302,954
218	Wrocław	Poland	$1,455	$1,835	75	674,966
219	Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	$1,472	$2,205	85	1,610,000
220	San Jose	Costa Rica	$1,476	$1,046	52	364,062
221	Jurmala	Latvia	$1,477	$1,139	66	52,926
222	Košice	Slovakia	$1,492	$1,510	68	222,286
223	Panama City	Panama	$1,507	$931	54	1,150,444
224	Quebec City	Canada	$1,518	$2,869	78	549,450
225	Alicante	Spain	$1,530	$1,945	64	365,586
226	Brno	Czechia	$1,530	$1,904	75	397,153
227	Punta del Este	Uruguay	$1,534	$1,131	76	11,128
228	Faro	Portugal	$1,535	$1,356	70	67,622
229	Gdańsk	Poland	$1,540	$1,914	69	489,402
230	Dresden	Germany	$1,541	$3,155	68	554,649
231	Kraków	Poland	$1,542	$1,919	75	814,595
232	Bratislava	Slovakia	$1,575	$1,712	70	480,902
233	Leipzig	Germany	$1,579	$2,928	58	601,868
234	Porto	Portugal	$1,640	$1,607	66	231,800
235	Nuremberg	Germany	$1,653	$3,711	67	518,365
236	Tamarindo	Costa Rica	$1,675	$938	42	7,861
237	Malaga	Spain	$1,680	$1,943	68	597,173
238	Barysaw	Belarus	$1,732	$1,950	56	134,732
239	Warsaw	Poland	$1,749	$2,194	75	1,863,578
240	Montreal	Canada	$1,756	$2,938	67	1,762,965
241	Prague	Czechia	$1,767	$2,343	75	1,384,732
242	Winnipeg	Canada	$1,771	$2,486	40	749,600
243	Valencia	Spain	$1,778	$1,959	62	841,558
244	Bilbao	Spain	$1,830	$2,351	51	350,975
245	Cascais	Portugal	$1,844	$2,296	71	214,124
246	Edmonton	Canada	$1,882	$3,350	53	1,010,875
247	Cologne	Germany	$1,889	$3,389	55	1,073,096
248	Stuttgart	Germany	$1,906	$4,114	66	626,275
249	Funchal	Portugal	$1,923	$1,337	80	105,782
250	Duesseldorf	Germany	$1,944	$3,758	66	629,047
251	Belfast	United Kingdom	$1,945	$3,067	51	345,418
252	Palma de Mallorca	Spain	$1,953	$2,069	64	443,196
253	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	$1,957	$2,930	89	1,750,000
254	Hamburg	Germany	$1,973	$3,558	59	1,945,532
255	Liverpool	United Kingdom	$1,977	$3,271	53	486,100
256	Ajman	United Arab Emirates	$1,980	$2,246	89	557,071
257	Leeds	United Kingdom	$1,983	$3,180	55	811,000
258	Madrid	Spain	$1,993	$2,489	71	3,477,497
259	Calgary	Canada	$2,006	$2,991	62	1,306,800
260	Barcelona	Spain	$2,036	$2,361	48	1,713,247
261	Ottawa	Canada	$2,102	$3,626	70	1,017,465
262	Glasgow	United Kingdom	$2,122	$3,433	55	622,820
263	Cardiff	United Kingdom	$2,124	$3,261	60	362,400
264	Marbella	Spain	$2,143	$2,116	46	160,478
265	Halifax	Canada	$2,158	$2,762	60	439,820
266	Omaha	United States of America	$2,164	$3,902	54	486,051
267	Berlin	Germany	$2,190	$3,331	55	3,850,809
268	Frankfurt am Main	Germany	$2,207	$4,098	54	773,068
269	Victoria	Canada	$2,209	$3,082	61	91,855
270	Birmingham	United Kingdom	$2,216	$3,930	36	1,144,900
271	Manchester	United Kingdom	$2,293	$3,239	44	552,000
272	Austin	United States of America	$2,302	$5,050	56	979,882
273	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	$2,303	$3,441	84	3,570,099
274	Minneapolis	United States of America	$2,319	$4,153	44	429,954
275	Toronto	Canada	$2,327	$3,429	56	2,794,355
276	Nashville	United States of America	$2,409	$4,518	50	683,622
277	Edinburgh	United Kingdom	$2,432	$3,542	70	506,520
278	Munich	Germany	$2,442	$4,110	78	1,512,491
279	Vancouver	Canada	$2,446	$3,343	57	662,235
280	New Orleans	United States of America	$2,455	$4,025	32	362,701
281	Phoenix	United States of America	$2,526	$4,440	47	1,650,070
282	Dallas	United States of America	$2,526	$4,791	48	1,302,868
283	Bristol	United Kingdom	$2,592	$3,794	57	472,500
284	Tampa	United States of America	$2,674	$4,668	55	398,173
285	Chicago	United States of America	$2,701	$4,984	35	2,664,452
286	Denver	United States of America	$2,713	$4,487	52	713,252
287	Atlanta	United States of America	$2,713	$5,195	36	499,127
288	Portland	United States of America	$2,887	$4,682	42	630,498
289	Santa Ana	El Salvador	$3,169	$3,116	46	249,855
290	Seattle	United States of America	$3,250	$6,597	45	755,078
291	Miami	United States of America	$3,413	$4,432	47	442,241
292	Los Angeles	United States of America	$3,629	$4,480	46	3,820,914
293	London	United Kingdom	$3,799	$4,391	45	8,799,800
294	San Diego	United States of America	$3,878	$5,316	60	1,388,320
295	Boston	United States of America	$3,935	$6,184	60	650,706
296	San Francisco	United States of America	$4,016	$7,600	39	808,437
297	New York City	United States of America	$4,213	$5,486	49	8,258,035

Khon Kaen is absent on purpose: 4 of the 12 grocery items have no crowd price there, and a partial basket would read cheap.

Where this is wrong

Crowd-sourced, not surveyed. Numbeo prices move with who submitted them and when. Thin cities move most.
A basket, not a budget. Rent in the centre, a car, schooling, visa runs and insurance are not in it.
One price for a whole city. Phuket Town and Bang Tao are one number here; so are Sukhumvit and Nonthaburi.

Sources

Numbeo cost-of-living prices

Cost sits next to salary, safety and climate on the research desk.

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Same basket per city, with salary, safety and climate beside it.

The per-market deep-dives — 13 tabs of cost, visa, tax, safety and sub-national ratio for one country — are behind the Pro gate. Everything on this page is not.