Cost of living comparison

compared to

Papua New Guinea is 20.9% cheaper than California.

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

Display currency: USD

pay 45.5% less for restaurants

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $19.89
 
$9.26
PGK37.06
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$11.74
 
$9.04
PGK36.17
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.75
 
$0.94
PGK3.76

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pay 22.6% less for groceries

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Bread
1 loaf
$4.10
 
$1.44
PGK5.78
Local cheese (8 oz) $6.78
 
$2.42
PGK9.69
Milk (1 gallon) $4.57
 
$6.73
PGK26.94

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pay 9.9% less for transportation

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon) $4.84
 
$4.10
PGK16.43
Monthly public transit pass $67.11
 
$34.80
PGK139.29
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $29,950.13
 
$41,305.96
PGK165,352.92

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pay 75.8% more for housing

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$69.38
 
$344.22
PGK1,377.94
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,333.22
 
$2,807.14
PGK11,237.32
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $2,022.14
 
$418.22
PGK1,674.20

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pay 76.0% less for childcare

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,629.83
 
$543.22
PGK2,174.56
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $29,739.09
 
$4,388.76
PGK17,568.75

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pay 42.9% less for entertainment and sports

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $7.06
 
$3.10
PGK12.40
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.27
 
$2.62
PGK10.49
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$10.99
 
$7.10
PGK28.42

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pay 25.3% less for clothing

 
California
Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$52.63
 
$33.56
PGK134.35
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$41.12
 
$36.14
PGK144.68
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$84.49
 
$61.31
PGK245.45

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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: November 2024
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Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in United States vs. Papua New Guinea. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and Papua New Guinea.

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