Cost of living comparison

Cook Islands

compared to

New Zealand

New Zealand vs. Cook Islands Cost of Living Summary

New Zealand is 2.3 times more expensive than Cook Islands overall.

Restaurants: pay 6.8% more in New Zealand
Groceries: pay 12.4% less in New Zealand
Transportation: pay 2.6% more in New Zealand
Housing: pay 3.3 times more in New Zealand
Childcare: pay 7.4 times more in New Zealand
Entertainment and Sports: pay 34.0% more in New Zealand
Clothing: pay 31.7% more in New Zealand

The cost of childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, clothing, restaurants, and transportation in New Zealand are more expensive than in Cook Islands. Notably, childcare and housing are significantly more expensive in New Zealand.

New Zealand vs. Cook Islands Cost Breakdown

If you lived in New Zealand instead of Cook Islands, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 6.8% more for restaurants

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 NZ$15.63	$13.47 NZ$23.51	+50.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.21 NZ$14.33	$8.81 NZ$15.37	+7.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.84 NZ$4.95	$2.16 NZ$3.78	-23.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.09 NZ$3.65	$1.94 NZ$3.39	-7.0%
Average			+6.8%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.4% less for groceries

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Bread 1 loaf	$3.22 NZ$5.62	$1.86 NZ$3.25	-42.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 NZ$8.99	$3.77 NZ$6.58	-26.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.63 NZ$13.32	$6.55 NZ$11.42	-14.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.76 NZ$10.06	$5.92 NZ$10.34	+2.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.52 NZ$6.15	$4.25 NZ$7.42	+20.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 NZ$2.35	$1.15 NZ$2.00	-14.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.08 NZ$1.89	$1.04 NZ$1.82	-3.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.62 NZ$2.82	$1.31 NZ$2.28	-19.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.84 NZ$4.96	$2.31 NZ$4.03	-18.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.08 NZ$1.89	$0.90 NZ$1.57	-17.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.85 NZ$1.49	$0.83 NZ$1.45	-2.6%
Average			-12.4%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.6% more for transportation

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.79 NZ$11.86	$6.26 NZ$10.93	-7.8%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$69.15 NZ$120.69
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$11,944.29 NZ$20,845.19	$24,735.85 NZ$43,169.03	+107.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$212.01 NZ$370.00	$17.90 NZ$31.24	-91.6%
Average			+2.6%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.3 times more for housing

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$104.21 NZ$181.87	$51.16 NZ$89.28	-50.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$155.28 NZ$270.99	$1,007.66 NZ$1,758.58	+549.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$155.28 NZ$270.99	$809.64 NZ$1,412.98	+421.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.92 NZ$139.48	$91.68 NZ$159.99	+14.7%
Average			+233.5%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of housing

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pay 7.4 times more for childcare

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$611.89 NZ$1,067.87
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,433.32 NZ$2,501.42	$10,661.07 NZ$18,605.71	+643.8%
Average			+643.8%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of childcare

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pay 34.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.23 NZ$9.12	$6.10 NZ$10.64	+16.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.83 NZ$6.69	$3.30 NZ$5.76	-13.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$14.93 NZ$26.06	$22.88 NZ$39.93	+53.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$24.88 NZ$43.43	$38.53 NZ$67.24	+54.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.87 NZ$11.99	$10.92 NZ$19.05	+59.0%
Average			+34.0%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 31.7% more for clothing

	Cook Islands	New Zealand
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$66.89 NZ$116.73	$65.31 NZ$113.97	-2.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$40.78 NZ$71.18
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$93.71 NZ$163.54
Men's business shoes (leather)	$73.46 NZ$128.20	$121.74 NZ$212.47	+65.7%
Average			+31.7%

Cook Islands vs. New Zealand - 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: March 2025

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